NationStates Jolt Archive

I am hard of hearing because of FAS (fetal alcohol syndrom), so I am forced to wear hearing aids. Worse, I am losing my hearing as I get older, and the hearing aids I have are THE most powerful in the world, and there is NOTHING stronger! :(

How 'bout you? (poll coming)

I was born with Microtia (http://www.microtia.net/Webpages.asp?WPID=3) on my right side. I have, basically, a "nub" where my ear should. I'm completely deaf on that side, so I have no stereo effect. Which means I can't tell where sound is coming from.

So if I'm in a room, and someone calls my name, I spin around like a moron, until I can see who it is.

Hearing is a very underappreciated thing, don't ya think?

I've had 3 sets of grommets, and the occasional ear syringing but other than that, it's alright.

I am hard of hearing because of FAS (fetal alcohol syndrom), so I am forced to wear hearing aids. Worse, I am losing my hearing as I get older, and the hearing aids I have are THE most powerful in the world, and there is NOTHING stronger! :(

How 'bout you? (poll coming)
sorry to hear it, brother

my hearing ain't so great, either, but i haven't got it so bad

but hey, you could always use one of those trumpets and have an excuse to ignore idiots, i.e., everybody

What was that?!? Could you speak up?!?
Seriously though, my hearing is okay, have trouble if there is background noise.

Mine's pretty good. I'm a tiny, tiny, tiny bit deaf in my right ear because my right side is where the music in the car is concentrated...and often I like it loud. I'm making an effort to do this less, though.

Believe it or not, I fell deeply asleep directly in front of a PA system that apparently had been turned on so loud it could be heard about twenty miles away. I was asleep when the music started, I was woken up after the show had ended.

That was twenty-five years ago. Now I can't hear worth shit. If there's only one or two people talking, I can get most of it, usually, but throw in ambient sounds like a television, radio, or even my lovebird squawking and it's like I can't digest it all - things drop right off my sonar, so to speak. It's getting so I need people to speak directly to me instead of say, talking over their shoulders. Otherwise, it just sounds like mumbling to me.

My hearing's impeccable. I can hear a lot of things that most people I know can't, especially when it comes to music.

Not that it really matters, though.

Mine's pretty good. I'm a tiny, tiny, tiny bit deaf in my right ear because my right side is where the music in the car is concentrated...and often I like it loud. I'm making an effort to do this less, though.
when your hearing is damaged, it NEVER comes back. the thing to do is cut out on the excessive volume once and for all. Every minute you play loud music, you're irreversibly damaging your ears.

sorry to hear it, brother

my hearing ain't so great, either, but i haven't got it so bad

but hey, you could always use one of those trumpets and have an excuse to ignore idiots, i.e., everybody
trumpets? I just turn off my hearing aids to ignore everyone--wait...

I just found the REAL LIFE I.G.N.O.R.E. cannon: shutting off my hearing aids! :D

mine is very good to the point where its annoying. often the smallest sounds which other people say they can't hear are enough to make me really aggrivated.
its especially bad when it comes to hearing other people eat cos i can hear every little munch and crunch and slurp and it just makes me want to rip their faces off sometimes :mad:

also, i can't concentrate on shit because i hear lots of things and can't seem to tune anything out to any great degree (compared to how i understand and observe other people doing)

so yeah, pretty well, also a pain in the ass :mad:

mine is very good to the point where its annoying. often the smallest sounds which other people say they can't hear are enough to make me really aggrivated.
its especially bad when it comes to hearing other people eat cos i can hear every little munch and crunch and slurp and it just makes me want to rip their faces off sometimes :mad:

also, i can't concentrate on shit because i hear lots of things and can't seem to tune anything out to any great degree (compared to how i understand and observe other people doing)

so yeah, pretty well, also a pain in the ass :mad:

I feel your pain.

when your hearing is damaged, it NEVER comes back. the thing to do is cut out on the excessive volume once and for all. Every minute you play loud music, you're irreversibly damaging your ears.

I'm well-aware. Ah, youthful neglect!

