% vs dB-hate it

I'm totally deaf (no response at +120db) on my right side.

I tell people that I have "no hearing at all, I'm totally deaf" on my right.

If they are interested in more details I explain how the machine that tests one's hearing is only able to go up to +120db - and even at that volume I can't hear anything at all (though I can feel the vibrations).

To put it in perspective for them I often explain that if a jet plane was (metaphorically) sitting on my shoulder, my right ear wouldn't be able to hear it at all - it'd just feel the rumble.

I was trying to explain to my sister the other night just how deaf I am. I told her my HA's are making your voice as loud as like a chain saw, or a helicopter, or a plane, because that's how loud I need it to hear it. Just picture that for a minute, a human voice coming out the back of a plane or a lawn mower. It had me giggling anyway :D
 
Since becoming bilateral DEAF I explained-hear nothing just silence. I have not tested on a runway whether I "could/might" hear a jet plane coming.
To my knowledge most people speaking aren't in the category as "jet planes"- thus no immediate impulse to "test loud noise".category.
 
Ferrets, cats, and dogs have never been tested for dB of hearing loss. They're either deaf or they are not.
 
My boss, who is a sweetheart and who I consider a friend, has asked me a few times "What is your percent of loss/hearing?" I think hearing people can maybe relate to percents better than dbs, I've tried to explain it to him and he doesn't seem to get it. At least he remembers to face me when he talks. One step at a time, sigh.
 
My boss, who is a sweetheart and who I consider a friend, has asked me a few times "What is your percent of loss/hearing?" I think hearing people can maybe relate to percents better than dbs, I've tried to explain it to him and he doesn't seem to get it. At least he remembers to face me when he talks. One step at a time, sigh.

Maybe use the volume on a tv or radio (that show increments in #'s) and ask at what volume does he listen to the tv/radio then tell him at what volume you need it to be at when you're not wearing you HAs. Maybe he'll turn his volume up that loud (if he doesn't stop the increases before because it hurts his eas).
 
Something when wrong here.

I had a cyst removed from my right ear when I was 17. Just before, my Family went nuts and made me think I was dying of something like cancer but not cancer. I was all in my Bible like trying to save the then twisted souls of me and my then boyfriend, a total God questioner who liked using the F-word. It was crazy and I began to hate doctors for awhile because, they were like the undertaker. But, I didn't die which is more than I can say for my relationship. Two years, after kicking my butt though high school, I'm now in college and at last Ear, Nose, and Throat says hearing test time. I knew it. I'm failing!There's closed captions on my TV. People are getting tired of me saying huh. And, to top it off, I had embarrassed myself giving out the answer to a quiz question not knowing it was quiz and told a speaker I couldn't hear him while the teacher said he was perfect. My Grandma gave me a sound amplifier that I quickly throw away. Now, in the office, I sat thinking, now knowing ASL101, waiting and signing hard of hearing. The Doctor points for the hearing test to begin and my hands are clammy but, with my tummy feeling like I'm going to puke the test starts with a nurse pointing, colors flash red and blue. She says, balloon and ball and I repeat sort of stuttering. Echos pass though my ears and I still don't know if she was looking for words so, I raise my hand though most the test to echos and bumps in the room. I feel like I might pass out and look for a soft piece of black and brown floor and closed my eyes listening to bumps, raising my hand to them, it starts to sound like music, perhaps, they've stopped and turned on a Beatles song. Maybe, a hour and it's over. The Doctor leads me to a small room and hands me a chart and says gladly, which I don't understand totally ready to be deaf if need be, "You got 10db and that's in the normal range." I said(dizzy),really(x2). It was like I was drunk on sound. I scheduled another appointment and left to the bathroom to be sick after, thought about going to the ER but, just took the bus and train and not the tram home while watching people with check-out forms. I never returned but, am still scheduled for this September. I'm no longer covered for hearing tests.:hmm:
 
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596007 said:
I had a cyst removed from my right ear when I was 17. Just before, my Family went nuts and made me think I was dying of something like cancer but not cancer. I was all in my Bible like trying to save the then twisted souls of me and my then boyfriend, a total God questioner who liked using the F-word. It was crazy and I began to hate doctors for awhile because, they were like the undertaker. But, I didn't die which is more than I can say for my relationship. Two years, after kicking my butt though high school, I'm now in college and at last Ear, Nose, and Throat says hearing test time. I knew it. I'm failing!There's closed captions on my TV. People are getting tired of me saying huh. And, to top it off, I had embarrassed myself giving out the answer to a quiz question not knowing it was quiz and told a speaker I couldn't hear him while the teacher said he was perfect. My Grandma gave me a sound amplifier that I quickly throw away. Now, in the office, I sat thinking, now knowing ASL101, waiting and signing hard of hearing. The Doctor points for the hearing test to begin and my hands are clammy but, with my tummy feeling like I'm going to puke the test starts with a nurse pointing, colors flash red and blue. She says, balloon and ball and I repeat sort of stuttering. Echos pass though my ears and I still don't know if she was looking for words so, I raise my hand though most the test to echos and bumps in the room. I feel like I might pass out and look for a soft piece of black and brown floor and closed my eyes listening to bumps, raising my hand to them, it starts to sound like music, perhaps, they've stopped and turned on a Beatles song. Maybe, a hour and it's over. The Doctor leads me to a small room and hands me a chart and says gladly, which I don't understand totally ready to be deaf if need be, "You got 10db and that's in the normal range." I said(dizzy),really(x2). It was like I was drunk on sound. I scheduled another appointment and left to the bathroom to be sick after, thought about going to the ER but, just took the bus and train and not the tram home while watching people with check-out forms. I never returned but, am still scheduled for this September. I'm no longer covered for hearing tests.:hmm:

You need to see a proper audiologist with a AuD. (Doctorate in audiology). The tests they can do at a standard doctor's office are useless.
 
