I had a patient leave my office recently with tears in her eyes…
I won’t get into the details, but she had been told on several occasions that there was “nothing that could be done” with her hearing aids to help improve her hearing. Out of desperation she had scheduled an appointment with our office for a second opinion. I quickly glanced at her hearing aids and saw that she owned a set of fairly new hearing aids. I offered to see her the following week to have me check them out, and to see what adjustments could be made.
When she returned to see me, it was clear that the hearing aids were actually providing her with little to no hearing benefit — I know this definitively as real-ear verification allows me to assess hearing aid performance (if you are not sure what this is, ask your hearing healthcare provider about this!).
I was happy to advise her that, with a replacement of the domes on her hearing aids and a complete re-programming of the device settings, I should be able to provide her with a significant improvement in her hearing. When I finished my work I asked: “ok, you can hear me with both hearing aids on — how are you hearing me now?”. She was almost speechless at first, but she told me that she could now hear me quite well.
Like anyone trying hearing aids for the first time (or after a significant hearing aid adjustment) I told her it would take some time adjust to her new settings — conversational speech would sound louder, she would now be aware of soft environmental sounds around her, and her own voice would sound a little different for a few days. And then her eyes welled up.
So yes, I had a patient leave my office recently with tears in her eyes… but they were not tears of frustration or disappointment. They were tears of relief because she had struggled with her hearing loss and hearing aids for so long — now she can finally have a conversation without straining to hear.
… And this is why I do what I do. So in the spirit of World Hearing Day, consider having your hearing tested!
