Off Topic And Now for Something Completely Different

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dennisboothstash said:
****ing hell...you’re me!
I regularly have the conversation with Mrs Tash “how do you expect me to hear what you say if you’re not facing me when you say it?...don’t you know how soundwaves work?!”

...to be fair I do also use it when I can’t be arsed to listen...or did hear, but didn’t like what I heard.
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I'm in there with you dennis, that's exactly what happens to me. <ok>
 
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C'mon ref said:
Hearing.

Do you wear glasses, and does anyone pass comment, or more to the point take the piss? No? Probably because quite a few of the nation wear glasses and no one bats and eye (sorry for the pun). Well why is it different with hearing aids? If you think it’s not, your wrong, muffled giggles, pointing, sarky comments like eh? This and much more is all part and parcel of being hard of hearing or just totally deaf. For some reason hard of hearing is a joke opportunity, sign language brings out the piss takers in abundance, of course for the recipients of such mirth won’t know, they won’t hear it. Hearing aids have improved in leaps and bounds, even NHS versions, but with private versions costing anything around £5,000, yes that’s right five thousand pounds, most people rely on their NHS electronic ears.

Hearing aids are OAP territory, or so the theory goes, but many people won’t admit that they cannot hear as well as they used too. Unless you are born with the defect or suffer from an early age, then most people are reluctant to have hearing difficulties investigated. Most of us know of various pop stars who suffer hearing problems because of how loud they played their music over the years, but have you seen any of them wearing hearing aid? ( Yes I know Johnny Ray was one, who’s he?) Pete Townsend, and the AC/DC bloke are just 2 that I recall, and they do not as far as I know, how many others suffer but won’t say I have no idea.

I wore a hearing whilst at school in the 1960’s, I had no choice for after numerous investigations and operations by an ear, nose and throat surgeon, the hearing aid was the only option left for my worsening problem. But I was soon to encounter a problem of a very different kind, piss taking. My early hearing aid was a square box with a clip on the back that I used to clip to the pocket of my school blazer, and when I took that off it was the ‘V’ neck of my school jumper, in fine weather it was my shirt pocket. It was heavy so tended to sag a little no matter what I did, it was basically an amplifier, so as well as making speech louder it also made every other noise around it louder. In effect all it did was to higher the sound levels all round and unless you were in a quiet environment then the speech element was lost again. Then the piss taking.

A wire looped from a connection on top of this box like object, then went around the back of my head and the earpiece was on the end of this wire. That of course went in the ear but the complete set up was ungainly to say the least, there was a couple of occasions when someone decided to pull on the wire, why I have no idea, but fortunately no harm, or damage to the hearing aid ensued, or myself. The main attack on this level was coming up from behind me, and of course I wouldn’t hear them, and shouting as loud as they could, something inane like ‘boo’, into the small microphone area on the front of the aid.

Some of this micky taking was in jest, like the teacher who asked me if I was actually listening to the radio instead of his lessons. But I got used to this deficiency discrimination, although at school some kids were called 4 eyes for wearing glasses, mainly those with NHS specs with one side blanked out with tape. And so life rolled on and to be honest any comments over time were met with my reply of ‘yeah I am deaf’, but then when as an adult, and working on a building site, of which my disability brought out the comedian in some guys (well not really but they thought they were) my mum and dad turned up on site to see me about something.

Explaining to this guy who she was looking for, by the way mum was 4ft 11ins, this guy said ‘oh you mean eh what?’ This lit a fuse in mum’s head and she flew at this guy who was, shall we say, built like a brick ****house. I knew nothing of any of this until the foreman asked me to come and see my mum. Mum? What’s she doing here? I climbed down the scaffolding and could hear laughter from various guys and my mum a funny colour red in her face. She explained what I had been called, which made me laugh, and I explained that it was one of the better things that I had been called on a building site.

And so we come to today, and because I wear hearing aids I notice a lot more of it about, and less of the sarcasm funnily enough, but I still find it has a bit of a stigma around it as its a touchy subject to someone to ask if they have had their hearing checked lately. Wax is a problem, but admitting hearing problems is, it seems, a problem in itself. Subtitling on the tv is a must now, when it first appeared on good old Ceefax it was sensational, the only problem was, and still is, was the lag of the text actually keeping pace with a person speaking. In those days someone actually typed in the words being spoken so that they ended up on the screen, so some lag was to be expected. But technology has improved in leaps and bounds, years ago I used some software called Dragon Naturally Speaking that allowed you to speak into a microphone and the words appeared in Word on the screen. This must be at least 10 years ago but the lag on the subtitles still persists so maybe it’s a transmission thing.

