Hopeful Hearing

I have been experimenting with hearing aids for a fortnight now.  Having given up on ENT ages ago, but having been troubled with my hearing and tinnitus recently, I went for an assessment and the audiologist was simply wonderful: she had taken time to look at my notes ahead of time and didn't spend half my appointment referring to them; she actually listened to me rather than talk at me; she knew about MD, she understood what I was going through; she took time to ask relevant questions.  Believe me, that's a first in the 10 years I've had this condition.

So, whilst I do have some shockingly low levels of hearing at one end of the spectrum, the hearing aids are mainly to see if they will help dull the impact of the tinnitus which has, frankly, made me very miserable these past few months.

The first few days were blissful.  I had no physical issues with the ear buds, the amplified hearing took a bit of getting used to, but it was great.  And best of all, the rushing and roar of my tinnitus was considerably dulled.

I had expected any problems to emerge in the first few days, but actually they started appearing as time wore on.  First, the amplified sound suddenly became a bit overbearing.  Despite turning down the volume, everything seemed harsh and 'scratchy'; then the tinnitus found a way to combat the benefits being offered and now seem as bad with the aids as without; and finally, my ears seem to be staging a rebellion against the little plastic ear buds and are becoming increasingly irritating and even painful.

Perhaps this is all part of the process, so I'm sticking with it, and will try to explain all this at my follow-up appointment.  It's just a bit disappointing after such a positive initial reaction.

In the great movie The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Defresne writes to his friend, Red: 'Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things.'  When it comes to this, I'm not sure I would agree.