Possible Hearing Loss/ Hard of Hearing?? (long)

dorothybaez said:
Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

Both eardrums burst so many times, I lost count. No, I never had surgery for it. After getting encephalitis from the hospital, I wasn't about to even consider it. After a series of really nasty ear infections while I was breastfeeding my second child, I ended up with a hole in my left eardrum (had an abcessed eustatian tube around that time), which closed up on its own after a few years.

Actually, while having your eardrum burst is PAINFUL, there is so much relief right after that it's almost worth it.
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"so many times"?!? HOLY COW!!!!:jaw::shock:

AHH!! Now I really can't imagine the pain!

I hope you're ok now after all that!!
 
RacherBunny said:
When I called to make an appointment they didn't say anything about an ENT, only a need for a referral from my primary care.

I hope they don't do a surprise attack when I get to my appointment and tell me I can't get my hearing checked without seeing an ENT first :shock:
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I'm sure if you have a referral you will be fine. Just a little surprised that your primary care Dr did not refer you to an ENT. But, I'm not a Dr and do not practice medicine so I won't butt in on this! :cool2:
 
Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

I still get a few infections a year but they are not as severe as they used to be...since I'm concerned about overusing antibiotics, I generally let them clear up on their own.....how much more hearing can I really lose? :dunno:
 
Cheetah said:
I'm sure if you have a referral you will be fine. Just a little surprised that your primary care Dr did not refer you to an ENT. But, I'm not a Dr and do not practice medicine so I won't butt in on this! :cool2:
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I haven't actually gotten the referral yet, I see my Dr. Dec 14 and will hopefully get one then. I went ahead and made an appt for hearing test with audie on my own without the referral since I figured I might have to make one anyway. I was going to make an appt with ENT but I don't know of any good ones in my area. So hopefully, if I need an ENT, my Dr will point me in the right direction :)
 
RacherBunny said:
I haven't actually gotten the referral yet, I see my Dr. Dec 14 and will hopefully get one then. I went ahead and made an appt for hearing test with audie on my own without the referral since I figured I might have to make one anyway. I was going to make an appt with ENT but I don't know of any good ones in my area. So hopefully, if I need an ENT, my Dr will point me in the right direction :)
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Okay, I jumped the gun a little there. :) I do want to hear how things go! :ty:
 
dorothybaez said:
Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

I still get a few infections a year but they are not as severe as they used to be...since I'm concerned about overusing antibiotics, I generally let them clear up on their own.....how much more hearing can I really lose? :dunno:
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thats how I feel... I only have 10 more db on my right ear for what they can test... I already can't hear anything unless I have my HA's on... and even then... its just muffled... and antibiotics just aren't my thing... I hate how I feel when taking them.
I've had my ear drum burst too... and it hurts like hell... I get at least 4-5 ear infections a year when I'm wearing my HA's... when I'm not wearing them... I don't really get them... maybe 1...
 
dorothybaez said:
Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

Both eardrums burst so many times, I lost count. No, I never had surgery for it. After getting encephalitis from the hospital, I wasn't about to even consider it. After a series of really nasty ear infections while I was breastfeeding my second child, I ended up with a hole in my left eardrum (had an abcessed eustatian tube around that time), which closed up on its own after a few years.

Actually, while having your eardrum burst is PAINFUL, there is so much relief right after that it's almost worth it.
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The last ENT I saw said I had the worst scarring on eardrums he had ever seen!

I can empathize. :wave:
 
I think the scarring on my eardrums is what is causing my hearing loss. My Dr. knows of the scarring and said it's worse on the left than the right, but I feel like I can hear better in my left. When on the phone or having trouble hearing something I always use my left ear. It's a little backwards.... lol
 
Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

ash345 said:
thats how I feel... I only have 10 more db on my right ear for what they can test... I already can't hear anything unless I have my HA's on... and even then... its just muffled... and antibiotics just aren't my thing... I hate how I feel when taking them.

I've had my ear drum burst too... and it hurts like hell... I get at least 4-5 ear infections a year when I'm wearing my HA's... when I'm not wearing them... I don't really get them... maybe 1...
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Wow! The same thing for me when I go without the HA's - no ear infections!



I just do my best to keep my ears and HA's as clean as possible. Right now I wear them to my husband's medical appointments and for work purposes. Luckily, I have decent hearing with them in, but not good enough to do a lot of phone work.

When your eardrum would burst, didn't it feel great right after? No pain?
 
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Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

Bottesini said:
The last ENT I saw said I had the worst scarring on eardrums he had ever seen!



I can empathize. :wave:
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Kinda makes me wonder how we survived childhood!
 
