Age-standardised disability-adjusted life year (DALY) rates from Hearing loss (adult onset) by country (per 100,000 inhabitants). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
An interesting thing happened on the way to my current state of depression.
I was losing my hearing and I did not know it or else I did not accept it.
Diane did tell me that she thought I was losing my hearing, but I was tested 30 years ago and my hearing was fine.
The audiologist at the time told me that I had selective hearing. I had good hearing in both ears but chose not to listen. That made sense to me then and I thought that was what my current problem was now.
Apparently this loss has been happening over the last five years. I did not notice the gradual loss of hearing in both ears of the higher tones. I would not hear female voices as well as higher pitched voices.
Poor Diane.
As I could not hear my own voice as well, I apparently started to speak louder and perhaps with poorer diction, causing her some great difficulties and concern.
I started noticing that I seemed to miss what people were saying at work so I decided that Diane must be right (ever notice how the female spouses of the world always seem to be right?).
I scheduled an appointment to have my hearing tested and my ears examined by a physician.
Low and behold, I had a hearing loss of between 70% to 90% of the higher tones. Go figure.
Yesterday I was fitted for hearing aids and started to hear sounds that I have not heard in a long time. The rustling of a paper bag sounded strange and I could hear myself speaking too loudly. The quiet house that I was living in, all of a sudden got louder.
It will take a while to make the adjustments to both my hearing and my speaking but I am so glad that I have the opportunity to correct this problem before it becomes unrecoverable.
It also turns out that many people going through hearing loss become depressed. I am hopeful that my restored hearing will allow me to ease out of the depression that I have been suffering.
I am fortunate that I can afford these devices. As I am 65, my government insurance, Medicare, and my private insurance does not cover any of the costs for the devices, only the cost for the examination and diagnosis.
It is unfortunate that seniors in the US do not have easy access to hearing aids. Something our politicians probably won’t want to talk about, I guess.
On another front, Diane and I are going to Las Vegas for a week.
Hope to talk some poker, Vegas, and some poker dealing soon.
Thanks for listening.
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