My beef with the whole thing is that it ignores half of the equation. There are 2 main issues with hearing loss assessment physical amount of loss and CLARITY OF SOUND THAT IS HEARD! yeah I shouted so you all can hear me:laugh2::laugh2: The second is more important than the first and is totally ignored by many hearing loss professionals. It does not matter how loud the sound is, if its not clear so you cannot understand it then its pretty much useless... This also explains why you often have many mild and moderate loss persons in DHH schools and programs and many have poor or no usable speech skills...
For example most people with CI's can have the maps to where their hearing is in the "speech banana" but if the clarity of sound is not there then its still useless..
 
As I recall 5 years ago-Sunnybrook/Toronto-re Mapping was done so that one can "hear". To me-happened right away. Thus it is/was important to be accurate in one's response whether additional Mapping required.

Whether this is done in "other Cochlear Implant centres" unknown. However logic suggests that the patient can respond-how much "improvement to their hearing is effected"-right now. The audi goes from there.
 
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You need to see a proper audiologist with a AuD. (Doctorate in audiology). The tests they can do at a standard doctor's office are useless.

State insurance sucks!:evil:
 
Now, a question - All of my audiograms now show an arrow going down from the 120db. They then tell me that I am worse than profound. That's why I have been saying total deaf. Maybe I am wrong, but that's what I've been told by the "so-called" professionals.
 
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KristinaB said:
Now, a question - All of my audiograms now show an arrow going down from the 120db. They then tell me that I am worse than profound. That's why I have been saying total deaf. Maybe I am wrong, but that's what I've been told by the "so-called" professionals.

That's what I have on my right side. Basically it means no response at +120db - which is the max Db audiograms can test.

At +120db - it's almost impossible to distinguish hearing from feeling sounds anyway.

+120Db is considered "totally deaf" - so yes, greater than profound.
 
If you ever get tested at 120db you should feel the sound due to the vibrations made at that high of a volume... if ya can feel it but can't hear it, that pretty much answers the question of if you are totally deaf. heh
 
I just saw on the olympics a US diver who they said has a 60% hearing loss. I don't think most viewers would have known what they meant if they used db.

@southpaw Thank you for explaining this cos it is so true!!! I have hard hard time explaining to friends and family that I am "totally deaf" but the sounds can really hurt due to the vibrations.
 
If you ever get tested at 120db you should feel the sound due to the vibrations made at that high of a volume... if ya can feel it but can't hear it, that pretty much answers the question of if you are totally deaf. heh

When I was first tested and found to be at 120db and below, they put me into the little booth, put headphones on and turned them full blast. Turned my chair with my back to the window and turned all mirrors away from me. Then (this they explained to me afterwards) they turned their microphone full blast and popped a punch-ball in the microphone. People heard it up to 3 testing booths down, but I never flinched. There was someone in the room with me just watching me to see.

Right now, I live on the flight path to an airport (runway is 1 mile away) and while the planes coming in to land will rattle the windows and such, I will feel the ground vibrate, but get no other sensation until I see the plane.
 
I also saw one of the USA volleyball players had a BTE hearing aid on...
 
Right now, I live on the flight path to an airport (runway is 1 mile away) and while the planes coming in to land will rattle the windows and such, I will feel the ground vibrate, but get no other sensation until I see the plane.

Thats what prompted me to get my hearing tested when I first learned I was losing my hearing. I asked my partner if he had felt the little earthquake. He looked at me like I was nuts and said it was a helicopter.
 
Thats what prompted me to get my hearing tested when I first learned I was losing my hearing. I asked my partner if he had felt the little earthquake. He looked at me like I was nuts and said it was a helicopter.

Those with hearing loss are more sensitive to vibrations --our sense of feel is heightened. I do that often at home where I've felt a slight vibration and I've had to ask my SO what that was. Oftentimes it's nothing more than a large truck going by. He hears it, I feel it!
 
As an audiologist, I hate the % too...and yet you'd be surprised how many patients ask for it, and how many doctors will just casually throw out a number.

The percentage formulas (and there are more than one) focus on speech frequencies. But they tell you nothing about the person's hearing. A mild hearing loss of 30 dB HL across frequencies would be the same percentage as a hearing loss that was normal (0 dB HL) through 1 kHz, then dropped to 50 at 2 kHz, 70 at 3 kHz, and no response above that.

It's a dumb approach...like saying that Kansas has the same terrain as the Appalachian mountains, because on average they're the same distance above sea level (don't know if that's true, just an example).
 
The arrow going down at a certain freq means NR does it not? I have I believe two of NR's in my Right ear ..just can't member what freqs
 
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