“I only gradually realised there might be deafness.”
Now 78 years old, I lived alone after becoming a widow at the age of 59. Therefore no one was always close enough at that time to make me quickly realise the approach of deafness. In retirement, after office work and teaching, attending evening or day study classes and voluntary work at a Citizens’ Advice Bureau, then becoming deeply involved in the UTA (University of the Third Age), I only gradually realised there might be deafness. My ears had been of some concern to me after a first holiday aeroplane flight when I was 25. Blocked sinuses had helped to cause bleeding in both ears.
Being with a group of people, and not hearing those with quiet voices, or attending a general meeting and not properly hearing the speaker’s voice, when obviously other people sitting near me had, made me realise about three years ago I had some deafness. Other people had not commented on this, possibly because I had not indicated not hearing! Though proud of my bodily physical fitness, “owning up” was made easier because people younger and older than myself were obviously, or not obviously, using hearing aids.
I saw my local G.P. who arranged an NHS appointment. During conversation at the hospital just over two years ago, I was told there was a waiting time of two years for an NHS hearing aid. To my disgust, it was suggested I could be seen privately there – and on a weekday morning – very quickly. I reluctantly agreed and received a paid-for-by-me hearing aid ten days afterwards. I made little use of that hearing aid, not really noticing its effectiveness, therefore only occasionally bothering to put it in. I did not understand why it was prescribed for my left ear when the very apparent cause of deafness was in my right ear. For many years my glasses for short sight had been prescribed by Leightons and when I learnt of Leightons also offering hearing care I decided to “give it a go”.
“I felt at home by myself at Leightons”
Before my appointment at Leightons I was merely curious to see how it would compare with the NHS and then the private appointment at the local hospital, remaining sceptical. I felt at home by myself at Leightons, the opticians, knowing the staff across a number of years, particularly the manager - marvellous at fitting and adjusting my spectacles. Friends, relatives, knew that many opticians were now offering hearing care.
I was surprised at the obviously young (compared to me) attractive female audiologist but very quickly impressed by her intelligence and knowledge. The hearing test seemed similar to the one at the hospital; being asked to say which sounds I could hear or not hear and from various directions. Again I was shown on the computer screen the two curves indicating the difference in hearing between my left and right ear. But at Leightons I was shown on the screen the inside of my ear – a shock that I was nonetheless grateful for. The deep of the inside of the ear was so revealed because the eardrum was very badly perforated. That sight reminded me of being merely told after treatment for the bleeding in both ears that the left eardrum had healed but not the right. The degree of deafness, therefore, in the right ear was far greater that in the left ear. Catherine said that if a hearing aid is worn inside a badly perforated eardrum it could cause infection.
An answer, said the Leightons hearing aid audiologist, was to wear a hearing aid as before over the left ear but now, to have one looking similar but being in fact a radio transmitter on the right ear so sound could be passed from the right ear to the left. I immediately agreed to buy.
From the beginning the hearing aid audiologist was friendly, thorough and understanding. I certainly never felt hurried, and future checkups were made, convenient for me, and they continue.
“I am amazed at the preciseness and varieties of hearing aids now available”
The snag about the hearing aid and the sound carrying, radio transmitter, though they were comparatively small, was the feeling of baggage, on both ears. That I described to Catherine, the hearing aid audiologist. She told me of the many improvements to hearing aids over the years. So came, at little extra cost to me, new Phonak Exelia Digital Bionics aids: a small, over the ear one for my left ear with a small, plastic, aerated dome fitting into the ear, hardly noticeable. I could wear that on its own for ordinary use, and for particular directional sound control – to a T.V., radio, at a public meeting or group gathering, a “My Pilot” remote control that looks like a little mobile phone. Catherine had all the time professionally (mysteriously) adapted these aids to suit my particular hearing needs, and patiently gives me practice in becoming accustomed to “My Pilot”.
To be appreciated is the more realistic quality of sound available and the true awareness of, for example, tones of voices, air conditioning, creaking floorboards, one voice in a crowded restaurant and the much appreciated bird song. I no longer need to get a crick in my neck because of leaning sideways to listen to a friend who speaks softly.
"My Pilot” has enabled me to hear, for instance the sound variety of addresses given at a church memorial service, and general talks and at a meeting about a musical instrument.
“Follow up appointments have been arranged from the beginning”
The cost for the hearing aid at the hospital and the hearing aids from Leightons seemed proportionally equally high. At the hospital, however, I was merely encouraged to telephone if I needed advice, whereas, at Leightons, follow up appointments have been arranged from the beginning.
As included in previous writing here, I feel at home at Leightons (compared with the clinical, full atmosphere of a hospital). It is well known that in some areas, NHS provision of hearing aids takes a very long time. I am not qualified to compare the NHS with private provision but that must be an interesting subject for discussion.