I just had my forth doctor's visit today. I took another audiogram to compare results with my last visit which was 4 weeks ago. To my surprise my hearing is still recovering, at a slower pace than my previous test, which was expected from the last conversation I had with my doctor on my last visit.
My word recognition is at ~80% and my hearing is at 50dB which is pretty darn good. I'm at a level that I can start wearing a hearing aid which was always my goal. On the down side the hearing aid will only help me when I'm in loud environments, which I would consider 5% of my time. The investment is really not worth it for such a small amount of time.
This is what my doctor said about considering a hearing aid: Since your hearing has recovered so much and can hear normal conversation frequencies, in a relatively quiet environment (office, house, car conversation) then there is not really a need for a hearing aid. Ultimately its going to be up to me and what I want to do and how much I can afford.
Honestly at this point in my recovery, I dont really see the need of a hearing aid since I have been able to adapt very well.
I will continue to monitor my hearing with some additional audiogram in 6 months time. I'm intrigued to see if my hearing continues to improve, even if its still at a relatively slow pace.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Keeping my fingers crossed
My 4th doctors visit with Dr. Vrabec will be next Thursday 09/27/2012, hopefully there has been improvements in my hearing. I can't say that I have improved, at least not to me. That seems to be the issue since a persons max voice level is around 20dB and I'm at around 60dB, so unless you speak like a Harley Davidson exhaust pipe odds are I wont be able to notice the difference until it reaches 20dB.
I have learned to deal with my condition pretty darn good. My quality of life has not changed that much. At the beginning, I would have told you otherwise, but its pretty amazing how easy to adapt it has been. Call me lucky, but the dizziness only lasted about a month, and after that most of the effect subsided. There was some days were the dizziness was noticeable getting out of bed, but as the day would go by I could feel myself get better.
Also, my doctor mentioned to me the importance of exercising and can't disagree with him. My bike ride have increased to about 18-20 miles without me feeling like a person with a hearing disability as have my weight lifting workouts. During the first two weeks I didnt feel to well to go ahead and workout as much due to various reasons, but have fought against it.
Lets see what happens on Thursday, maybe this is the time I do get a hearing aid.
I also want to encourage others to post comments on this blog, so you can share your story with the rest of us. Please feel free to interact with me and others.
Hope you guys get better soon and keep improving.
I have learned to deal with my condition pretty darn good. My quality of life has not changed that much. At the beginning, I would have told you otherwise, but its pretty amazing how easy to adapt it has been. Call me lucky, but the dizziness only lasted about a month, and after that most of the effect subsided. There was some days were the dizziness was noticeable getting out of bed, but as the day would go by I could feel myself get better.
Also, my doctor mentioned to me the importance of exercising and can't disagree with him. My bike ride have increased to about 18-20 miles without me feeling like a person with a hearing disability as have my weight lifting workouts. During the first two weeks I didnt feel to well to go ahead and workout as much due to various reasons, but have fought against it.
Lets see what happens on Thursday, maybe this is the time I do get a hearing aid.
I also want to encourage others to post comments on this blog, so you can share your story with the rest of us. Please feel free to interact with me and others.
Hope you guys get better soon and keep improving.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
3rd Doctors Visit
Great NEWS everyone! My hearing has improved, obviously this is all relative. From the level that I was at the beginning of my SSHL (110 dB profound hearing loss) to today ~60 dB. Also my word recognition has improved to about 70%. I'm happy as I'm getting closer to a level where a hearing aid will be beneficial. The doctor does want to see me again in 4 more weeks to see if there is more improvement, even though he did mention that patients don't really improve past 6 weeks (where I'm at).
Currently I'm considered a moderately severe hearing loss, and since my word recognition is at 70% there is a possibility that the hearing aid will cause more of a distraction that aid my hearing. The doctor described it as my brain spending more time interpreting the words I cannot pick up and turning my attention away from the conversation. If my word recognition improves to around 90%, then a hearing aid will be considered. I will have to keep my fingers crossed!
Currently I'm considered a moderately severe hearing loss, and since my word recognition is at 70% there is a possibility that the hearing aid will cause more of a distraction that aid my hearing. The doctor described it as my brain spending more time interpreting the words I cannot pick up and turning my attention away from the conversation. If my word recognition improves to around 90%, then a hearing aid will be considered. I will have to keep my fingers crossed!
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