I Can Hear Clearly Now ...

I know the song is "I Can See Clearly Now" but my father used to sing "I can hear clearly now" (and my sister thought the next line was "I can see all icicles in my way").

But I have hearing aids now, so I've been singing about hearing clearly. Back in May, I went to my audiologist and not surprisingly, my hearing test showed mild-moderate hearing loss. 

Frequency (Hz) is on the x-axis and Hearing Level (dB) is on the y-axis.
Outside of the highlighted box is considered hearing loss.

I talked to the audiologist about hearing aids and was impressed but ... they started at $5500. My regular Medicare plan doesn't cover any of that, so I left without ordering hearing aids. That amount of money just isn't in my budget.

John got hearing aids about seven years ago when he was still working and his came from Costco. I decided to make an appointment there and see what I thought. The hearing test they performed showed the same results as the one from the audiologist, so I tried a sample pair of hearing aids. They worked, almost too well, as there was just a cacophony of carts clanging, people talking, cash registers beeping, and music in the background. I did decide to order hearing aids and have been wearing them for about a week.

And they're okay. They're rechargeable so I don't have to mess with batteries. I haven't had any problems inserting them. The first couple of days the sound of my clothing swishing and my hair rustling almost drove me nuts, but they are paired with an app on my phone and I remembered the specialist's instructions that I could turn them down if they seemed too loud. I've been using them turned down two clicks and that has helped with the background noise. I have a follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks for some fine-tuning if necessary. Costco has a generous policy that allows me to return them within 180 days for a full refund if I'm not happy. I don't see myself taking them back, but it's still early days. My brain and I are still getting used to them. I have a family picnic to attend in a couple of weeks. There will be 30 people or more there with lots of young children, so I'm interested in hearing how well they work with multiple people and screaming kids. 

Ryan has nagged me for almost a year about how often I say "What?" and told me I really need to do something about my hearing. Justin doesn't even know I got hearing aids but he probably won't have much to say. The real test was when I wore them and visited Ryan last week. He knew I was getting them but didn't notice that I had them in. When I  was getting ready to leave, I asked Ryan if he had noticed how many times I had asked him to repeat himself. He thought for a minute, said "None" and looked more closely at my ears. He got a big smile on his face and congratulated me on doing something about my hearing. So did I just spend $1500 to show my kids that I love them and care about hearing what they have to say? You bet I did!