Adjustment to late onset deafness

Hi Im Connie and at around 50 I started having tinnitus and background sound difficulty. Buldging eardrums and had tubes put in. That helped with ackward background sounds and over ampt background sounds. Its 24/7 but Over the last seven years The tinnitus has gotten 4 X stronger and Im loosing hearing in the range of womens voices. They say I am at boarderline for hearing aids. TV movies is a problem. I can hear the background music but not the voices. grrrrrrr...... All my friends use cell phones and now I am to. That doesn't help. If I drink or eat anything ice cold. the tinnitus goes even higher. Plus late at night both ears are a thousand crickets and tones. Sometimes roars. My question is - it this situation does it ever stop??? How is a hearing aid going to help with tinnitus--Im sure its from loud music and wearing headsets working in Communications field all my life....This last year my quality of hearing has really changed..LMK
 
Hiya, my name is Elodie, I live in the Uk. I have OI and have gradually been going deaf throughout my life. It has been a journey but I'm here now. Still learning ASL but it's coming good. Talking was always a pain in the a**, always hated phones, but just use text now. Miss my music but use the Tube to learn to sign my favourites. You know the ones, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams...C Lo Green! That is cool! lol! I am 60 plus now and starting to live again. I don't have to face to face people who are a pain anymore. Which is great! Love your site Will be here often. Kind regards El
 
veneficus said:
Hiya, my name is Elodie, I live in the Uk. I have OI and have gradually been going deaf throughout my life. It has been a journey but I'm here now. Still learning ASL but it's coming good. Talking was always a pain in the a**, always hated phones, but just use text now. Miss my music but use the Tube to learn to sign my favourites. You know the ones, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams...C Lo Green! That is cool! lol! I am 60 plus now and starting to live again. I don't have to face to face people who are a pain anymore. Which is great! Love your site Will be here often. Kind regards El
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A thought on this...............

Certain iPods can be hacked and the bass boost enhanced, use Skull Candy, (full metal jackets, I think), they can handle the boost, then watching the TUBE with lyrics can work.

I too miss music............allot
 
veneficus said:
Hiya, my name is Elodie, I live in the Uk. I have OI and have gradually been going deaf throughout my life. It has been a journey but I'm here now. Still learning ASL but it's coming good. Talking was always a pain in the a**, always hated phones, but just use text now. Miss my music but use the Tube to learn to sign my favourites. You know the ones, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams...C Lo Green! That is cool! lol! I am 60 plus now and starting to live again. I don't have to face to face people who are a pain anymore. Which is great! Love your site Will be here often. Kind regards El
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:hmm: I missed this. Osteogenisis imperfecta? And wouldn't it be more useful for you to learn BSL??
 
Hi. My hearing loss has been going on for about 10 years and is hereditary. I have Bilateral Hearing loss with extreme Tinnitus. Seems my hearing loss has accelerated in the last 8 months.

Been without a job going on 4 years. For 3 years off and on I would go to interviews be upfront with my hearing loss and still had great difficulty in hearing. So heading down the disability route. I would rather work but going on 4 years without a job I had to start disability. Even tho it's not a guarantee at least it gives me something else to focus on. Worse part is I have no insurance and have already used the SSI exam. So, I need to figure out how to get at least 2 more hearing tests done during the wait period to go in front of the Judge.

The ringing keeps me up and is louder then ever. I have what sounds like in the forefront the long beep that is made for weather warnings. Followed by the sounds of crickets with what also sounds like background machinery noise. I rather not hear anything then all this going on lol

Do well unless the routine is not one I am used too. For example I went to Panera's for the 1st time. Thought I did good by looking at the menu beforehand. Armed with my new menu skills I walked right up to place my order. One thing I did not know was they ask what bread you want. I thought that was covered with the sandwich. No they also add for the soup. Took her 5 times saying it before I understood. So translate this to an interview and yeah most don't have the patience. Most think you dumb, high or drunk.

Even my family has lost some patience. I do plan on learning ASl just the matter of finding where to go and be able to have the gas to do it. Sure I can look it up but I rather learn in a classroom setting. To make sure I know what I am learning. Would like my family to learn as well.

Glad this Forum is here. Been very interesting to read.
 
Satine's observation's on the last line- is correct.:wave: The wide variance here of how different persons' reaction to being either "some hearing loss to the ultimate-deafness".
I still recall the first Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto -Hearing Help/Coping class back 20 years ago. Be assertive/don't bluff about how much you "hear". Nobody can "read your mind" on how you "understand".

Aside: went from Profound loss category -both ears- in the 70s. to deafness -1992 Right ear to becoming bilateral DEAF-December 20, 2006.

Does this forum help one when reading? Much to consider!
Each of us of has "traveled much different ways" in dealing with our hearing loss.
 
