Hearing test, Tinitis, and wanting to stay deaf

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dreama

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I went for another audiology apointment to ask about getting vibrating hearing device. I think I'm getting a little closer as they said they would look into it and even hooked up a hearing aid with a vibrating pad although the vibration isn't quite so strong as my tactaid that was malfunctioning.

I had a hearing test. Left ear 120 db. Right ear 110 db. They kept trying to advise me to have hearing aid as they say I won't have recruitment with more upto date hearing aids. They also ask if I was interested in surgery. They didn't specify CI but I think they might have wanted other surgery as my left ear drum isn't responding to their machine very well so now I have a conductive loss as well as an AN loss. I'm not interested in any surgery though because even without this added problem I wasn't getting that much benifit from hearing aids.

Anyway after the hearing test I kept hearing the noises in my right ear. The hearing test seemed to set off my tinitus really badly so that's another reason why I don't want hearing to be fixed with aid. Plus I like my world to stay quiet. My tinitus is very mild when I don't hear anything but it got really bad after that test.

Does anyone else have tinitus when they have a hearing test?
Any polite ways of making them understand I want to stay deaf?
 
I would suggest politely declining any treatments they offer. If they push it, keep declining. If they get really obnoxious, change physicians.

I get tinnitus sometimes but it isn't related to what I hear or do with my ears.
 
Changing audi in UK is difficult. I'm hoping they listened to me eventually since they gave me the vibrating device, but they did make it clear that they think that a hearing aid for my right ear would have been better.
 
dreama said:
Does anyone else have tinitus when they have a hearing test?
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Yes. This is the reason why I hate hearing tests. Tinnitus also affects the outcome of the test, because during the test I don't know whether I am actually hearing the test noises or whether I am hearing the noises inside my head.

If you want to stay deaf, then why don't you just avoid seeing your audiologist? :)
 
omegaman said:
Yes. This is the reason why I hate hearing tests. Tinnitus also affects the outcome of the test, because during the test I don't know whether I am actually hearing the test noises or whether I am hearing the noises inside my head.

If you want to stay deaf, then why don't you just avoid seeing your audiologist? :)
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I do normally. I've not been to one for years but I want a tactaid 7 and they won't sell them directly to me.
they want me to buy one via an Audio. That's the only reason I was there and I tried to make it clear right from the start.
 
Make sure to establish in a nice but firm way that your audiologist is working for you, not the other way around. You're paying your audi. So they should give you what you want without giving you trouble.
 
dreama said:
Does anyone else have tinitus when they have a hearing test?
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Urgh... I hate audiology tests for the tinnitus alone, especially when they put those things right behind my ear for the "bone" test which is painful for me. Sometimes I am not even sure if I am hearing the sound or it is just a tinnitus from before-- so more often than not, I would press the button or respond anyway if I think it is correct.
 
Hearing tests don't set my tinnitus, in fact I like hearing tests as they prove educational. I rarely get tinnitus and when I do, its mild and I can easily tune it out.

At what frequencies is your 110db and 120db loss? Do you have much more residual hearing in the lows? If so, maybe a HA programmed to amplify only the lows might work for you and without setting off your tinnitus.
 
I have tinnitus and my HAs mask the noise and feeling of fullness. I don't wear them all of the time, though.

I understand wanting to be stay deaf. I'm hard of hearing and sometimes it's just too freaking hard to listen. Sometimes I don't want to hear at all. Sometimes I wish that I'd go completely deaf quickly so that I'm not in the netherworld between the hearing and Deaf worlds.

The audi wants to do something to help you. That's what they do--dispense HAs and refer for surgery. It make the audi feel useful. If you don't want those, then refuse them. You get to decide for yourself. You may want to sit down with your audi to explain and ask her to respect your decision.
 
ah no you dont sallylou, thats like a mistaken deathwish - i used to think like this, and guess what it did happen! 10 years down the track since my first BA, and now I wish it my hearing never got worse (im profound but went profound to the brink of loosing ALL) and believe me the tinnitus at that point is truly UNBEARABLE,
imagine loosing peace with 'life's breaks' say traquality for rest, or listening to music, now picture this without any of the stress-reducing do-nothing relaxation....and indeed you dont have to have perfect hearing for music to appreciate (except maybe more depth but ok we're not discussing this now), but the whole point is, I realised that wishing to be 'dumber' than i am now that is, like, living 'IN THAT WORLD where no 'questions' on the social life is left overhanging, with less hassle find 'soulmates' or good flowing rapports with someone for every situations, likie having more choices of selective listening ears for you to choose because you 'know more people' due to better hearing or better signing. Well I do wonder about this too but I realised this is a form of 'ignorance is bliss' myth

Loosing some left-over hearing i had, over the last 10 years resulted to getting extremely LOUD alienating noises from nowhere but in the dying ear and NO amount of masking is going to work, just time, and diet and lots , lots and Lots of paitence.....

in retrospect, i feel it is impossible to 'go completely deaf without the brain adjusting (that is it creates the noise due to your brain's aural memory and theres no way to tell the brain not to work. In as much as say, pulling out a spark plugs of one cylinder in an engine 'to save fuel' isnt going to prevent from rough shaking, and oil spluttering into that barrel due to less 'tightness' from the piston's expansion failure to seal up the ring to keep oil separate between the crank case and above the piston. (I just came up with this example - probably a poor example but its the best one i can think of) You see, the brain and ear is alot like the engine, remove one part which has be used for many many years (or indeed all your life) and then try keep the engine going, but disable one of the internal (important part) is going to have irreversible damages as well as very obvious rough running. Rough-running could be an analogy for rought times in life adjusting, like not being about to listen to music and or not being able to commuicate with a range of people you were accustomed to, then finding you lack signs or lack freinds who tolerate your needs for repeating or writing - life quickly become a nightmare.

