Options, Options

So after three audiograms came back with the same results I am sure I have a hearing problem. After doing more research on hearing aids I know I can't afford to pay for them without some assistance. I've started researching options for paying for them. I needed to find a place that would do financing or help me get them at a reduce cost. I found some options that would help me. Only two seemed relevant to me, Audient Program and Lions Clubs International. I put in an application for Audient Program. I'm just hoping to reduce the cost enough so I can use my moms's medical card to purchase them.

Reflections...

Now I'm convinced I have hearing loss and will have to get hearing aids if I want to hear properly. I've been thinking back and trying to remember exactly when did I start having hearing problems. I remember when my brother and I first moved to Georgia to live with our dad. My dad's girlfriend and my dad took us to this clinic to get our eyes and ears checked before we could start school. I cheated on the hearing test. I raised my hand saying I'd heard the beep when I wasn't sure if I had and I kept at it. Now my dad tells me of stories where he and his girlfriend would stand behind me and call my name but I wouldn't respond. Now that I think about it I've always had a hard time hearing. When I was younger I just learned ways to cope and deal with it. I don't think blaring headphones in my ears helped much.

I dealt with it and it wasn't too bad as long as people spoke up. But I think it was getting worst when I was in high school because I could never hear what my friends were saying especially if they whispered (I couldn't do the whispering thing. I always missed what was said) or were talking while we were in the hallway during class. One day I was walking with one of my friends, we were headed to Spanish and she was talking about something. I couldn't hear or understand a word she said so I just smiled and nodded my head pretending like I could hear her. This usually worked but that day it didn't. At one point when I nodded and smiled she just looked at me. I realized that she had asked me a question and I hadn't heard it. I had her repeat it and still couldn't understand and just said 'yeah.' After that, 'huh' and 'what' became my most used words. I didn't want to be caught like that again so I try to make people repeat themselves. I also started avoiding my friends in the halls so I wouldn't have to struggle to hear them.

As I got older my hearing definitely got worse. But I never really paid attention to it. I am realizing now that a lot of my problems were because of hearing loss. When I started college I think my hearing was deteriorating and I was having a hard time compensating. I always had to sit in front of the class and even then I only caught half of what the professor said. I loved it when a professor had a powerpoint because it meant I could follow along better. I started withdrawing more and begging off going to restaurants and the movies. I'd rather stay at home and watch TV with the captions than deal with having to ask people to repeat themselves constantly or just not getting what they said. After awhile I always decide it's not that important and stop having people repeat themselves. I pretend I can hear by saying 'yeah' or whatever else. 

I guess I should have figured it out but I never did until last month. I didn't even put it together until then. Now I know and I am doing something about it. I may have lost half of my hearing already but I will do what I can to maintain the rest of it. 

Another Free Hearing with a Different Doctor

I had my second hearing test yesterday and the results were more or less the same. This audiologist didn't try to push her hearing aids off on me. She seemed to realize that this was big news. Finding out that I've already lost almost half of my hearing was something that I had to adjust to. I asked her how this could happen. She explained that exposure to loud noise constantly like headphones or it could be hereditary. She let me know that I could come back when I was ready to purchase hearing aids. I thanked her and left. When I got home I called my mom to give her the news. She let me talk but we mostly talked about solutions. I told my dad when he got home and he was in solution mode instantly. I spent the rest of the night searching for cheaper options for hearing aids. I knew there had to be some cheaper than Miracle Ear and I was right. Miracle Ear was among some of the most expensive I came across.

As I did my research I couldn't help but notice that all the brochures and pictures on the websites featured older people. There were no hearing aid websites that I went to that showed young people enjoying life with their new hearing aids. That made me feel somewhat like a freak and old even though I wasn't. I wondered what this meant; I need hearing aids. But I didn't let myself dwell too long because I needed them and needed to find a way to get them. Medical insurance doesn't cover hearing aids and while the ones I found were cheaper than Miracle Ear they were still above my price range. The cheapest were around $900+. I didn't have that kind of money. I also set up appointments with a couple of other audiologist that offered free hearing tests. It didn't hurt to get third and fourth opinions.

Free Hearing Test Appointment

So I finally decided to go to the ear doctor and get my hearing checked today. It's been a few weeks since I went to the movies and discovered that something may be wrong with my hearing. I don't like doctors or anything so I didn't schedule an appointment right away. What made me schedule is all of the frustration I have at work. I cannot understand what my co-worker, Georgia, is saying half the time and I usually try to avoid talking to her face to face. I work in customer service, I'm on the phone all day long and I am constantly having to have customer's repeat themselves. They get frustrated and irritated when you ask them to repeat themselves especially if they are already a little ticked off.

Anyway after a particularly difficult call yesterday I did a search for hearing doctors and found a few. I went with Miracle Ear because they offered a free test. I had my appointment today at 4:30pm. The doctor did his test and told me I had what was called Sensorineural Hearing Loss. It’s not curable with surgery or anything. I would need hearing aids. He started pushing his company’s hearing aids which were like $5000 to $7000. At that moment I didn’t know if I could trust his diagnosis. It was a free test and it seemed like a scam to get me to shell out thousands of dollars. I told him thank you and left. I called my mom and told her about it and she advised me to get a second opinion. My dad told me the same thing. So I guess I need to do some more research and find another doctor and go for another test.