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drphil- Yes the reactions are so different. People are either very tolerant or not. We all have degrees of loss, some have it more profound then others. In the end we are all here for one common reason and it all deals with ears lol I agree it's better to ask 5 times then to act like you hear when it's clear you did not.
 
I had a doctor this morning (the guy who did hubby's heart catheterization) offer to shave just so I could read his lips. I just told him to write out all the info and he did. HE asked if I was open to some constructive criticism and I told him yes. He mentioned to both hubby and I that I was pronouncing some words wrong and my speech was not real clear. That's when I mentioned that I was total deaf. Needless to say, he was left speechless after that.
 
Re: Late onset deafness

Wow, this is right up my alley! I've been struggling to find someone/somewhere to help me deal with my profound deafness. I'm uninsured & need new hearing aids, but I can't afford them. I may even be eligable for implants. In the meantime, i'm trying to embrace the HOH deaf community & try to make friends that know what i'm going thru & can be a support for me as I would for them in return. I need to relearn ASL, is there anyone willing to tutor me?:hmm:
 
i went profoundly deaf within a weeks or so some years back and was sent rehabilitaion.it left me with other problems aswell as can tell by my writing.
i found and find it difficult going from hearing world to deaf cos my thinking is still in hearing world,e.g metaphor,i find deaf world bsl blunt which needs to be,hearing world got many words with basic same meaning, deaf use maybe one sign which mean many things.
it difficult cos deaf and hearing world i find hard and visa versa,but i think america got more social networks than uk
 
Hi all, I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself. I feel a little weird here because I still operate well in the hearing world but I don't know for how much longer I can keep that up. I've had bilateral high frequency loss since my teens and it has been progressing to lower frequencies (and in all likelihood will continue to progress since they can't give me any reason for it beyond the vague "genetics"). I've had hearing aids for seven years now but I only wear them when I think I'm going to need them (restaurants, movies, meetings, bars, etc.). They don't work that well anymore- probably because I've lost a lot in the 1000-2000hz range since they were programmed. I'm not sure how to go about getting them re-programmed- can any old audiologist do that or do I have to go back to where I got them or does this mean I need to get new hearing aids?

Anyway, I'm glad to have stumbled across this thread. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one dealing with these issues.
 
MJ said:
Hi all, I'm new here and wanted to introduce myself. I feel a little weird here because I still operate well in the hearing world but I don't know for how much longer I can keep that up. I've had bilateral high frequency loss since my teens and it has been progressing to lower frequencies (and in all likelihood will continue to progress since they can't give me any reason for it beyond the vague "genetics"). I've had hearing aids for seven years now but I only wear them when I think I'm going to need them (restaurants, movies, meetings, bars, etc.). They don't work that well anymore- probably because I've lost a lot in the 1000-2000hz range since they were programmed. I'm not sure how to go about getting them re-programmed- can any old audiologist do that or do I have to go back to where I got them or does this mean I need to get new hearing aids?

Anyway, I'm glad to have stumbled across this thread. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one dealing with these issues.
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Welcome. maybe it is less weird for you if you post in the introducation section. This thread is made by the former Original poster pretty good.

So welcome!
 
I am losing my hearing gradually since...welll..go look at my blog in Testimony. but the hardest is losing my singing and speech.
 
Safire said:
I am losing my hearing gradually since...welll..go look at my blog in Testimony. but the hardest is losing my singing and speech.
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Quick question, although I'm sure it's covered in your blogs I wanna know right now cause I'm so patient :lol: ... Do you have recordings of singing? Riding to my appointment yesterday I heard a song on the radio I know I'm going to miss so much!!!!! I turned it up even though I knew it'd hurt later! :lol:
 
Safire said:
I am losing my hearing gradually since...welll..go look at my blog in Testimony. but the hardest is losing my singing and speech.
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Just thought I would mention - I am total deaf. No hearing what-so-ever. Not a candidate for HA's or CI's. Have been for 6 years now. Was hoh for 42 years before. I still sing and I have been told I can still stay on key. In fact, my family tells me my pronunciation of words is clearer in my singing than in my speaking.
 
