Feb 08 2010
Late Deafened
Opening Topic for Open Chat Night: Losing your hearing later in life
The meaning of “late deafened” is used for those who lose their hearing later in life. While I was growing up, it never occurred to me that hearing loss can change over the years for some people even at an early age. I always thought it mostly happened to people as they got older.
I was born with a mild to moderate hearing loss, and luckily my level of hearing impairment has not changed over the years. However, there was a situation when I thought maybe something changed in my hearing. It happened about two years ago when I noticed my hearing was low in my right ear during certain times, especially at night. I was really worried because something like this never happened before. Later, I found out my hearing aid was having problems and the receiver wasn’t functioning properly. I was very fortunate.
It makes me concerned about losing more of my hearing as I grow older, but I try my best to remember to enjoy today and worry less about tomorrow.
I’m interested to know how people cope with losing their hearing over the years, and the affect it has had on life.
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Hello
I have a severe hearing loss in my left ear and a minor hearing loss in my right ear. I have been dealing with it almost my entire life. I am currently getting ready to do a research paper on how hearing affects grammar and other aspects of literacy. I was wondering what your insights are on the subject. Do you think your hearing loss has affected how you write or read?
I started to lose my hearing back in the 1980’s. By the late 80’s I started wearing hearing aids for high pitch loss. By 2002, I started to worry about my continued loss in both the median and high pitches. I investigated and was implanted with a cochlear implant for people with high pitch loss that is still in clinical trials. You wear you hearing aids along with the cochlear implant.
I did very well for a couple of months, but suddenly I had a drastic drop in all my residual hearing. Suddenly, I was hearing the high pitches from the cochlear implant and some of the low pitches. It seems that an auto immune disease had attacked all my residual hearing. I had been a classroom teacher, but moved into a position of reading coach back in 1998. I didn’t know from day to day what my hearing would be like. My ENT encouraged me to try experimental drugs which at high dosages restored some of my hearing, but the high dosages caused side effects and when the dosage was lowered my hearing continued to decline.
As my hearing continued to drop, I grieved for my hearing. My family and friends were extremly supportive. I credit them and a great doctor and audiologist at the University of Iowa for helping to come to terms and make decisions for my future.
I retired from education in June 2004 and in August of the same year I was implanted in the other ear with a full cochlear implant. Within 6 months of having the second surgery, I was doing so well that I was able to start doing reading testing for my district. Within 4 months of the surgery, I lost my final bit of hearing-but do very well with my combination of hybrid and full cochlear implant. I am truly thankful I had the option of having cochlear implant surgery.
Lil Klein