09 August 08 - 11:49
Can I Hear You Now?
Those of you who don't yet have “old ears”, who can hear everything clearly, might want to count your blessings. For those of us who wear hearing aids, life can be puzzling.Friday morning I put my aids in and turned them on. Each one beeps when I turn it on. Today, the left one didn't beep. Generally, this means I forgot to turn it off the night before so the battery died. So, I put a new battery in. No beep. Maybe that battery was bad? Try one from a different set of batteries. No beep.
Now what? My audiologist knows I'm traveling so he told me before I left I could call him if I had problems and he would find a qualified technician where I am. But, I thought I should figure out what else I might try before calling.
Then I remembered there is a filter he sometimes cleans. So I got out my hearing aid tools and cleaned the filter. No beep.
So I asked Dave to put the aid up to hear ear and listen. No beep. The he put the working one up by his ear and listened to it. No beep. Apparently you have to put it all the way into the ear canal to hear the beep and Dave didn't particularly want to do that.
Then I remembered that my ear was popping the night before. The popping was a sound like you get when you put your finger in something tight then release the air suddenly. Maybe the problem was with my ear rather than the aid.
Now, my aids are the type that goes behind the ear with a tube that goes into the ear canal. These two pieces can disconnect from one another so you can replace the tube without having to replace the entire unit. If you disconnect them while the aid is turned on, it squeals. So, I tried that. BEEP!
Okay, the aid works so it must be me.
So I did that thing all medical personnel tell you not to do. I put a Q-tip in my ear and twisted it around. It came out kind of yucky. Then I put the hearing aid in and turned it on. Beep. I was never so happy to hear a sound I usually find irritating.
TTYL,
Linda
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