I've already posted in here, but I guess I've been avoiding telling my story. I found some inspiring stories on this thread, although if I start I'm afraid I'll begin with way too much detail and who wants that, right? I'm not quite sure when mine started, my guess is about ten years ago, but it could be further back as the injury that made it start was further back, I don't know. I'm kind of in denial about that. It's the detail I'd like to wait on. But the way I found out is almost as traumatic.
I thought I had allergies for years that were causing the pain, until about two years ago. Then right after finding out my husband was having an affair at work, I went into have my ears tested. We were separated and I started googling the way my ears were feeling. I came upon a term "hyperacusis", but kept going back to “recruitment”. I kept thinking to myself “No, it’s probably just hyperacusis. I even told my neurologist my thoughts about the hyperacusis. I didn’t say anything when I made the appointment though, I just went in and had the tests. The person giving the test was awesome and so helpful to my pain and limited income. I went into the patient room. The doctor walked in and said, “You have recruitment hearing loss, the damage is permanent. There is nothing you can do.” He turned around and walked out. It’s not so much that it was bad news, I won’t go into those reasons. But it was that I felt alone, no husband, no one.
Now that my husband and I are working things through we understand how my going deaf played its role, don’t get me wrong, it’s completely his fault! But, life happens and you move on. I also saw how it was affecting my kids. I wasn’t communicating well with them, this has improved so much! Life has improved so much learning what was happening to me, though at the same time it’s so scary having that “cut off” feeling from everything you know so quickly.
Due to my narcolepsy, I already have cataplexy, paralysis and sleeping issues. Now I have to deal with all this together. Once I was vibrant, outgoing and strong. Now I can be withdrawn, and staying at home suits me fine. I found this site because I wanted someone to communicate with that had inkling of what I was going through without the "Oh you poor dear" stuff. And finding this site was like a goldmine, because people here have way more than an inkling!! Sorry, this is long, but I tried and it would have been longer if I hadn’t tried.
One more thing, I'm not sure how it's affecting me as I've just started looking into this aspect of it. But apparently, trauma to the brain can cause your thought process to be messed up. Where I think I'm functioning as I always have, somewhere in there I got turned around. And I don't know when I'm saying the wrong things or behaving in an unacceptable social manner. The more I read the more upset I get and want to just give up. I'm trying not to. The stupid decisions you make in your youth really affect you the rest of your life!!!
 
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Welcome to AllDeaf Marie579:wave:

Thanks for sharing your story - another in a chain of moving stories that this thread contains.
 
AJWSmith said:
Welcome to AllDeaf Marie579:wave:

Thanks for sharing your story - another in a chain of moving stories that this thread contains.
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Thank you so much! (And I cried through most the stories!)
Of course it posted twice. Crazy phone!
 
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Wow, I really wish I had come to this thread first!

Hiya!! My name is Amber, I'm 37 and I have otosclerosis and cohclear otosclerosis. I have it worse than most people get, it's hereditary and I started losing my hearing even before my mother. I realized when I was 20 that I had lost hearing in my right ear. I had gone sky diving and it felt like someone stuck an ice pick in my ear during the free fall. So for the next years after that I thought that was the cause. But then I started losing it my left ear after I had my children. Then I was diagnosed with otosclerosis and was told that my realizing I couldn't hear out of my left ear until after I went sky diving was just coincidence, that I probably already had the loss just hadn't noticed it yet.

But anyway......... my journey into the abyss, just kidding it's not all that bad. My loss, right after my children, was fairly rapid over a year, but then slowed down for awhile. I got hearing aids, but not before I missed most of my daughters, the youngest, first words. That was rather heart wrenching.

In the last year I've had another plunge in my hearing so my hearing aids are not working nearly as well for me anymore. My left ear is now profound to no response and my right, my "good ear" is now at profound loss. The last year I think has been the hardest for me, wondering if it is all going to go you know? Over the course of the years I handled the loss very well actually. I've joked about it and have had funny tshirts, I had one that said Blah Blah Blah I can't hear you. But lately, with the additional loss I have gotten very down, and it isn't something I've really talked about to anyone until fairly recently. And only with one person.
So lets back up a sec, I left my husband in March, but I've been ready to do that since April of 2011, it just took me that long to do it. But in the meantime I started texting/talking to one of my coworker and he really helped me through some of what I was going through and build up my courage. I developed quite the bond with the guy, but during all this I was also losing more hearing again. I started feeling really insecure, and I've let that bleed all over the poor guy. I think my insecurity is chasing the guy off more than mydeafness. I finally had to try to explain why I was being so nuerotic. I feel broken sometimes, and I'm very much afraid that men might find it too hard to be with me. That I'm going to be alone forever. But I'm not sure if this is just a result of how much exaggerated the feeling of being alone has been for me lately. It is such a strange feeling to have my voice be the only thing I can actually hear anymore, and even then it sounds so very far away. Like there's nothing and nobody else in the world but me. I know that's now how it is, I think eventually I reconcile myself to this new loss, but right now it's just too new.
But even from the beginning of losing my hearing I have found that one of the worst feelings about hearing loss has been crowds. Is it just me or the more people that around the more alone you feel?

And music, that is a super bummer. I used to be HUGE on karaoke in my early 20's!! But I see some hope!! I'm getting some new aids soon, so I'm hoping I'm going to perk up!! crossing my fingers that the new aids will not disappoint!!
 
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