I feel your pain.
heh well it'd be far far worse to have limited hearing i'm sure, so guess i can count my lucky stars there.
still annoying though

the inability to tune things out is the worst in exams, when it just becomes so hard to concentrate with everyone's breathing and clothes ruffling and shuffling... damn them :P
also, talking in pubs is near impossible

heh well it'd be far far worse to have limited hearing i'm sure, so guess i can count my lucky stars there.
still annoying though

the inability to tune things out is the worst in exams, when it just becomes so hard to concentrate with everyone's breathing and clothes ruffling and shuffling... damn them :P
also, talking in pubs is near impossible

UGH, that bothers the fuck out of me. I can hardly get to sleep even when the air conditioner's running!

well i have selective hearing really, when i am focusing on somehting i can hear everything, but if 2 people are talking to me i hear nothing....i think it has to do more wil my brian then is does with my ears.....musicwise i was perfect hearing....i can tell you anynote that is being played, and i can tune an insrement without an aid.....my music teacher had me walking arounf the class room every day to hear is everyoe we intune.....

My hearing is impeccable. If they were eyes, they'd be 20-20. I can hear everything and anything. Dog whistles? Break my brain. I can predict when those strip lights are going to break because they start to make a horrifically loud whining noise right before they pop, which nobody else can hear but me. Every slight noise, goes straight into my noggin. Which is great when you're trying to sleep, and someone makes a noise.

No, hearing isn't my problem. My problem is listening and paying attention.

I can predict when those strip lights are going to break because they start to make a horrifically loud whining noise right before they pop, which nobody else can hear but me.

You mean those christmas tree lights, right? I hear whining noises before they go out... Annoying.

You mean those christmas tree lights, right? I hear whining noises before they go out... Annoying.

Those too, but I was thinking about those long tube things they use in offices. They seem to make much louder noises. There's one on the way out right now, in fact.

Mine just seems to have faded over the years..... I think it started going as a teenager, when i saw Motorhead live. ( I still say it was worth it tho! )

Those too, but I was thinking about those long tube things they use in offices. They seem to make much louder noises. There's one on the way out right now, in fact.

Ah, those. They had those in my elementary school's cafeteria. I remember telling the kids sitting by me that there was a high-pitched screaming noise once, and about ten seconds later, the light above us went out.

My refrigerator used to have a similar scream when it would try to make ice when there was no water. It doesn't do it anymore, which is nice, though that's because we disabled the ice maker.

My hearing is ok but i work with loud machinary and meh

My ears are mangled cuz of going to gigs loads and i always manage to be positioned by the speakers.
Also one of my ear drums has a hole in it anyway.

Last time I had a hearing test done they said I had grade 2 hearing; I distinctly remember her saying that I had grade 2 hearing, but that since I had had a bit of a cold that might partially explain it.
But I've looked on the WHO website and grade 2 hearing is described as being 'moderate impairment', 'hearing aids usually recommended' and I can certainly hear a lot more than 'words spoken in raised voice at 1 metre.'
I would just dismiss it as the result of having a cold but there is a history of hearing impairment in my family, with my grandfather and cousin needing to wear hearing aids from a young age.

I've never known what it is like to have complete, perfect hearing. As far as I'm concerned, I have the best I've ever had, simply b/c I've not known anything better.

According to the docs, I'm classified severely bilaterally hearing-impaired. I've got 50% loss (once again, that word, "loss"...what's there to lose if there was nothing there before??) in both ears.

Meh, never stopped me from doing what I needed to do or show what I was capable of. As a side note, when I graduated from high school, I was the one student who got the most scholarships (none of them b/c of the hearing impairment either), and for some reason, it really surprised a lot of people. Can't figure out why either. I just worked harder than others to simply be on PAR with what I needed to know.

Though, I do like to use my hearing impairment to my advantage at times. If I'm at work, and my boss is screaming his shitty head off at me, it's real fun to go "What?" when he's all finished. It just makes him really flabbergasted! ^_^ hehe!

Oh, the reason I'm hearing impaired was b/c I was born two months premature. Never fully developed what was needed for that.

Sleeping is a charm... ;)

Though, I do like to use my hearing impairment to my advantage at times. If I'm at work, and my boss is screaming his shitty head off at me, it's real fun to go "What?" when he's all finished. It just makes him really flabbergasted! ^_^ hehe!

Heh, you don't need a hearing impairment to do that ;).

Heh, you don't need a hearing impairment to do that ;).

Damn right. I do that to my dad, and it instantly shuts him up. :D

I have normal hearing, though alot of times I have to ask people repeat what they're saying, it's more a part of the fact that I have ADD.

Heh, you don't need a hearing impairment to do that ;).

True...but it's a damn good, indestructive excuse to use whenever you want. haha!