To finish here now ( i need to go to sleep), basically im saying that 'be careful what you wish for'
 
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Grummer said:
To finish here now ( i need to go to sleep), basically im saying that 'be careful what you wish for'
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Well I was happy to lose the rest of my hearing. It happened several years back. I'm only going to an Audi now, not because I need a hearing aid or my hearing back or anything like that but since I'm now blind as well, I'm finding that vibrating devices that alert me to sound would be useful. I have no desire to hear, just to be able to know when a car is comming so I am less likely to get knocked down by one.

When I was Hard of hearing my tinitus was a lot worse then it is now.
 
sallylou said:
I understand wanting to be stay deaf. I'm hard of hearing and sometimes it's just too freaking hard to listen. Sometimes I don't want to hear at all. Sometimes I wish that I'd go completely deaf quickly so that I'm not in the netherworld between the hearing and Deaf worlds.
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That's understandable. I am not sorry my hearing went altogether.

The audi wants to do something to help you. That's what they do--dispense HAs and refer for surgery. It make the audi feel useful. If you don't want those, then refuse them. You get to decide for yourself. You may want to sit down with your audi to explain and ask her to respect your decision.
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I apreciate they want to help but they still carried on talking about hearing aids after I told them I wasn't interested.
 
ok , i guess experiences is different for everyone... no problems
 
Grummer said:
ok , i guess experiences is different for everyone... no problems
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That's true. Some people take to profound deafness better then others. I didn't miss my hearing at all.
It's the same with blindness. Some people said that going blind was the best thing that happened to them. I believe them, but I don't feel quite that way. To me blindness is just something I must accept to the best of my ability and move on.
 
dreama said:
That's true. Some people take to profound deafness better then others. I didn't miss my hearing at all.
It's the same with blindness. Some people said that going blind was the best thing that happened to them. I believe them, but I don't feel quite that way. To me blindness is just something I must accept to the best of my ability and move on.
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It's funny you mention that cause I am the opposite of you. For me going blind wasn't bad at all, and I don't miss my vision. But I am having a hard time adjusting to being hard of hearing.
 
CJB said:
It's funny you mention that cause I am the opposite of you. For me going blind wasn't bad at all, and I don't miss my vision. But I am having a hard time adjusting to being hard of hearing.
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I know, Aleser is the same I think.

I guess it just varies on people. I was born HOH. I had to struggle with faulty hearing so it was a releif not to have to do that any more.

But my sight's differant. I might have to accept a total lose one of these days. It might well happen that way and I'm sure I will manage to the best of my ability, but right now I do value the small amount of sight I still have left. Even though most of the time I can't even use it.
 
I'm the same way where I was partially sighted throughout my childhood and got sick of being pressured to see and be as "sighted" as possible. So for me it's almost a relief to be blind, so the pressure is off. And like you with your sight, I appreciate the hearing I do have.
 
Hi Dreama, Can you ask your Medical staff to stamp or write "Not Interested in CI" on your folders then they won't ask you again. My friend is determined not to have one and was fed up with Audi asking her if she is interested in CI so she told them to write it across her file.

US cyberfriends, Dreama is right about changing Audi, In UK we get what we get, if its same one or different it's doesn't matter... it's real pain in the a$$.

Hope you get what you need, dreama.
 
overthepond said:
Hi Dreama, Can you ask your Medical staff to stamp or write "Not Interested in CI" on your folders then they won't ask you again. My friend is determined not to have one and was fed up with Audi asking her if she is interested in CI so she told them to write it across her file.

US cyberfriends, Dreama is right about changing Audi, In UK we get what we get, if its same one or different it's doesn't matter... it's real pain in the a$$.

Hope you get what you need, dreama.
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I think I should have stamped something like "NO CI, waiting for stem cells" that way they know that I want to hear better, but it will be with stem cells instead of CI. Audiologist's job is to help people hear better and of course earn money that way. Me and my parents will be happy to pay.

Ive only had an audiologist once recommend CI to me but he retracted it the next day after seeing that I was getting significent benefit with the new Phonak Naida V UP HAs, he even seemed surprised considering how bad he thinks my hearing is. I have no idea how bad my hearing is, what I hear sounds normal to me.
 
grummer, for me it's not really a wish. It's how I am adjusting emotionally. That's how I feel. I'm in the acceptance stage where I'm ready for whatever happens. I'm ok with being that. Of course, I don't know what is going to happen. I could stay how I am for a long time or I could lose more hearing tomorrow. People react and adjust differently.

I hear phantom noises now, and that doesn't really bother me. I "hear" a noise just like someone spoke or moved something in the room. It doesn't upset me, though it's inconvenient having to stop and check for reality of the situation. The sound is in my brain somehow. It's interesting how our brains work. If the voices start to tell me to carry out evil acts, THEN I'm going to be worried.

Thanks to those who shared their experience here. :ty:
 
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