h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I now know why they don’t want to set them at your full prescription until after you have been wearing them for awhile. I also understand why they say to build up to a full day of wear gradually.

Since I have 3 settings (inside/quiet, outside/noisy or phone), I figured I have the audiologist set them to full. I could always compensate by changing them to a lower setting.

Some of the first things I noticed were just how loud our van is and how much rustling noises there are made by all the paper shuffling around the floor (note to self…clean out van!). Also, the fountain can be heard as one walks in the front door. I could hear it sometimes, if I stood right next to it and listened real hard. Then there were all the ‘house’ noises…furnace, water heater, frig. I’m sure they’ll fade into the background, but right now…wow.

The audiologist asked if it was quiet at work…of course I told her yes…when I see her next week, I’ll let her know in retrospect just how funny that question really was!

The biggest surprise came when I sneezed. I thought my head had exploded!

Not only was I hearing ‘head noise’…which now appears much, much louder … I was hearing reverb noise also.

When we ate dinner, I actually had to remove my hearing aides. I thought I would go deaf from chewing on celery. Right now, I’m learning how to modulate my voice. I was told that I have always been soft spoken. Now that everything seems louder to me, I’m going to be even worse. Help me out on this gang.

Can’t wait for the weekend. Planning on getting out to the woods and actually hearing!

More next week!

Yeah, all those head noises are why I used an FM receiver hearing device instead of hearing aides when I was in school. With the FM receiver, the only noise that comes into your ear is what goes into the microphone that the speaker is wearing. Of course, this works great in a school setting, where you can survive just fine if the only person you can really hear is the teacher. It's not really very useful in the real world, though.

They tell me that one of these days I will need hearing aides full-time, but that (luckily for me) I'm not there yet.

I do remember how weird it is suddenly being able to hear, though. That happens with me everytime my eardrum perforates -- suddenly I can hear all sorts of little sounds that I hadn't noticed I was missing.


Mikey

Everytime it perforates???

Hmmm? (as he looks at the icepick)

Nah!

Barton

My right eardrum perforates all the time -- every time it finally heals up, it goes again. I go through pillowcases pretty quickly, as that nasty gunk just all rushes out and gets all over the place while I sleep --

Theoretically, I really should have some kind of permanent tube put in that ear, but it's never seemed worth the hassle of surgery.

I've never done anything to make it blow on *purpose*, though Barton....

Hi, congrats on your new hearing aides, Richenda. I'm glad that you can *hear* things now. The background noise would be a huge pain, but it must be wonderful to be able to notice things like rustling leaves and bubbling water. Not so much crunching celery, though.

Perfect time for leaping around in the woods, eh?

I hear this autumn is going to be one of the richest and most colourful in Briain for a long time, after the MENTALLY hot summer. They're talking about it 'rivalling New England' which I think is probably pushing it a tad.

Something to do with the amount of sugar in the leaves apparently, greater after a really hot summer. I'll be sure to get photos.. if you do get out on vacation soon B & C, have fun enjoying the sights, sounds and smells but KEEP AWAY FROM PRECIPITOUS MOUNDS people. I'll be not being there but I'll look forward to hearing all about it.