I have sensorineural hearing loss brought on by being around loud music. This included several years of being on the road with arena bands plus being a musician. I regret not protecting my hearing but the damage is done. Now I’m faced with a constant struggle to hear. Whether it’s speech in noise (the worst), or just people who speak softly, I have a hard time hearing clearly. In addition to my hearing loss, I have tinnitus which is annoying and distracting to living.

I got my first set of aids six years ago. They were Oticon Delta RIC and while they helped me hear, I found that I was very self-conscience about wearing the aids. One day after teaching a class, I removed the aids and put them away. I never found them again. At that point I was so frustrated with losing my aids and not being able to hear that I decided not to replace them. So I went for a year, struggling to catch bits and pieces of conversations. Trying to hear what is being said can be exhausting if you are hearing impaired. These days I’m no longer self-conscience about wearing aids, I just want to be able to hear what people are saying.