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Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)

Rachel, it's funny.....my right ear is my "good" ear, but when wearing the HA's the left becomes the "good"ear. Either way, I use the phone on speaker and right next to the ear I'm using at the time, lol.
 
dorothybaez said:
Wirelessly posted (dorothybaez)



Wow! The same thing for me when I go without the HA's - no ear infections!



I just do my best to keep my ears and HA's as clean as possible. Right now I wear them to my husband's medical appointments and for work purposes. Luckily, I have decent hearing with them in, but not good enough to do a lot of phone work.

When your eardrum would burst, didn't it feel great right after? No pain?
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yeah... I try and keep mine clean too... but i think there is just something about HAs... they breed ear infections.

and I got a little relief from pain... but 1... my other ear was infected too... and both ears throbbed... there was no actual true relief...
 
CSign said:
That's why I said, "I'm pretty sure" and not, "I'm positive". My son has needed medical clearance both times for his HA's. I don't know if it makes a difference peds vs. Adults, and whether or not you've had them before.
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If you see an Audiologist who's an AuD (has a doctorate and a few other certifications) then in Canada and most, if not all US states, the Audie should be able to independently prescribe, order & fit the HAs directly without any involvement from an ENT or MD.

In some cases, to have the HAs claimed for health insurance, or taxes (ie for you to get money back) a medical doctor such as a MD (family doctor, PCP) may have to submit a short note to the health care company (blue cross, etc) stating that you have hearing loss which benefits from hearing aids. The doctor does NOT have to give the details of your audiogram, just that you have enough hearing loss to benefit from hearing aids).

The only reason that an MD sometimes has to this (instead of an AuD.) is basically because MDs are considered an "authority" by insurance.
 
I'm in a similar boat as you, Rachel. My primary care doctor referred me to see an audiologist on Friday to find out if I've got physical hearing loss or not. I actually realized that I might have a problem in the course of studying ASL and learning about Deaf/Hard of Hearing people over the past few months.

Like you, I've got a lot of difficulties hearing people around me, especially when there's any other background noise. I also struggle with telephones and strangers. I've got a constant ringing in my ears that I estimate to be a 9000Hz near constant tone between 20-30db in apparent value.

I think the worst part is the fact that my friends often feel that I'm ignoring them because they'll talk to me and I won't hear them. I even lost one relationship over that. And even if I do hear them, I often have to ask them to repeat themselves.

I'm looking forward to the test on Friday to find out what's going on. I'm hoping they'll have a nice, clean, definitive answer. I dislike not knowing what's up with me.
 
joycem137 said:
I'm in a similar boat as you, Rachel. My primary care doctor referred me to see an audiologist on Friday to find out if I've got physical hearing loss or not. I actually realized that I might have a problem in the course of studying ASL and learning about Deaf/Hard of Hearing people over the past few months.

Like you, I've got a lot of difficulties hearing people around me, especially when there's any other background noise. I also struggle with telephones and strangers. I've got a constant ringing in my ears that I estimate to be a 9000Hz near constant tone between 20-30db in apparent value.

I think the worst part is the fact that my friends often feel that I'm ignoring them because they'll talk to me and I won't hear them. I even lost one relationship over that. And even if I do hear them, I often have to ask them to repeat themselves.

I'm looking forward to the test on Friday to find out what's going on. I'm hoping they'll have a nice, clean, definitive answer. I dislike not knowing what's up with me.
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Your loss might be in a specific Hz range. This could explain your not understanding or hearing sometimes. I'm sure an audiologist can help identify this range and should be able to provide you with a chart that helps you to understand what speech sounds you are missing. You might even ask the audiologist to do a more comprehensive testing of more frequencies to get a better picture of your hearing. I will have to check my audio testing equipment to see if this is even possible.

A lot of hearing folks are surprised to find out that they do have a measurable loss and never knew it.
 
Cheetah said:
A lot of hearing folks are surprised to find out that they do have a measurable loss and never knew it.
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Yup. I'm one.

I recently noticed difficulty hearing some things & thought I'd have it checked out. Figured it might just be due to getting older (I need bifocals now, too).

Nope, not age-related. Not noise-related, either.

Saw the audi first. She requested I follow up with an ENT based on the results, as I have no tympanic reflex, either.

ENT said, yup, there is a loss, don't worry about the missing reflex, and come back in 3 months because there's something unrelated she wants to keep an eye on.

The best part of the experience was finally going through all of the testing my DS has endured. I now understand what it feels like to have little things poked into your ear canal, etc.
 
