springtime
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
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Hello all! 
I am 38 years old, and was, last month, diagnosed with otosclerosis, conductive hearing loss, and neuralgis. With tinnitus in the left ear. It was a bit of a shock, as I had gone to my ENT thinking I had an infection or some fluid
. It is a mild to moderate hearing loss at this point, and is progressive-I should have a hearing test every year.
During the exam, I had a hearing assessment (the lady doing it kept asking me, do you have hearing loss? I said no
whoops). In my right ear, I have only a very mild loss of the mid and low tones, high tones are great. In my left hear, the high tones are good but there is significant loss in the mid and lower tones. This is why I always think that the tv set and my dh were 'mumbling'. And co-workers have asked me, can you hear ok? At least now, I know what is going on, better to know than to be in denial (which I was, realistically this has gone on for a few years now).
My ENT said the options are-do nothing, get a hearing aid, stapendectomy. He does not recommend the stapendectomy at my age, and I don't want it anyway ( will probably not ever want it, personal opinion). He said usually people my age and with my sort of loss get a hearing aid. I have since had an assessment with the audiologist that works with him, and he recommended a Starkey BTE. It was amazing to hear with that thing in-I liked it. But I have not yet ordered one-I wanted to think it over. And it's $2700 and not covered by insurance. I think I do want to get it, though.
I do struggle sometimes, especially at my noisy work, and in group situations. I'm not sure what is holding me back, it's like emotional or something-this probably sounds silly. But, I'm mid-life and mid-career and this caught me off guard. I also do not know anyone with otosclerosis, and any forums I found online were geared to much older people with it, most of whom had the surgery.
Anyhow, reading here at AllDeaf has been very informative!
I do not know any Deaf people IRL. My dad and aunt (his sister) are HOH, typical aging sort of loss, unlike mine. My dad wears two aids that are in ear (the molded ones) and my aunt uses the Starkey like I'm looking at. Dh and kids have no loss, and are generally supportive but not especially helpful about it. I have read great things here about ASL, so I looked it up and there are classes at the American School for the Deaf, which is near my work-I'm considering taking one.
I'm glad to be a member here and excited to participate!
I am 38 years old, and was, last month, diagnosed with otosclerosis, conductive hearing loss, and neuralgis. With tinnitus in the left ear. It was a bit of a shock, as I had gone to my ENT thinking I had an infection or some fluid
. It is a mild to moderate hearing loss at this point, and is progressive-I should have a hearing test every year.During the exam, I had a hearing assessment (the lady doing it kept asking me, do you have hearing loss? I said no
whoops). In my right ear, I have only a very mild loss of the mid and low tones, high tones are great. In my left hear, the high tones are good but there is significant loss in the mid and lower tones. This is why I always think that the tv set and my dh were 'mumbling'. And co-workers have asked me, can you hear ok? At least now, I know what is going on, better to know than to be in denial (which I was, realistically this has gone on for a few years now).My ENT said the options are-do nothing, get a hearing aid, stapendectomy. He does not recommend the stapendectomy at my age, and I don't want it anyway ( will probably not ever want it, personal opinion). He said usually people my age and with my sort of loss get a hearing aid. I have since had an assessment with the audiologist that works with him, and he recommended a Starkey BTE. It was amazing to hear with that thing in-I liked it. But I have not yet ordered one-I wanted to think it over. And it's $2700 and not covered by insurance. I think I do want to get it, though.
I do struggle sometimes, especially at my noisy work, and in group situations. I'm not sure what is holding me back, it's like emotional or something-this probably sounds silly. But, I'm mid-life and mid-career and this caught me off guard. I also do not know anyone with otosclerosis, and any forums I found online were geared to much older people with it, most of whom had the surgery.Anyhow, reading here at AllDeaf has been very informative!
I do not know any Deaf people IRL. My dad and aunt (his sister) are HOH, typical aging sort of loss, unlike mine. My dad wears two aids that are in ear (the molded ones) and my aunt uses the Starkey like I'm looking at. Dh and kids have no loss, and are generally supportive but not especially helpful about it. I have read great things here about ASL, so I looked it up and there are classes at the American School for the Deaf, which is near my work-I'm considering taking one.I'm glad to be a member here and excited to participate!