My hearing is strange. Often I can hardly make out what people are saying (it all sounds like mumbling and usually I have to have things repeated, only very clearly [rather than louder!]).

On the other hand I can hear high-pitched whines that other people are totally unaware of. If a TV is on, with its sound off, I can hear that infernal electronic whine in another room with the door closed between me and the TV!! And I can hear the ticking of a watch literally from 30 feet away if the watch is on a sound-carrying surface like a countertop. More than once I've had to put a pad of paper towel under the watch to damp that noise.

But lower pitched sounds, machines/trucks rumbling, sound good to me. I love the sound of old UPS trucks.

I have nerve damage in my left ear (which could be due to a birth defect, but no real clue) so I'm compleately deaf in my left ear.

My right ear started with 50%, went up to around 100% after some surgery, but I know I have started to lose it a bit, so say 85%-90%.

Of course it was a lot of fun when I turned 18. Had to convince the same recruter about 5 times that I was deaf in one ear and could not join the military.

No idea how being deaf makes me such a light sleeper though. :)

Huh?

Huh?

*SLAP*

*SLAP*

http://www.p0stwh0res.com/images/UltimaTrout.gif

My hearing is great, although I'm a little jumpy and very oversensitive to noise and sounds.
Not too bad when you wanna listen in on something, but it drives me nuts when watching tv with others 'cause they like to crank up the volume to headache levels...
Anyway, I'm enjoying the "less sound lasts longer" approach (my dad and my sister are kinda deaf I believe?).

Every minute you play loud music, you're irreversibly damaging your ears.

Not entirely true: 85db shouldn't cause any damage for exposure times as long as 8 hours, and 90-95dB is safe in shorter doses. Avoiding long term exposure to 100db+ is a good idea, as it will cause hearing degradation. Of course, one of the ironies is that classical musicians suffer more from hearing loss than rock musicians, and of course the incredibly high transients in industrial* noise are pretty much death on the ears. It is claimed that you can work out the age of carpenters purely on the basis of deafness.


* not the type of music.


My hearing: right ear - pretty good for someone aged 33: I can still hear the lower sounds of bats on that side. Left side - not to so hot, definitely a bit less sensitive starting at about 2 or 2.5k.

Fergi America']On the other hand I can hear high-pitched whines that other people are totally unaware of. If a TV is on, with its sound off, I can hear that infernal electronic whine in another room with the door closed between me and the TV!!

Drives me mad that - whenever I'm visiting my parents in one room they have a TV which when it is on standby has a whine at about 12k. They can't hear it, but all I can hear in that room is that 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' sound.

My ears are mangled cuz of going to gigs loads and i always manage to be positioned by the speakers.

Buy yourself some decent earplugs: they will cut some of the damaging and painful frequencies whilst still leaving the power of the low end and quite often actually improving the clarity of the whole thing.

Also one of my ear drums has a hole in it anyway.

My good ear has a tear in it. If I hold my nose I am able to blow air out through it. Not a good idea, however having that hole in it doesn't seem to affect the quality of the hearing on that side. One of the tricks I can do at gigs is to hold my nose and increase the pressure on the inside of that ear so as to regain the sensitivity to the higher range on that side - basically my two eardrums inflate outwards when I do that, and I'm able to focus on the frequencies I have become innured to. I really should talk to someone that knows about this kind of thing.

My hearing is excellent. I am always hearing things that other people cannot. I also have the ability to hear selectively. It's like I can block things out If I am focused on something else. Like say if I am playing a Computer Game or Watching TV If you talk to me I might just ignore you without even realizing it. It's kind of odd. Also, I can sleep through anything my friends used to live by a hospital and when I went there they got mad because they always woke up when ambulances went by there house but I just slept through it.

Drives me mad that - whenever I'm visiting my parents in one room they have a TV which when it is on standby has a whine at about 12k. They can't hear it, but all I can hear in that room is that 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' sound.

Ooh, I hate that and I can here it if someone leaves a TV on almost anywhere in the house and I have to go find it and turn it off.

Drives me mad that - whenever I'm visiting my parents in one room they have a TV which when it is on standby has a whine at about 12k. They can't hear it, but all I can hear in that room is that 'eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee' sound.

