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Peter Elwell tells Deaf Service Center group of his quest to find the right hearing aid
Some people needlessly endure the daily frustrations of hearing loss because they don't wear the hearing aids they need.
Town Manager Peter Elwell knows about that. He spent 14 years of his adult life coping with his impairment rather than getting help.
Elwell's hearing loss was detected during a routine physical when he was a teenager in Vermont, he said during a luncheon of the Deaf Service Center of Palm Beach County at the Governors Club in West Palm Beach on Thursday. He has minor hearing loss in his left ear and somewhat more in his right.
Elwell said he was wrongly advised that hearing aids wouldn't help and that he should learn to cope by avoiding socially complicated or noisy situations. He grew more frustrated with the impairment while in college.
Then came the day that changed his life. While attending a theatrical comedy, he tried on a hearing aid after having difficulty following the first act. During the second act, he found himself laughing along with everyone else.
"I knew from that moment that amplification helped me," said Elwell, who is now 45. "My world changed."
He could hear certain birds sing for the first time. When people pronounced soft consonants, he no longer needed to work out the words by reading a face or putting things in context.
Appearance was never an issue.
"They're just glasses for my ears," he said.
But then he was advised — once again, wrongly — to wear a different device that proved uncomfortable because it threw off his equilibrium.
"Then I did what a lot of folks do: I put it in a drawer," he said.
Years later, his children would notice the impairment. There were times when he didn't hear everything he needed to at work, he said.
About two years ago, Elwell decided to give hearing aids another try after hearing a Deaf Service Center presentation to the Palm Beach Flagler Rotary Club, of which Elwell is a member. Once again, he started hearing things he hadn't in years.
"We need to take action and get the right help," he said. "If we don't get the right help, we need to insist on getting it."
Elwell joined the Deaf Service Center's board of directors last year and is involved in its community outreach effort.
"My life has been transformed by wearing my hearing aids," he said.
There are more than 174,000 people with hearing loss in Palm Beach County, including 14,000 who are deaf, according to the Deaf Service Center.
Some people needlessly endure the daily frustrations of hearing loss because they don't wear the hearing aids they need.
Town Manager Peter Elwell knows about that. He spent 14 years of his adult life coping with his impairment rather than getting help.
Elwell's hearing loss was detected during a routine physical when he was a teenager in Vermont, he said during a luncheon of the Deaf Service Center of Palm Beach County at the Governors Club in West Palm Beach on Thursday. He has minor hearing loss in his left ear and somewhat more in his right.
Elwell said he was wrongly advised that hearing aids wouldn't help and that he should learn to cope by avoiding socially complicated or noisy situations. He grew more frustrated with the impairment while in college.
Then came the day that changed his life. While attending a theatrical comedy, he tried on a hearing aid after having difficulty following the first act. During the second act, he found himself laughing along with everyone else.
"I knew from that moment that amplification helped me," said Elwell, who is now 45. "My world changed."
He could hear certain birds sing for the first time. When people pronounced soft consonants, he no longer needed to work out the words by reading a face or putting things in context.
Appearance was never an issue.
"They're just glasses for my ears," he said.
But then he was advised — once again, wrongly — to wear a different device that proved uncomfortable because it threw off his equilibrium.
"Then I did what a lot of folks do: I put it in a drawer," he said.
Years later, his children would notice the impairment. There were times when he didn't hear everything he needed to at work, he said.
About two years ago, Elwell decided to give hearing aids another try after hearing a Deaf Service Center presentation to the Palm Beach Flagler Rotary Club, of which Elwell is a member. Once again, he started hearing things he hadn't in years.
"We need to take action and get the right help," he said. "If we don't get the right help, we need to insist on getting it."
Elwell joined the Deaf Service Center's board of directors last year and is involved in its community outreach effort.
"My life has been transformed by wearing my hearing aids," he said.
There are more than 174,000 people with hearing loss in Palm Beach County, including 14,000 who are deaf, according to the Deaf Service Center.