Ear Conditions.

[hyA17]

Hi everyone, I 'm new to DeafPlus.

I was born with poor hearing in my right ear and good hearing in my left ear. By the time I reached mid-teens I was wearing a hearing aid behind the ear with an ear mould, which lasted until my early twenties and after that I gradually lost my hearing completely in my right ear. During my thirties I developed Tinnitus and it's still with me to this day, but is manageable, and 10 years ago I started missing the odd word in conversations in my left ear. I went for hearing tests then had my 1 first digital hearing aid in 2007 with the dome ear piece which was wonderful.

Then 4 yrs ago I had a sudden loss of hearing in my left ear over night and was faced with more hearing tests followed by a scan, which showed there was nothing wrong with the outer ear to the middle ear and the answer was I had nerve deafness. I was fitted with a high powered digital aid with a small cross wire round the back of my neck, to a receiver aid in my right ear to give me hearing from both sides of my head which was a great experience. But during our recent Easter weekend I have had a further loss of hearing and at this point waiting for more appointments to start the whole process of hearing tests once more. I only hope that I don't loose what little hearing I have left.

If anyone has nerve deafness I would welcome their advice on their own experience and how they cope with it on a day to day bases.

regards.

hyA17.

[jayfer]

Hi, welcome to the site. Its not very widely used yet but am sure as word gets round more people will use it. I hope so as its good to speak to others in similar situation. My deafness is hereditary nerve ending deafness, mine only affects high frequency sounds so am not able to help you with your query, sorry. My mum is profoundly deaf, it came on gradual for her, she now has a cochlear implant to help with sounds.

I hope you get some helpful answers and your appt with audiology goes well, best wishes

[GRboyRiches]

That's rather dramatic for you, it seems you are on the way for a implant, if there is good news, at least you have had the experience of hearing, so you can understand the sounds of speech, but you may still be suitable for a POWER CROS, fingers crossed, but I'm afraid you will have to take it as it comes, and make the best out of a bad job....good luck.

[lynniemcc79]

Hello there,

I am sorry to hear of that, I hope that you have been seen now and it was a positive outcome. I think I may have the same as you - luckily for my my right ear seems to be in good condition, but my left is profoundly deaf - with terrible tinnitus - and my hearing got worse about a year ago in that ear. After being treated by my doctor (against my better judgement) for glue ear for 4 weeks with anti-biotics and no change at all, I finally paid to go to a consultant, who said no glue ear at all, and then did some tests. The tuning test came back with a weird result - that I could hear with it in the places I wasn't meant to - but a audiology test with a hearing consultant confirmed that there is profound hearing loss in my left ear and that it's untreatable.

Have two hearing aids now (one to project the sounds from my right side to my left side) and am finding them good to help me regulate my voice but not much else yet. I must try harder with them though. Some days are better than others with my tinnitus and hearing problems, sometimes very low about it, sometimes fine. Mostly ok, I am lucky to have a strong right ear (touch wood).

Lovely to connect with others with this kind of thing, feel a bit alone sometimes, as much as they try people can't understand how it feels sometimes.

Thanks

L

[Sophiekara in reply to lynniemcc79]

Hi, I also am now deaf in my left ear. I had 2 years of recurrent sinus infections, I mentioned my hearing in my left ear was not right, but was told it was because of the sinus problem. 2 sinus Operations later, my sinus is now clear but I have lost my hearing in my left ear. I wear a nhs hearing aid now but it does not help very much. It is so frustrating as I miss out on a lot of conversations . My husband is a buy quiet talker and i keep having to ask him to repeat all the time as if there is other noise in the same room I can't hear him. I also have very load tinitus in the ear which overpowers all noise. It is very depressing when I have always had good hearing.

Dawn

[Missy1951]

I'm sorry if I appear 'thick' but how do the cross wire aids manage to give hearing to a totally deaf ear?

Thanks for your patience.

Missy

[lynniemcc79 in reply to Missy1951]

Sorry, I should have explained, the sounds gets picked up from the deaf side and sent to the hearing side, so it's like a microphone picking up the sound at the deaf side and it is fed into my 'good' ear.

[Missy1951 in reply to lynniemcc79]

Hi. Isn't that the same as just hearing with your 'good ear'? It's still mono not stereo or am I just not getting it? (Since I lost my hearing five weeks ago seems some of my brain went too! Lol.

Missy