Hi, I'm Christy

C

Christy370

New Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2013
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
My name is Christy and I live in the Central Florida area. I have been losing my hearing for a few years now but I've been hiding it from everybody except my close friends and family. I have moderate to profound hearing loss and very little speech recognition left now. I've been a police officer for over 16 years. I am currently on light duty because of a back problem and I believe I will be retiring soon. My agency is now aware of my hearing problem and it is been suggested to me that I take my disability pension and leave. To take my disability pension I have to determine that this is a non-fixable problem and that it was caused by my job. Because of the sounds that I've been subjected to over the past 16 years I believe that my job has caused my hearing problem. An example of the sounds would be home alarms, fire alarms, the police radio, the police siren, and the gun range.
The past two doctors I've been to seem more interested in selling me very costly hearing aids rather then helping me decide how I want to manage this. If anyone knows of a good audiologist in the Central Florida area that is less interested in selling me hearing aids and more interested in helping me determine the cause, I would greatly appreciate it.
I have great experience with the deaf community as I am our agency's sign language interpreter. If I decide to get hearing aids it would only be to assist the people around me and for their convenience, not mine. I am very comfortable not hearing well.
Any assistance would be greatly greatly appreciated. I know that all of you have way more experience in this than I do. Thank you!
 
hi christy...do you want to retire,if they say it sound due to work then why can't police pay for hearing aids..i unable to give you advice as i not american,but all the best
 
Yes, I think I'm ready to retire. Between my back and hearing I believe it's time. This is really work for someone much younger lol!
 
Hi, nice to meet you and welcome!

In my opinion, it would be hard for anyone to determine the cause of your hearing loss. There are alot of workers like you that work with sirens, noises of that kind and most don't have hearing loss. It would be hard to prove it. I could be wrong and it doesn't hurt to check it out.

I am deaf and I am also comfortable not hearing well either but it does get aggravating not being able to hear at times such as doorbell, forgetting to turn off an appliance, or someone calling you from another room, the list is endless so for you, if a hearing aid helps, I would get it. It has to be for your benefit, not theirs.
 
Hi MangaReader, and thank you!
I don't really get aggravated about that stuff. In the area that I live in, anybody coming to my house knows to text me beforehand. I'm a little out-of-the-way. And my family and friends all know I'm hard of hearing so as far as most of that goes there really isn't an issue. The only time that I get irritated is when I'm talking to somebody and they're not looking at me lol. My husband will come into the room to talk to me or when he calls the dogs hear him and go running in there so I know. They also alert me to people at the front door, the telephone, and any noise that is out of the ordinary.
My hearing range is 750-8000HZ with my left ear the worst one. Word discrimination is now 40% on right and 32% on left.
 
i would not have thought you could prove it was your job or everycop would be deaf,but if they prepared give you full pension i grab it...police do hard job get what benifits you entitled to...
i know bad back mine caused in my nursing days miserable thing
 
I have a moderate/profound hearing loss (right now on my left is 95%)
there's couple of people in Florida that might give you the right direction!
 
If they are encouraging you to do it, maybe it's a good idea before they think about replacing you for other reasons not related. It's probably cheaper in long run to get someone younger and less experienced than for a veteran doing light duties. Plus in today's economy, might be good to take advantage of pension before it goes away. You can probably still get another job, too, or volunteer to keep busy. You served your community and damaged you hearing in the process; you're not taking advantage if that was a thought.
 
Back
Top