Today's Hearing Test

Had my hearing tested today. The audiologist checked the ears for cleanness, and tested my hearing with headphones and a beeper. I had a hard time knowing if I was hearing things or not, because things sounded so faint and echo-like. (At least she did not do the ice cream - baseball - cowboy - hot dog test.)

After the test, she compared my audiogram from 1997 with today's new audiogram, and said there was little if any difference. There had been no further loss of hearing. However, she said all I had was a tiny amount of hearing in the low frequencies in my left ear, probably not enough for hearing aids to be of benefit even with today's improved hearing aid technology.

She also thought that because of my history of wearing hearing aids until 1995, good auditory training as a child, and oral skils, that I would be a good cochlear implant candidate. The next step is to see an ENT, and there is already a referral in the system to an ENT.

In the waiting room, I chatted with this woman who said she knew a deaf man who opted for a cochlear implant when he found out hearing aids were not covered by his insurance plan, but cochlear implants were covered. I commented that this is not new to me, I have actually had e-mails at About.com from deaf people complaining that they had to choose implants over hearing aids for insurance reasons. I'm also aware that there are those in the deaf and hard of hearing community who are afraid to complain too loudly about the fact cochlear implants tend to be covered while hearing aids are not, out of fear that if we complain too loudly, insurance companies could decide to stop covering cochlear implants too.