Last November I wrote about a hearing test I’d taken and the recommendation that I needed hearing aids. I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I had to shell out many thousands of dollars for hearing aids and wear them for the rest of my life.
But the more I thought about the visit the more I decided to get a second opinion. I felt a bit like Chazz Palminteri’s character in The Usual Suspects after Keyser Soze left the office following his interrogation. Suddenly everything that seemed innocuous was a clue. The person who went over my test results with me was the company owner. She stood to gain and had a vested interest in me buying hearing aids. She was pushy and I felt like she was determined to get me to hand over my credit card before I even left. Her mouth agreed “Oh, sure, think about it” but her eyes said “stick ’em up”. I decided to go for a second opinion.
Sears has a hearing centre here in London and I thought, what’s more dependable than good old Sears? So I had my test there yesterday. I came away with the exact same results as my previous test. I do have a bit of loss and it’s uneven; my left ear has more hearing loss than my right. That, the audiologist said, is not normal, so he advised me to go see my physician before doing anything in case he wants me to get my eardrums checked out. An eardrum test the audiologist tried to do failed, as it did in the earlier visit, because they don’t make probes small enough for my ridiculously tiny ear canals.
Anyway….
Yesterday’s tester also said he would not recommend hearing aids at this stage. I’m able to carry on conversations with no problems. I often have to ask people, especially young women, to repeat themselves but he said, is that really so awful? No, it’s really not. And there are volume knobs on electronics that can be turned up if need be. He also showed me on a chart where my weaknesses lie so I can be aware of them. His advice felt sensible. He said unless something changed, he’d see me in a year.
Yeah, that makes sense. Sure, I notice the loss but most of what I don’t hear anymore is quite alright with me. My world is more silent but that’s okay. I don’t need to hear traffic noise or every single bird that’s within earshot. I’m very relieved. And I’m also going to be cool with it when it comes time to put those little devices in my ears because I was already prepared to do it. My experience is just more support for the idea of getting a second opinion.