My comp used to do that.... had to pull the electricity cable out :mad: I got pretty good hearing but I usually just ignore all sound around me if I am doing something and if it's a person I put him/her on a 'standby list' (ie, gonna answer to whatever that person said as soon as I am finished doing whatever I am doing) which drives my parents mad :p

I am very sure that I damaged my hearing by going to too many concerts in my youth, I have to have closed captioning on when I watch TV now. :(

I would say excellent. In 10 years time, I expect to be deaf from too much loud music, but life ends at thirty anyway. Right? :p

My hearing is amazingly accurate, and thus annoying. From long years of studying music, I can not only pick out every single line in a full orchestra or band, but also everything everyone is saying... at once. The problem is trying to respond to all of them if they're all talking to me. In addition, I cannot work on anything when there is background noise -- an air conditioning, car alarms, the heaters, the lights, a single fly, anything... My idea of a perfect world is one of complete silence.

Heck, I can hear the noise this computer is making right now. I can hear the noise of someone talking in a room down a hall from here.... :-/

Can you hear me now?





























Good.

Until the age of about 14-15, I had pretty damn good hearing - not as good as some people on here seem to have, but still pretty good. Then I started going to gigs, and standing right next to the speakers, and it's been going downhill since then. Now I have difficulty hearing someone speaking in a moderately low voice about 5 metres from me. I'll probably have permanent tinnitus by the time I'm 30 (I'm 20 now). Then I'll be going to gigs and standing next to the speakers just so I can hear the damn music!

I suppose I probably have pretty average hearing. In some cases I seem to have better hearing than my family, like when we're walking in a forest, I hear rustles and such when they don't (though maybe I'm just insane), but in other cases I seem to hear worse, like if we're driving fairly fast in a car, I start having difficulties understanding people over the background noise of the wind passing the car. Also, when I was younger I had a tendency to start speaking really loud after a while without noticing, but that might just have been me being a kid.

I am hard of hearing because of FAS (fetal alcohol syndrom), so I am forced to wear hearing aids. Worse, I am losing my hearing as I get older, and the hearing aids I have are THE most powerful in the world, and there is NOTHING stronger! :(

How 'bout you? (poll coming)

A few questions for you out of curiousity:

1) Do you sign? (If not, why not)

2) Have you considered (and would it be appropriate for you) to get a Cochlear Implant?

3) Are you the only person in your family that is Hard of Hearing or Deaf?

4) Have you or have you considered embracing Deaf Culture?

I only ask because I have worked for the past several years with Deaf children. My wife is an interpreter for the deaf, her parents are both deaf, we are both fluent in ASL and Signed English and familiar with Deaf Culture concerns and issue.

If there are any questions you have I might be able to help out.

I have a general question for everyone that is saying they have great hearing.

You know when you have an older TV and you have to switch to AUX to play games. When you turn the game off the screen is black so some people don't turn off the TV.

Can you hear the blackened TV?

I can tell when I am walking past a house that is 10 or 20 feet away if they have the TV on without looking in their windows. That supersonic sound drives me nuts. Just curious if anyone else is with me.

And also note...I have been listening to and performing loud music for years. Other than some temporary post exposure tenitis, my hearing is better than perfect according to an FBI Physical I took.

I have a general question for everyone that is saying they have great hearing.

You know when you have an older TV and you have to switch to AUX to play games. When you turn the game off the screen is black so some people don't turn off the TV.

Can you hear the blackened TV?
Yes. It drives me nuts. One reason why I don't have a TV, I guess. I can also occasionally hear similar high-pitched noises coming from computers...

And also note...I have been listening to and performing loud music for years. Other than some temporary post exposure tenitis, my hearing is better than perfect according to an FBI Physical I took.
I haven't been around for as many years as you, I'm sure, but I've been listening to loud music for a while and it's actually sharpened my hearing. I can hear individual lines much better than most people...

Yes. It drives me nuts. One reason why I don't have a TV, I guess. I can also occasionally hear similar high-pitched noises coming from computers...

I hear that too...that's why I always wear headphones at work.


I haven't been around for as many years as you, I'm sure, but I've been listening to loud music for a while and it's actually sharpened my hearing. I can hear individual lines much better than most people...


I think I am being called old, which I forgive with my 30th coming in about a week and a half...

But I agree...I think my hearing has improved (though slightly) since I was a kid.

it's good (and luckily so, being a musician), but I do use hearing protection :D

...*snip*... Also, I can sleep through anything my friends used to live by a hospital and when I went there they got mad because they always woke up when ambulances went by there house but I just slept through it.

