Dr. Ears

Maria failed her hearing test at school both times it was given, so the school recommended she see her doctor. It happened that she came down with an earache the day before that scheduled appointment and so the doctor was able to prescribe medicine for her ear (the doc called the timing of our appointment providential). He also referred her to an ear specialist to address the hearing problem. He told me that this particular doctor is "world class" and our community is fortunate to have him right here in northwest Iowa, definitely another Iowa good thing. We had that appointment yesterday.

Maria failed the first hearing test at the doctor's office, but after the audiologist gave her some coaching, she was able to pass it. The doctor was discussing this with me (as in - "Did she really pass it or was it the coaching?") and he asked me if I was familiar with how they do this testing. I said that I had had many hearing tests when I lost the hearing in my right ear. Now at this point, Maria had already ceased to be medically interesting (not being medically interesting is something we try to encourage our children to strive for), but now the doctor was very interested in me.

He hustled me into the examining chair and sent both his assistants scurrying to find various items. Then he demonstrated a hearing device to me. It was amazing. I am completely deaf in my right ear, but with this device I was able to hear sounds that were on my right side. It is not a hearing aid and it works by conducting the sound to my left ear. It is designed for people who have complete or near complete hearing loss in one ear and for whom a hearing aid would not work. It is designed for people like me.

The device would be implanted behind my right ear and a small external receiver gets clipped to it. Because it isn't a hearing aid, at this point most insurance companies cover the cost. He sent me home with a version of it to see if I like it. Obviously, it isn't implanted so it isn't exactly like this device would be, but it works in a similar manner. I have to strap it to my head with this wide Velcro band (think ugly). I tried it out for about an hour yesterday (my children would not let me go out in public wearing it). It was interesting. Even if I completely blocked my left ear, I could hear. I could actually hear quite well. Amazing!

I did find that I have to work a bit at making this work and after I took it off my left ear was "tired" from processing all that sound. I'm sure "tired" is not quite the right term, but I don't know how else to describe it. Also, because all the sounds would still be processed by my left ear, I would likely not regain the ability to tell sound direction, although some people get a bit of that because of the time lag needed to conduct the sound to the other ear. I lost my hearing more than 35 years ago. Can I get used to this new way to hear. What do you think? Would you do it? Oh, and Maria will have her hearing rechecked in 3 months.