ten0rman wrote:15 years ago I developed Menieres in my right ear, along with the accompanying vertigo. Two operations later and the vertigo was stopped, but there was very little sound in that ear, even though the consultant recommended a hearing aid. In effect then, I ended up with monaural hearing, but with careful positioning I was able to carry on with choral singing.
Almost 5 years ago, during a Haydn Creation concert, something happened to my left ear in that I lost bass response. As a result I had to give up singing, got to see an audiologist who told me what I already knew and was given two new hearing aids, one for each ear. Over a period of 12 to 15 months, my bass response slowly returned. I can only assume that the concert did some damage which then my body managed to repair.
About 6 months ago I broke one of the ear pieces, was given a further test and ended up with two new hearing aids, one for the left ear with fixed gain, and a much larger one for the right ear with fortunately adjustable gain. I say fortunately, because after 15 years of hearing not much in that ear, I, or perhaps my brain, is/am struggling to cope with all the "new" sounds coming down the hearing system.
I have permanent tinnitus, usually a hissing type low level sound in the right ear, but occasionally a large diesel engine sound in that ear.
TV sound is poor: I now use sub-titles all the time. Conversations are ok on a one-one basis, but very difficult, almost impossible if there are other people speaking or there is other extraneous noise. Fortunately, our cordless 'phones have a loudspeaker mode which for me doubles up as an amplifier.
So, all in all, my hearing is not good, but I am managing, it being the least of my problems, lung cancer being the worst. But, mustn't complain, at least I'm still here, and well past my three score plus 10.
Finally, why am I like that? Dunno. I suspect that listening a very loud noise in my twenties won't have helped, plus in my late forties, I changed offices, and was allocated a desk directly in line with, and about 15 feet away from the fire alarm siren. I did complain about the siren, but was told that it met approved standards. As a result, I went out of the room immediately prior to the weekly test but I will have suffered a few weeks of the siren. Also, I know some singing can be very loud so maybe that has contributed somewhat.
Cheers,
ten0rman
Bloody hell ten0rman. My sympathies. It really is a lesson for those of us without such worries. Your tale makes me count my blessings. Hang in there mate.