In response to the posts about the "stigma" of wearing aids: First, think back to what people had to wear during the 40s and 50s: my dad was profoundly deaf and wore a 1"x3"x4" aid in a harness in the center of his chest before the "radical" new aids in clunky eyeglass bows came into being. We learned to speak to his chest! Not only did he have a huge lump on his chest, but a very visible cord coming out of his collar up to the one ear that the aid worked with. Everyone in the room could hear the frequent feedback squeals, too! He had to be careful...couldn't wear the popular nylon dress shirts of the day as they rubbed against the aid enough to make it impossible for him to hear at all.

Also, I was terribly near-sighted all my life, almost legally blind, until I had cataract surgery. Being visually impaired to that extent is also very isolating and a problem, especially after Meniere's removed useful hearing from one side during my 40s. Near blindness is also a social problem as well as a problem seeing what's around you. Following cataract surgery, I initially had, believe it or not, 20/20 vision. It has deteriorated slightly, but I'm still legal to drive without glasses. Every morning, I wake up, look out my window and see leaves on trees and am soooo grateful! I still wear glasses all day, because the astigmatism resulting from severe near-sightedness (i.e., my eyeballs are misshapen because I didn't spend the additional $2,000 per eye to have that corrected) makes walking without glasses lead to having a full-blown Meniere's crisis, which, although it's a great way to lose weight, is not anything I want to experience again. And, of course, I also have presbyopia, because I'm older than dirt, so need glasses to read or do close work.

Due to having gone bilateral with Meniere's last May 24, I've found it virtually impossible recently to understand, even though I can hear sound with the aid in what used to be my hearing ear. Meniere's adds recruitment (sharp sounds actually are painful) and distortion (you can hear that someone's speaking, but it's just a rumble of noise without any discernible words), plus it fluctuates from hour to hour. Some days I can hear at least every other word spoken and piece together what I see and hear, but most of the time I cannot understand, even when attempting to "get" what the person right in front of me is saying. This makes is additionally difficult, as people can't understand why I heard them enough to get at least the main points yesterday but can't get a clue today. I've worn an aid in my "good" ear for a couple of years as age-related deafness made it increasingly difficult to hear, but now I've had lots of days where wearing it only increases the godawful bad noise...on top of different tinnitus in both ears.

I made an appt. with my gal at Costco, had to wait three weeks, but, WOW! Yesterday is the start of a new life for me! A quick test determined that I had lost, ahem, 20 decibels from a year ago. She gave me a temporary new, stronger mic in the new ear piece that still feels "too big" but does a better job of delivering sound. She has ordered a whole new earpiece and will call me as soon as it arrives--all at zero cost to me, even though it's MY problem, not the aid's problem. We talked about the possibility of a CI for my long-useless ear and how I would probably qualify for one now (failed to qualify six months ago by understanding 55% of simple sentences in a sound booth). On the hour-plus drive home, I was able to listen to a discussion program on the radio for the first time in months, plus, as I got closer to home and had to change stations, could actually hear and understand music for the first time in almost a year!!!! I hope that this will make it possible for me to actually hear during small group meetings as I'm active in three different organizations. EXCITING! I left with a provisional appt. for Sunday in case everything's too loud, but, several hours later, I'm one happy camper. The new earpiece may be too much for the rare good days, but I'll worry about that when when happens.