Do You Hear What I Hear?

 I got hearing aids in October. My daughter has been saying for a decade that I needed them, but I just didn't do anything about it. For one thing, I can hear well enough to get by. For another, I would have to make appointments and get to new doctors and places to get them. For a third, health insurance doesn't pay for hearing aids; that would have to come out of pocket.

But during the last year or so, I had noticed I had to ask students to repeat questions or answers, sometimes more than once, and it seems much more common. In the last three quarters, I had excuses, because Spring was all online, and Summer and Fall, we were all wearing masks. But in the Summer, my daughter and her family stayed with us, and I found that others would hear the washer or dryer in the basement shut off or change cycle, and I would not.

When I had my annual physical in August, I told my doctor I thought I should get a hearing test. He gave me a referral, and I got the test. The results suggested I, "would benefit from hearing aids." So I got them.

The main thing I have noticed was that environmental sounds were a lot louder, especially in the treble range. Ordinary things, like opening a bag of spinach, or running water, were intrusively loud. It reminded me of the rattling pearls in that scene from Singin' in the Rain. It still does.

I can't say whether my hearing aids help me with social interaction and conversation. We're still wearing masks. But the hearing aids have Blue Tooth, and I don't have to hold my phone up to my ear. I can even set the phone down on a table or arm of my chair and talk, because the sound comes straight to the hearing aids.

So far, nothing seems to be trying to send me ads through my hearing aids. I guess the algorithms having caught on about that sort of access. In fact, I can only get sound from my phone to my hearing aids, not from our (old) smart TV or my laptop. Maybe, if I start updating equipment, I will be able to stream sound from other sources, like the car radio, TV, laptop, or directly from the algorithms on the Internet. Then when I say I'm hearing voices, I won't automatically be labeled psychotic. Just chatting with the rulers of the universe. If they even get smart enough to know what we think they might do someday.

It's nice to hear better, most of the time.