I have read of some progress, in the lab, of the ability to allow some deaf people to hear certain sounds as deafness is linked to minute hairs inside the ear that vibrate and send the resulting sound to the brain. There are also certain types of deafness, a hearing test is similar to plucking the strings of a guitar, starting with the base E string through to the higher pitched thinner E string. It’s the level of the frequency that some people have difficulty with, dogs can hear very high-pitched sounds, humans can’t. And so people may be able to hear lower frequency sound but not the higher one, or vice versa, and its those different frequencies that you hear through the headphones in a hearing test. Your response to first hearing those sounds, a button is pressed, is determined on a graph and hence your level of hearing is found for each frequency. As I already know my hearing has deteriorated with age, like a lot of other people, but with having a deficiency from birth my deterioration is more pronounced.

Will the stigma ever go away? I doubt it for as I have said deafness is a subject for the jokers of this world. But for those who actually suffer from the ailment it is anything but a joke, eh?
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Wow, talk about relevant and uncanny timing. I self-diagnosed myself with Tinnitus a couple of weeks ago, it came on about 4 weeks ago, and its really quite annoying to say the least. So, my daughter had an appointment with her ENT booked for yesterday (she had an ear op several years ago and was wondering about wax build up etc - anyway she decided she wouldn't go so I went instead). Yes Acute Tinnitus plus after hearing tests partial hearing loss, ie. loss in a certain spectrum - problem being inner ear related, timpanic system is fine. My family, wife and two kids, have often joked about the TV having to be a bit louder for me than them (I'm the deaf parent, Mum's the blind parent is the joking comparison from the kids - all meant in jest of course). So currently on a 3 week course of steroids and circulation drugs to try to help the inner ear system, nerves, capillaries, plus the hairs etc mentioned above, whilst also starting musical brain re-education (Mozart's Clarinet Concerto every day for 3 weeks with noise cancelling headphones) to try to re-train the brain away from focusing on the Tinnitus.

I say all this as, and I'm sure it applies to a lot of other situations, it really makes you feel vunerable, mortal etc. The Tinnitus is often a symptom or red flag of other health conditions, and at 53 I know that I don't take proper care of myself, like my beer a little too much, don't eat healthy etc, probably 20 lbs to lose easily (I'm 6ft so don't look overweight) - not too much you may say but try carrying around 20 lbs in your hands all day every day. I have a lot of stress in my job (stress is not good everyone stating the obvious), plus a couple of other minor health issues which in themselves don't affect me, but it makes you really start to think about things. As an aside I almost died 5 years ago from a completely unrelated situation (Bilateral PE for what its worth) so am on daily aspirin (luckily avoiding blood thinners right now) but **** me everyone - you have to look after yourself (mentally and emotionally) and your bodies. My immediate mood yesterday was to withdraw into myself, but I'm determined for that not to happen, so its not just your body but your mind you have to look after.

Apologies for rambling on, but wanted to relate to what C'mon posted above and to add to it with the message to look after yourself, you only have one of you.
 
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Chazz Rheinhold said:
I had my ears tested 7 years ago and was borderline for an hearing aid. It's got worse obviously but not too bad.
As you say ref it's a piss take, even from my own family.
When someone's speaking directly to me, even at home, it's fine but if the mrs turns her head or talks walking away I finding it difficult to hear her. Cue jokes.
If I'm in a group in the pub I find it difficult to hear when all are talking at once.
Often new blokes to my group think I'm a bit standoffish but it's cos I can't hear them or their tone as yet.

Using jack hammers, wackers and compressors without any ear protectors took its toll.
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You mention a couple of things that are a common occurrence in life, unfortunately, for those with hearing problems, people turning away from you whilst still talking to you, they just don't think that you can't hear them, the cross talking by people in a group is a very difficult thing for me to experience and cope with. And, people tending, if not to shout but to raise their voices significantly as if that helps, it doesn't. Speaking clearly and a little slower, facing you, is about the best way overall, but of course that makes the hard of hearing/deaf person look as if he/she is a bit simple. Again, in the group situation, I do try and say to people that I am finding it hard to follow conversation, most are understanding, but of course you get the few who just carry on as before, such is life. But spot on Chazz with your observations.
 
