My son had his ENT appointment today, he can hear, YAY!! I pretty much already knew that, but we needed to be 100% sure before moving on to his developmental evaluation for speech therapy :)
Here's the 'uh-oh'... APPARENTLY I'M FREAKING DEAF. I mean, I joke all the time that I'm deaf... I have a terribly hard time hearing you unless I'm looking at you, I can hear things that you can't (like super high pitch stuff)... and there are some sounds I don't hear at all, like wind chimes. I'm a loud talker, always have been... so you really wouldn't know how hard of hearing I am until I tell you.
Anyway, the woman who was doing my son's hearing test told me I seriously need to get my ears checked. She had taken it upon herself to run the test twice (which is fine, I'm glad she did)... she first time she ONLY tested my son, the second time, she was watching me. She said I responded to about 20% of the test. 20%!!!!! I won't know the depth of my hearing loss until I have the actual, bona fide test for ME...
Has anyone else been through this? I have no idea why I'm losing my hearing. I'm 27!! I wear ear plugs at concerts (yeah, I'm that person), and I've only had 2 ear infections my entire life. What could cause this? Hearing loss does NOT run in my family, not until the mid to upper 80's!! It's frustrating now, but I've lived to deal with it... I'm get very anxious thinking about the possibility of permenant, 100% hearing loss. I couldn't bare to not be able to hear my kids giggle :) What gives?
@NBinMN: EXACTLY! I know exactly what you mean!
@Tracy, YES I want to make sure her super knows she went above and beyond!! And it's been DECADES since I've had my ears checked... yikes.
Man!!! I thought you were going to tell us you had a honeymoon surprise! LOL!
Wow - what a great, observant,caring, professional woman! I would call or better yet, email her supervisor and give some kudos for caring and taking the time. You might never have known. Send that lady a thank you card!
When is the last time your hearing was checked? Doesn't sound like you are losing your hearing at 27. It sounds like you have been overcompensating for this for a long time. You've already adapted. That tells me maybe the damage either occurred a long time ago or has ocurred slowly over a long period of time. Try not to panic. Make an appointment and take a deep breath.
Hearing loss can be as simple as having your ear canal full of ear wax. My mom has tiny ear canals and once a year she gets her ears cleaned out by the doctor (and amazing amounts of gunk come out according to her) and then she can hear again. It can also be neurological, meaning it is in the connection to the brain. Finally it can also be mechanical - where you ear drum is damaged - these are the people you see with a sensor on their skull behind the ear that picks up sound and transmits it via the skull to the ear canal.
I would have an ENT check you out before you panic. There are hearing aids so small that they fit in your ear and no-one sees them. It is also possible that your hearing has been at this level for a long long time and not getting worse, and you may hear at this level until you are 80.
Make an ENT appointment for yourself.
An ear cleaning might make a big difference (wax build up is more common than you think).
Do you wear earphones/ear buds a lot?
Lot's of people who started with Walkman's years ago were turning up the volume and piping it right into their heads (you could stand next to them and hear the music yourself) are having hearing problems now.
Same thing with iPod's or any other music/game playing device that you can use with earphones.
An ENT might be able to help you figure out what's going on and put a stop to it.
Hearing aids are tiny now and can help a lot.
Don't put the cart before the horse. Schedule an appt with your PCP right away. My husband has some hearing loss from his job which is VERY loud. Hearing loss is usually not reversible, but there are treatments.
In the meantime, here's a great site (Mayo Clinic) which has symptoms, causes, risk factors and treatments:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hearing-loss/DS00172
Good luck!
Oh, sorry to hear about your hearing loss. I don't know what would cause it but I wanted to see if you lived near a Costco. I don't think you have to be a member to have the hearing test but you do when it comes time to buy hearing aids. (It would be worth the savings.) They have the latest technology, the aids are about half the price, and they won't sell you anything that won't work for you. The best part is that if you purchase from them, they will clean your hearing aids anytime you want for free (most prefer an appt.). And it's free to come in (by appt.) and have them adjusted or if you aren't sure if they are working right. It's all free, as often as you need it to make sure you will wear them! They can even replace a battery door, if lost or broken for free. You can't beat Costco's price on hearing aid batteries either.
I had chronic ear infections as a child and as a result have a mild hearing loss. It won't ever get worse, but I didn't know until I was in grad school and my neuropsychology professor asked for a volunteer to do a hearing test. Oops!
Have the full test done, but my father has a hearing loss as well and the ENT told him that it was from swimming in the St. Lawrence River all summer as a child- chronic and prolonged exposure to cold water!
Great news for you son. Now onto your question. As a mom of a profoundly deaf teen with a cochlear implant, I consider myself very well versed on hearing loss. I have been to ENT's, audiologists, and around tons of deaf and hard of hearing adults and children.
Have your hearing tested by an ENT, NOT at COSTCO!! There could be lots of reasons for your loss. You could have a slight congenital component, and then it easily could have increased from the ear infections. Wax may be a contributing factor; but who knows. Hearing aids are amazing now,and do help many people. Your ENT should schedule follow up visits every year to make sure this loss is not a progressive loss. Hearing loss is not horrible, it's not the plague. Even if you get to the point where aids wont help, the cochlear implants are amazing. Please feel free to contact me and I can answer most questions or just listen. I have talked to many parent who just found out their children have a loss, and I have talked with adults before their cochlear implant surgeries.
My hubby says I have a piercing voice, loud talker and loud laugh too. I struggle to hear people, especially in crowds or even small groups. Yet I can't fall asleep due to hearing "everything". How does that work?
I am horrible tho and sleep with headphones in now that past year or so (to drown out the little whirrs and zings and hubbys face-emitting noise he insists is not anything resembling snoring). SO I know this can't be good for my ears. At all.
I am not a concert goer and hate parties and bar scene things so rarely rarely do them. Too loud, mumbly, blurred sounds and I can't hear everyone well. Makes for awkward conversation.
In the last few years tho I feel like I have a constant runny nose, pluggy feeling ears, etc. Like a cold/allergy thing year round. Maybe thats my issue? I have had a few very minor ear infections as a result. Now I have been having cough issues where I cough and can't catch my breath and need an inhaler (steriods) just to breath. I think its all due to this dumb drainage. Maybe I need to consider getting my hearing checked too. I mean I get my teeth checked, eyes checked, physicals and lady-parts check ups. Do our Dr's even just randomly says "Hey, you are age XX, we should schedule you for a hearing check to get a baseline". I probably haven't had it checked since gradeschool....that was CENTURIES ago....LOL
I agree that it might be wax build-up. Go and get your ears cleaned out and see if that helps.
Hi R.,
Do you have allergies? Congestion could cause you to have "hearing loss"- which is 100% curable with Sudafed and allergy meds. My sister wasn't treating her hayfever and had 50% hearing loss- we had to turn the subtitles on the TV for her. If it's real hearing loss, you can get a cochlear implant so you can hear again.
Hang in there till you get it figured out, the anxiety of not knowing is always the worst part!
