If you had asked me in early 2019 if I should be concerned about my hearing, I would have replied, not yet, I’m too young. I was so wrong. With October being Protect your Hearing Month, I encourage my readers to avoid what I have gone through. Protect your hearing now, before you lose it.
This is what I suggest you do this month, or at least get the process going. You never know when you have waited too long to save your hearing.
4 Things to do Now
- Turn down the volume. Loud noises or music over a period of time can cause hearing loss. Be sure to turn down the stereo in your home or car. If needed, wear protective earplugs at work if you work in a loud workplace, even if you don’t like to wear them.
- Free Test. If you are a member of AARP, they offer you a free hearing test with the National Hearing Test each year. The cost is $8 if you are not an AARP member. I highly recommend becoming an AARP member. They have a wealth of information on their website and in their magazines. Whether you are a member of AARP or not, please get an annual hearing test. My test confirmed that something was wrong. For information about the test, see this website:
- Establish a base hearing test. If your phone test recommends you need further testing, call your primary care doctor to set up an appointment with an audiologist. This test will determine if you have a hearing loss. Even if your phone hearing test doesn’t show any problems, I would attempt to get an appointment if your insurance allows. To do it over, I wish I had had an annual audiologist appointment at age 55 or earlier. It could have saved my hearing. My base test was perfect, but that was over ten years ago, so it wasn’t beneficial for comparison since there was not a pattern of gradual loss.
- Find out why you have lost hearing. My audiologist said I was a candidate for a hearing aid in my left ear because of hearing loss. His professional opinion was that before I get a hearing aid, we needed to check further to see if something was causing my hearing loss. Be sure that you find out the reason you have hearing loss. Do not rationalize that it’s a slight loss, and you can live with it. There might be something that is causing the hearing loss that can be fixed. Had I known I had a brain tumor when it was smaller, my hearing would most likely have been saved.
October is Protect Your Hearing Month – Learn from my story
I was on vacation when I first realized there was something wrong with my left ear. It took a few months for me to realize that my hearing was slightly impaired in that ear. I then took the phone hearing test through AARP. They recommended I get my hearing tested in my left ear. Once I had it tested and found out it was bad enough for a hearing aid, I accepted that was what I had to do. But my audiologist wanted to find out why.
Two MRIs later (one regular and one with contrast), I was told I had a non-cancerous brain tumor. It was medium-sized, and I had it removed in late 2019. Unfortunately, there were no guarantees with the removal of my brain tumor. I could completely lose the hearing in that ear. After my surgery, my neurosurgeons remained confident I would keep some of my hearing. They told this to my husband after the surgery was complete. However, their confidence was wrong, and I lost all my hearing in my left ear.
Help others
If you already have a hearing aid, be sure that you donate your old one to an organization like Lions Clubs International when you upgrade. They will take used hearing aids and refurbish them. The refurbished hearing aids are sold to people that have limited finances at a low cost.
October is protect your hearing month – take action now
Be sure to get your hearing checked before you lose it. You may be in a situation to prevent any hearing loss or stop it. The odds are good that you do not have a brain tumor. I suggest you take a proactive role in your ear health. One day, you may be thankful you did.
To learn more about my brain tumor/hearing experience, check out these previous posts: (double click on the title)
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