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LeftSaidFred said:
Wow, talk about relevant and uncanny timing. I self-diagnosed myself with Tinnitus a couple of weeks ago, it came on about 4 weeks ago, and its really quite annoying to say the least. So, my daughter had an appointment with her ENT booked for yesterday (she had an ear op several years ago and was wondering about wax build up etc - anyway she decided she wouldn't go so I went instead). Yes Acute Tinnitus plus after hearing tests partial hearing loss, ie. loss in a certain spectrum - problem being inner ear related, timpanic system is fine. My family, wife and two kids, have often joked about the TV having to be a bit louder for me than them (I'm the deaf parent, Mum's the blind parent is the joking comparison from the kids - all meant in jest of course). So currently on a 3 week course of steroids and circulation drugs to try to help the inner ear system, nerves, capillaries, plus the hairs etc mentioned above, whilst also starting musical brain re-education (Mozart's Clarinet Concerto every day for 3 weeks with noise cancelling headphones) to try to re-train the brain away from focusing on the Tinnitus.

I say all this as, and I'm sure it applies to a lot of other situations, it really makes you feel vunerable, mortal etc. The Tinnitus is often a symptom or red flag of other health conditions, and at 53 I know that I don't take proper care of myself, like my beer a little too much, don't eat healthy etc, probably 20 lbs to lose easily (I'm 6ft so don't look overweight) - not too much you may say but try carrying around 20 lbs in your hands all day every day. I have a lot of stress in my job (stress is not good everyone stating the obvious), plus a couple of other minor health issues which in themselves don't affect me, but it makes you really start to think about things. As an aside I almost died 5 years ago from a completely unrelated situation (Bilateral PE for what its worth) so am on daily aspirin (luckily avoiding blood thinners right now) but **** me everyone - you have to look after yourself (mentally and emotionally) and your bodies. My immediate mood yesterday was to withdraw into myself, but I'm determined for that not to happen, so its not just your body but your mind you have to look after.

Apologies for rambling on, but wanted to relate to what C'mon posted above and to add to it with the message to look after yourself, you only have one of you.
Click to expand...

It's the old conundrum Fred, unless you experience the suffering that some people go through you never understand to the true extent of what people are trying to tell you, I remember being out on the town in a pub down by the marina, near to what was Peppi's, Humber something or other, and there was a group on and to say they were loud was like saying that a Jumbo jet is silent. I had taken my hearing aids out just as a precaution, but even that wasn't enough when they started up their gig, I came out straight away, my mates stayed for a while. When they did emerge they were all laughing about their ears ringing and I said that it's not a good thing, of course I was fobbed off as being passed it. But what you have written I understand, in fact on another thread about hobbies, past times and the such, I have explained that I have changed my life a lot, even going for a walk, ride on my bike, simple things whilst I am able, and as I have said, many of my friends cannot, and I just don't mean those now dead.

As for the wax thing, a drop of olive oil in each ear, 3 times a week, helps stop the wax from hardening, in the course of nature the ear will eject the wax and so help keep the ear clear. But wax is important in keeping the delicate workings of the ear protected, too much wax is a nuisance and because I wear aids the wax cannot exit the ear. Nothing is ever so simple for me, for as I wear aids the wax blocks the tubing of the hearing aid and gathers wound the earpiece. This makes the ears sore so I have to have times when I take the hearing aids out and let the air get to my ears, and give the wax a chance to escape. If the wax hardens then that makes your hearing worse which meant your ears need syringing, many GP surgeries do not like doing this, my own insist on me signing a disclaimer for any injury to my hearing. Hull Royal suck the wax out, I've no idea who this works as you have to have a GP referral, I just sign the form and have mine syringed, usually about every six months.
 
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C'mon ref said:
It's the old conundrum Fred, unless you experience the suffering that some people go through you never understand to the true extent of what people are trying to tell you, I remember being out on the town in a pub down by the marina, near to what was Peppi's, Humber something or other, and there was a group on and to say they were loud was like saying that a Jumbo jet is silent. I had taken my hearing aids out just as a precaution, but even that wasn't enough when they started up their gig, I came out straight away, my mates stayed for a while. When they did emerge they were all laughing about their ears ringing and I said that it's not a good thing, of course I was fobbed off as being passed it. But what you have written I understand, in fact on another thread about hobbies, past times and the such, I have explained that I have changed my life a lot, even going for a walk, ride on my bike, simple things whilst I am able, and as I have said, many of my friends cannot, and I just don't mean those now dead.

