I lost the hearing in my left ear in 1987 from having an acoustic neuroma removed at Mayo in Rochester. It was a miracle at the time that the team of an ear doctor and neurosurgeon could remove it without damaging my facial nerve. Evidently today doctors can remove acoustic neuromas and save the ability of the person to hear if the nerve isn't too badly damaged to begin with. I'm sure I grieved the loss of hearing in that ear, but more I think I still grieve the loss of not being able to do things socially and professionally I had always done, like attend conferences because it was impossible to hear in crowded rooms with background noise, chair meetings because I couldn't follow side conversations, go out to noisy restaurants, etc. I've really become very good at compensating; but often rather than dealing with the frustrations of not being able to hear well, I tend to avoid problematic situations and am less social. I am also much more wary about being in crowds where I can't tell where people are around me. Every five years or so I get my hearing in my good ear checked and ask if there is a hearing aid that will help me; but so far all the audiologist has offered is a transmitter that will send sound from my dead ear over to my good one with annoying static, etc. I have faith someone will come up with something better than that -- it's too hard to imagine engineers can design rockets to go into space but not develop a decent hearing aid for my condition. Fortunately, being deaf in one ear hasn't kept me from doing the things I love most like traveling in rural areas in Africa, South America and Asia, although not being able to hear properly has made learning and speaking foreign languages really hard. Nancy - nla4625 member of lung group on Mayo Connect

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