Cheetah said:
Your loss might be in a specific Hz range. This could explain your not understanding or hearing sometimes. I'm sure an audiologist can help identify this range and should be able to provide you with a chart that helps you to understand what speech sounds you are missing. You might even ask the audiologist to do a more comprehensive testing of more frequencies to get a better picture of your hearing. I will have to check my audio testing equipment to see if this is even possible.

A lot of hearing folks are surprised to find out that they do have a measurable loss and never knew it.
Click to expand...

As I've been realizing that the things I'm experiencing are symptoms of hearing loss, I've been seriously surprised and shocked. I figured I had some sort of undefinable audio processing problem or something. I didn't think about it too much, really. Now that I'm paying attention to my issues, I'm really stunned at how much more extensive my problems are than I previously thought.

It varies depending on background noise conditions and the person I'm talking to, but based on my observations, my comprehension rate for phones can drop to as low as 40%. Even in good conditions, I'm usually closer to 80-90% comprehension than 100%. This is also true in other situations, such as noisy offices, long monologues, television shows, etc. Hell, if I'm talking to someone and a simple sound like a passing car or rustling bag or gust of wind comes past, I lose comprehension. It doesn't even have to be all that loud.

It makes for embarrassing work meetings sometimes where I'll mishear things and respond to the wrong thing, causing people to all look at me funny because what I said has nothing to do with what was actually being talked about.
 
joycem137 said:
Like you, I've got a lot of difficulties hearing people around me, especially when there's any other background noise. I also struggle with telephones and strangers. I've got a constant ringing in my ears that I estimate to be a 9000Hz near constant tone between 20-30db in apparent value.

I'm looking forward to the test on Friday to find out what's going on. I'm hoping they'll have a nice, clean, definitive answer. I dislike not knowing what's up with me.
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i feel the same way about telephones and strangers! lol
i've never liked talking on the phone and the hubby gets his panties in a bunch when i blackmail him into calling to order a pizza. lol

took awhile to realize the problem wasn't actually the talking on the phone, but rather listening on the phone. i like to watch people speak when their talking and the lack of lips flappin while on the phone makes it difficult to understand what they say even if i do hear something.

Made me realize I "lipread" and how much i really need it to understand people sometimes.

I hope your appointment goes well! i know i can't wait for mine!
 
Wirelessly posted (Backberry)

joycem137 said:
Cheetah said:
Your loss might be in a specific Hz range. This could explain your not understanding or hearing sometimes. I'm sure an audiologist can help identify this range and should be able to provide you with a chart that helps you to understand what speech sounds you are missing. You might even ask the audiologist to do a more comprehensive testing of more frequencies to get a better picture of your hearing. I will have to check my audio testing equipment to see if this is even possible.

A lot of hearing folks are surprised to find out that they do have a measurable loss and never knew it.
Click to expand...

As I've been realizing that the things I'm experiencing are symptoms of hearing loss, I've been seriously surprised and shocked. I figured I had some sort of undefinable audio processing problem or something. I didn't think about it too much, really. Now that I'm paying attention to my issues, I'm really stunned at how much more extensive my problems are than I previously thought.

It varies depending on background noise conditions and the person I'm talking to, but based on my observations, my comprehension rate for phones can drop to as low as 40%. Even in good conditions, I'm usually closer to 80-90% comprehension than 100%. This is also true in other situations, such as noisy offices, long monologues, television shows, etc. Hell, if I'm talking to someone and a simple sound like a passing car or rustling bag or gust of wind comes past, I lose comprehension. It doesn't even have to be all that loud.

It makes for embarrassing work meetings sometimes where I'll mishear things and respond to the wrong thing, causing people to all look at me funny because what I said has nothing to do with what was actually being talked about.
Click to expand...

Let us know what you find. You might help someone here or the next person (or me!). :)
 
Alright, well. I went to the audiologist and she says that my physical hearing is 100% normal. She referred me to a different doctor that specializes in auditory processing disorders. Basically, it means that although my ears get the signals into my brain just fine, my brain doesn't know what to do with the signals in some cases.

On Tuesday, I'm meeting up with this new doctor, and we're going to map out the specific cases where my brain has problems, but from my personal observations, it all seems centered around speech, as I mentioned above. I have a hell of a time understanding speech, to the point that I get lost in group conversations, have to ask people to repeat themselves all the time, struggle with the phone, etc.

I'm honestly a little disappointed that I'm not physically hard of hearing, but only because that would have been an easy answer. APD stuff is a little harder, and less concrete, as it all happens in the brain. But we shall see what the doctor finds out on Tuesday.
 
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