Hear this

Today I’ll be fitted for my first hearing aids. Since I was little, I couldn’t hear well with my right ear. Now that I’m older, and have lost hearing in both ears, the right one can hear very few high tones, making stereo perception almost impossible – if I’m driving and hear a siren I don’t know where it is or I hear it coming from a completely different direction. And Tinnitus has taken over now, a single note you can’t change, and that you have to train yourself to ignore or it will drive you insane. When the hearing loss started to be a problem – at work, where I couldn’t participate well in meetings but most importantly at home – where I would misunderstand what was being said around our busy house, I tried to get help. But because one ear was significantly worse that the other, the technology that favored overall hearing loss could not help me to give me balanced hearing until now, acknowledging that among us boomers, there are some who have unusual circumstances. I’m putting a lot of weight on this event. Will a lifetime of compensation, of adjustments, of miscommunication, of excuses be significantly changed. I hope so.