Sometimes you just have to accept that you are getting older and things are changing. Yeah, I know it can be a bummer. But as the old saying goes, ” when life gives you a lemon, make lemonade” or something to that effect. 

I fought this for a while, but now I’ve accepted it. I just can’t hear as well as I used to hear. It’s not too bad, or so I told myself. I DONT WANT HEARING AIDS. But I do miss words and sometimes whole conversations when there is loud noise in close places, like restaurants. My daughters keep telling me I don’t hear them and I ask people to repeat words, phrases, and sentences too often and it becomes embarrassing. Other times I just smile and nod and pretend I hear. I need closed captions to understand all the words when I watch TV. 

Fortunately, my daughter is an audiologist and she checks my hearing. “Mom,” she would say, “you are starting to have significant hearing loss and hearing aids will help.”

 “Oh,” I replied, “I’m doing fine.” 

Then she gave me her “sales pitch” and fully convinced me. She knows me too well. I love technology and she told me my hearing aids will connect to my iPhone with an app and I have all kinds of possibilities. 

But that’s not what really convinced me. I hope I remember this right.  This is what my audiologist daughter told me. Trying so hard to listen causes the brain to work harder at listening, so the other senses such as seeing are lessened. Also, hearing loss can lead to dementia. I also learned that once you start using them, you need to wear them all the time, so your brain can adjust to the new way you hear. 

I am so glad I am wearing my new hearing aids. My first real test was eating at a noisy restaurant. Usually I can hardly hear what the person across the table from me is saying.  That time I heard every word in spite of the noise. It felt wonderful! 

I have a theory. When I first wore them, everything was so loud. I could hear papers rattling and zippers zipping and clothes and hair rustling. It was a little annoying. My voice sounded too loud to me like I was speaking into a microphone. But now I don’t pay much attention  to that. So my theory is that it is easier to adjust to extraneous noise if you start using the hearing aids before you have too great a hearing loss. Just a theory on my part. 

Thank you, my sweet daughter for convincing me!