Introduction

[Hicksy]

I have posted a few times and guess I should introduce myself. I live in the greater Toronto area, am mid 50's and was first diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears in public school. I coped as best I could but as I got older my hearing decreased and this forced me into an early retirement about 5 years ago. Yeah! In case anybody feels bad for me. I was more than ready to retire. 

I started trying hearing aids in my teens and probably went through at least 8 different types over the years but would generally wear them for a few months and then quit with the feeling that they weren't helping, just make the din louder. I can't describe the emotion I felt when the first audiologist at Sunnybrook tested me and without any prompting accuractly described my situation. After trying to describe my loss to others it was a real revelation to have someone else understand what was going on. He even said unprompted that I probably only used my ha's for a few months and stopped using them cause they only made the noise louder!

I would score about 95% in the booth via lip reading and about 0% with the mouth covered and I wouldn't have any idea which direction sound was coming from. Loss was about the same for both ears so I decided to go for a left implant. 

Then came the choice. Once I mentioned that I loved music, then Med El was pushed to the forefront and also the EAS model perhaps if residual hearing remained in the left ear.

I'm just over a month post activation and what a revelation. The surgery recovery was more a bother than an ordeal, I'm hearing sounds I probably never heard (birds drive me nuts right now) and I am so glad that I was able to go this route. 

So that is the introduction and I look forward to hearing from you and contributing to the forum best I can.

Sorry for the triple posts! I'm at a resort with sketchy wifi. Is there a way to delete the unnecessary posts?

 

[Mary Beth]

Duplicate post

 

(This way people will look for the active thread.)