For ages now I have thought that a lot of the people around me are particularly mumbly people. And by this I mean that they mumble a lot and I can’t decipher what they’re saying. I’m constantly saying to people that they’re mumbling or that they need to face me if they’re going to talk to me, however, I’ve come to the realisation lately that I don’t think its everyone else…I think it’s actually me!
Following a particularly difficult to follow conversation with James in the car one day, I decided to do do something about this.
First, I discovered that I have tinnitus! I honestly thought that the noises in my ears and head were normal, like a sort of personal ambient sound…apparently not. They are tinnitus and the get very bad sometimes, sounding sort of like the noise that it makes on films and TV when a bomb goes off…you know that sort of sucky boom noise, followed by silence, followed by an odd crackling sound and then really loud ringing.
Also, I get a lot of pain in my ears, like sharp needle pain in various parts of my ears. Which again isn’t particularly normal. Sometimes I have to stop what I’m doing and just hold my ears…apparently this can be to do with a part of the inner ear or the nerves that branch out from the ear.
I’m very clumsy and this can be linked to balance which can be linked to the inner ear and then there’s the way that a lot of people sound like they’re mumbling to me and how I really struggle to hear people a lot of the time, especially in busy places or when there are a lot of people.
So, I took the executive decision to go and get a free hearing check at one of the local audiologists; Bay Audiology. They were very encouraging, and the whole process was far less intimidating that I thought that it would be: I was sat in a little box (soundproof) and given a set of headphones to wear. The lady then played me some sounds of birds chirping at different volumes and pitches , and I had to press a little button thing every time that I heard a noise.
After listening to the chirping and pressing the button, the lady doing the check was able to map out my hearing results onto a chart (well actually two charts; one for each ear). The charts were very similar but they showed that I do indeed have a hearing loss and that my right ear is worse than my left. She told me that I would benefit from having a full hearing check (for $60) and that the consultant would be able to help me further.
So out I went, shocked that my hearing was bad enough to come back for further investigation! I booked my second check (actually only costing me $30) and waited to see the consultant.
The second hearing check came around and this time they bought out the big guns: Still in the same soundproof box with the button to press, but this time I was seated there for a lot longer. And this time I had ear buds instead of headphones.
The consultant started the check, this time the noises were pretty much the same, but the pitch was slightly different and there was a larger range and volumes of sounds.
Following this check she took out one of the ear buds and put a funny box/headphone hybrid onto my head, explaining that this would check the vibrations of the bones in my head. This was a little weird, as I could feel it vibrating!
She repeated it for the other side.
Next came the voice test; a voice in my ears would instruct me to say a word and then I would have to repeat it back to the consultant…I found this quite hard! At first I could clearly hear the voice saying, “Say: bird” or “Say: pin”, but at the end I was just repeating a sound, literally just going, “Shhh” or “Mmm”. It was a very odd experience.
Finally I had a pressure check inside my ears. This was probably the strangest feeling, as it sort of puts air into your ear and then it feels like a pushing sensation inside your head. My left ear felt unusual, but the right ear actually hurt, the consultant didn’t like that, she said it was an indication that my right eardrum doesn’t have as much ‘give’ in it as it should have, it wasn’t vibrating enough.
After this more comprehensive check the consultant sat me down and explained the findings; basically I have a mild hearing loss which in my right ear is slightly worse. It appears to be an inner ear issue, which means that it would be permanent or genes. She recommended that I go for a referral at the hospital. I was surprised, as I just thought that hearing was hearing! I never knew that you could have so much going on in there, that there were so many parts to your ear and hearing, and that it’s so complicated.
The consultant wrote out a referral form to send off to my doctor. Apparently it’s likely that I would benefit from the use of hearing aids, but I will have to wait a short while to get a referral first. They need to check that there is nothing going on that could be fixed first. If the hospital can’t do anything then I get to trial some hearing aids.
Overall, at first I was a little annoyed/pissed off and wanted to just ignore the diagnosis, however, the more I thought about it, the more that I thought I should look after myself now so that later in life I can look after myself better. Also, if wearing hearing aids is going to take away the effort that I have to put in to hear people, then I am all up for it!
So now I just have to wait and see what the hospital say…
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