As for the wax thing, a drop of olive oil in each ear, 3 times a week, helps stop the wax from hardening, in the course of nature the ear will eject the wax and so help keep the ear clear. But wax is important in keeping the delicate workings of the ear protected, too much wax is a nuisance and because I wear aids the wax cannot exit the ear. Nothing is ever so simple for me, for as I wear aids the wax blocks the tubing of the hearing aid and gathers wound the earpiece. This makes the ears sore so I have to have times when I take the hearing aids out and let the air get to my ears, and give the wax a chance to escape. If the wax hardens then that makes your hearing worse which meant your ears need syringing, many GP surgeries do not like doing this, my own insist on me signing a disclaimer for any injury to my hearing. Hull Royal suck the wax out, I've no idea who this works as you have to have a GP referral, I just sign the form and have mine syringed, usually about every six months.
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I used to have my ears sucked out at Hull Royal every 6 months or so, until we emigrated. That was a follow on from having a mastoidectomy about 20 years ago now. This is where they removed a lot of the bone inside my right ear due to an abscess I think it was that was slowly eating the bone away, until I had it sorted. So like a few on here am partially deaf in one ear but can hear some tones but not too much. If someone is on that side talking I don’t always hear them. I also suffer from the dreaded wax build up in my ears, which would often become infected, hence the reason for getting them sucked out a couple of times a year. When my ears were infected I had very minimal hearing for what could be up to two weeks depending on how long it took to clear. Not many people knew how much I suffered with lack of hearing as I didn’t really say much, and often would make up a pathetic excuse as to why I hadn’t heard.
They did think a lot of the problems were down to wearing ear plugs at work, which prevented my lugs being able to breathe properly, and it probably didn’t help that I would be constantly taking the plugs in and out all day with going into different work areas. I did get some Moulded ear plugs made up on one visit to HRI. They stuck blue tack in each lug to get the templates then had them made up.
I probably don’t suffer from infected ears as much now, maybe due to not needing to wear ear plugs now, though one thing that can still give me ear infections is after swimming. The ENT bloke here said dont keep buying the expensive aqua ear drops but to make my own, by mixing three parts meths to one part white vinegar, as this is the same as what they put in the post swimming ear drops. That seems to work ok for me.
 
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BrisbaneTiger said:
I used to have my ears sucked out at Hull Royal every 6 months or so, until we emigrated. That was a follow on from having a mastoidectomy about 20 years ago now. This is where they removed a lot of the bone inside my right ear due to an abscess I think it was that was slowly eating the bone away, until I had it sorted. So like a few on here am partially deaf in one ear but can hear some tones but not too much. If someone is on that side talking I don’t always hear them. I also suffer from the dreaded wax build up in my ears, which would often become infected, hence the reason for getting them sucked out a couple of times a year. When my ears were infected I had very minimal hearing for what could be up to two weeks depending on how long it took to clear. Not many people knew how much I suffered with lack of hearing as I didn’t really say much, and often would make up a pathetic excuse as to why I hadn’t heard.
They did think a lot of the problems were down to wearing ear plugs at work, which prevented my lugs being able to breathe properly, and it probably didn’t help that I would be constantly taking the plugs in and out all day with going into different work areas. I did get some Moulded ear plugs made up on one visit to HRI. They stuck blue tack in each lug to get the templates then had them made up.
I probably don’t suffer from infected ears as much now, maybe due to not needing to wear ear plugs now, though one thing that can still give me ear infections is after swimming. The ENT bloke here said dont keep buying the expensive aqua ear drops but to make my own, by mixing three parts meths to one part white vinegar, as this is the same as what they put in the post swimming ear drops. That seems to work ok for me.
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A lot of what has been written on this subject here is all too familiar to me Brisbane and your comments have just added to that. Sore ears do hurt, I do take my hearing aids out when the pain becomes too much, and, as you mentioned, let the ears 'breathe' as silly as it may sound. But the other thing you mention is swimming, I was told from an early age that this was a definite no no so I was medically excused from swimming lessons at school. Foolishly I also thought that I wouldn't be able to have a bath but the surgeon laughed and said that a bath was fine, just don't get the water in your ears. How was that supposed to work lol?
 
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