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Saavik

Saavik

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Tipperary, Ireland and the Metropolitan DC area are what I consider home. I'm 23 and was in the Army. I lost a significant amount of hearing during my time in and I'm worried that damage is progressing. The defining moment when my hearing took the most damage was when I fired hundreds of rounds with a M240b machinegun and couldn't hear much for quite some time. It seems things are becoming harder to hear and I have to constantly ask people to repeat things and speak up. I can't even hear my friend's GPS at all and it was playing through the car speakers, which made our trip awful, since I kept missing important directions. I have to turn music way up to actually hear it, which is likely doing more damage.

During the last screening when I was in the Army during deployment, the captain reviwing my hearing test was amazed how much hearing loss I had and asked how old I was (I was about 21 at the time). I recently decided as a precaution to my seemingly deteriorating hearing to take ASL 1 at my college. I'd like to get my hearing checked so I can compare the hearing loss then and now to try determining a rate of loss.

It's rather embarrassing and irritating to have people say something and get mad when I don't hear them, because they said it 'loud enough'. I have no money to pay for a hearing test and I don't even know were to go in my area to get one. Ifear the day I lose music.
 
Welcome and thank you for your services. I am deaf and use ASL. I am married to a Marine.
 
shel90 said:
Welcome and thank you for your services. I am deaf and use ASL. I am married to a Marine.
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I wouldn't thank me for anything, long story. I'd like to switch over to ASL as it's tiresome having to ask people to repeat or speak up and people assume you always hear them, so they always seem to cock an attitude when I don't happen to hear their whisper like voice. I find ASL would ease my irritation and to be honest, I much prefer non verbal communication, it's just the eye contact in ASL I hate. I took 4 years of Latin in high school and it wasn't nearly as great as ASL is. Sure I'm only in ASL 1 and have nobody in my area to practise with, but it seems to be going much better than Latin 1 ever did for me.
 
jonnyghost said:
:wave: can the VA help with hearing tests and such?
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I wouldn't count on it, since I kinda sorta quit the reserves. Again, very long story, I just reached the end of my rope with them, I was at wit's end. Putting that aside and forgetting the military part, if I had never enlisted and had progressive hearing loss exactly as I do now, how would one get their hearing checked out for next to nothing? I'm working a minimum wage job with low hours per week and in a community college.
 
Saavik said:
I wouldn't thank me for anything, long story. I'd like to switch over to ASL as it's tiresome having to ask people to repeat or speak up and people assume you always hear them, so they always seem to cock an attitude when I don't happen to hear their whisper like voice. I find ASL would ease my irritation and to be honest, I much prefer non verbal communication, it's just the eye contact in ASL I hate. I took 4 years of Latin in high school and it wasn't nearly as great as ASL is. Sure I'm only in ASL 1 and have nobody in my area to practise with, but it seems to be going much better than Latin 1 ever did for me.
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I learned ASL at 25 years old ...it changed my life for the better. I was born with a sever profound deafness and wasn't allowed to learn ASL growing up. I know what it is like except for the losing hearing part.
 
You're a long long way from Tipparary, but your heart's right here! LOL
 
Welcome,
And, "I hear you on that music thing. I do miss music, and feel you on the whisper thing. I went through that and people who I thought would be most patient weren't but oh well, cest le vie .... I think I jinxed myself though, the last concert I went to of my all time fav band, a tradition me and friend had done since we were old enough to go to their shows. We each have a favorite song by them and as MIT song ended I said, " if I were to never hear them in concert again, I could still die a happy man". Prophetic, bad luck, karma?? Guess what though the music stays with you it's locked in your memories took awhile too realize . No sympathy for the devil , here, there are others who have not had luxury to listen to or have fav band. Good luck, welcome aboard, may the Schwartz be with you, one love and all that... Peace
 
Oops.... MIT is supposed to be ---> my
Emm-----barrrrrassssing
 
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