I once slept through a tornado ripping through a campgrounds. I was in a little small tent. Every site around us got destroyed. Ours? Not at all. When I woke up (more from my dad screaming at me to do so and shaking me violently) I then realized what was going on. Never did hear the roaring noise, feel the horizontial rain moving into the tent, feel the violent winds...

God could've had Armageddon happen, and I'd wake up afterwards and go, "Heeeyy...where'd everyone gooo?"

I once slept through a tornado ripping through a campgrounds. I was in a little small tent. Every site around us got destroyed. Ours? Not at all. When I woke up (more from my dad screaming at me to do so and shaking me violently) I then realized what was going on. Never did hear the roaring noise, feel the horizontial rain moving into the tent, feel the violent winds...

God could've had Armageddon happen, and I'd wake up afterwards and go, "Heeeyy...where'd everyone gooo?"
by any chance......were you drunk when you went to sleep? :p

LP, not at all...not at all...I was 15 at the time if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: I can fall asleep extremely fast (usually within two minutes), and I sleep heavily. I've fallen asleep at loud parties late at night, loud bars, you name it and I've probably have succeeded doing the nearly impossible...

:P

There was this one time I had fallen asleep so heavily that I actually stopped breathing. My mom came in to wake me up at 8am, and I just couldn't respond to her, consciously or unconsciously. She checked to see if I was breathing, and I wasn't. She STILL left to go to work.

Thanks mom...love ya too...lol!

LP, not at all...not at all...I was 15 at the time if I'm not mistaken.
I was brought home by the police so drunk I had fallen asleep beside the road and a person passing me thought I was dead......at 15 :p

*made an edit to my previous post...*

I am hard of hearing because of FAS (fetal alcohol syndrom), so I am forced to wear hearing aids. Worse, I am losing my hearing as I get older, and the hearing aids I have are THE most powerful in the world, and there is NOTHING stronger! :(

How 'bout you? (poll coming)
I have a bit of hearing loss in the higher ranges, probably due to prolonged exposure to high-pitched helicopter turbine noise. It's not noticeable until I try to listen to certain kinds of music with notes in the higher registers.

I was brought home by the police so drunk I had fallen asleep beside the road and a person passing me thought I was dead......at 15 :p
Yes, but LP, that was you.

Huh?

Huh?

Actually, this is more like it:

*blank look*

if you download this (http://www.bwgen.com/download.htm)(from another thread) it asks you in the set up to test "AudioStrobe output", which emits a high pitched frequency it says should be inaudible. of course everyone's speakers are different etc etc so its not a fair test, but i wonder if anyone else can hear the high pitched noise very clearly too?

A few questions for you out of curiousity:

1) Do you sign? (If not, why not)

2) Have you considered (and would it be appropriate for you) to get a Cochlear Implant?

3) Are you the only person in your family that is Hard of Hearing or Deaf?

4) Have you or have you considered embracing Deaf Culture?

I only ask because I have worked for the past several years with Deaf children. My wife is an interpreter for the deaf, her parents are both deaf, we are both fluent in ASL and Signed English and familiar with Deaf Culture concerns and issue.

If there are any questions you have I might be able to help out.
1. I don't sign, because I don't want to, but I do know a few words.

2. I'm not interested in getting an implant yet. I refuse to let my hearing disappear.

3. Yes, i'm the only deaf one, but my grandma has difficulties every once in a while, but she doesn't need hearing aids.

4. I used to be in the deaf culture when I was a kid--and it was NOT by choice. As I got older, I finally got to gradually leave deaf culture for the most part. Wasn't until I graduated high school that I finally got to get out. But I do carry a microphone to help me hear when I go to important appointments.

I can hear quite well, although I seem to have trouble making out people's words sometimes - I can hear them speak, I just can't tell what they're saying. I can also hear high pitched noises, like a TV (not the normal TV sound, a high pitched noise it makes all the time) and those things they use to scare animals away that humans arent supposed to hear.

i think that my hearing is quite good.....i can hear all the nice buzzing and high pitched noises that my computer makes,same for light and tvs and such.......but i also have selective hearing...if iam reading i dont hear anything same for if iam yawning

when your hearing is damaged, it NEVER comes back. the thing to do is cut out on the excessive volume once and for all. Every minute you play loud music, you're irreversibly damaging your ears.

But... but... rock concerts! It's no fun if it's not loud enough to feel your skin and clothes vibrating. :(