I am 64 years young. I have been retired since July of 2014. I am fairly active, but probably watch too much television. I enjoy running, kayaking, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. I love to cook, bake, and birdwatch and I dabble in sewing. I live in a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.

Hearing loss runs in my family. Both of my grandfathers wore hearing aids, and so did my father (at a young age). I first noticed my own hearing loss when I was 21. Ringing in the ears, and I realized I couldn’t “hear” the television while someone or something was blocking it. I didn’t know I had become dependent upon lip reading. When I started having dizzy spells I went to an ear, nose, and throat specialist thinking my hearing loss was only wax buildup. After doing a CAT scan to rule out a tumor, I was diagnosed with Meniere’s.

My hearing deteriorated over the next 15 years or so, and I got a hearing aid for my left ear. A few years after that I got one for my right ear. I have worn Starkey, Resound, Siemens, Phonak Audeo Marvel 90’s. I got a new pair of Phonak Lumity L-90 Life on December 6, 2022.