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Stories
"...my grandson whispered to me, 'Grandma, I love you' and tears
came to my eyes."
I had been wearing conventional hearing aids for about six years when
I decided to try
out the digitally programmable hearing aids. As I sat
through several sessions to customize a proper program for my hearing
needs I wondered if all this time and money was going to be worth it.
They're really very expensive, I thought, and my old ones served me
quite well, that is, except for the aggravation and annoyance of
always having to adjust the little volume knobs in them. My son-in-law
would tease me good-naturedly, imitating my pose of fingers moving
back and forth on either side of my head like a crazy person.
Whenever additional people would walk into a room, up went my fingers
towards my ears. When entering a store I wished I had "Let my fingers
do the walking" instead of having them walk in my ears, doing the back
and forth dance of sound.
While sitting in the fitting room with one of the audiologists I was
always on the verge of canceling. After all, my hearing wasn't sooo
bad .... was it? Was it really necessary to spend so much money? I
could vacation in Paris for a month for what they cost. But the truth
of the matter was that I knew I would hear more clearly and distinctly
with them and I did deserve them ... and I didn't want my
grandchildren, with their tiny, high pitched voices, to stop talking
to me because of my difficulty in hearing them.
Well I've been wearing digitally programmable hearing aids for about a
year now and although I was given a pen like remote control instrument
to adjust the volume, I've never felt the need to use it. They're so
comfortable on, that I nearly jumped into my pool wearing them. That
evening, at dinner, my grandson whispered to me, "Grandma, I love
you," and tears came to my eyes. I had heard him so clearly.
Last night tragedy struck! I felt like crying. When I sat down to
watch television, a loud annoying buzzing screeched in my ears. When I
took the hearing aids off, the noise stopped so I knew something was
wrong with the hearing aids.
This morning when I went into the den to clean up I found the
telephone was off the hook!! -- Janet Tillim
"...I have never
regretted my choice."
I was delighted to receive a letter requesting a brief statement
explaining my experience with a digitally programmable ReSound hearing
aid. I first came to the Huntington Hearing & Speech Center when I was
12 years old, after the school nurse in junior high school suggested I
have further tests done to determine the severity of hearing loss to
my right ear. I went for regular evaluations every few years and when
I was 17 years old, my audiologist popped the question: Would you like
a hearing aid? I was stunned, frightened and embarrassed. The thoughts
that ran through my mind I'm sure are the same that any 17 year old
would think of. What will it look like? Will I be able to
handle comments made by my peers? Do I really need it, after all I've been
doing fine so far? Even at the tender age of 17, I was respected and treated
as an adult. I didn't get the aid then because I just wasn't ready.
In college, I didn't think about the possibility of using an aid and allowed
my left ear to compensate for anything my right ear could not hear. I would
sit somewhere in the front row of classrooms when attending lectures, turned
my head towards the voices of those who spoke to me and continued using the
telephone only with my left ear. I really did not think of the use of an aid
until I noticed that more and more of my family and friends would ask me if
I heard them. Numerous times, I would be in another room and someone would
call out to me and it took three or four calls before I would respond.
Last year, a few months after my 26th birthday I visited the center for what
they thought was just another routine visit. This time, after being tested I
accepted my audiologist's proposal and said Yes! But, being the skeptic that
I am, I bombarded my audiologist with questions. My mind was soon put at
ease as I was told that everything would be just fine. The trust and faith
that I have in my audiologist helped me make this difficult decision. I have
never regretted my choice.
I have since received my Masters degree and I no longer have to be concerned
with where to sit in a classroom. My response is immediate when I am spoken
to, even at a distance. Except when I choose to ignore people, then it comes
in handy. I can always use my hearing loss as the excuse (ha!).
I am still unable to achieve maximum clarity when speaking on the phone but
heck you can't look for miracles. My ears have been introduced to a new
world of delightful sounds and I have the center's staff to thank for it. I
will forever be grateful for their patience and professionalism. I'm sure I
will have no problem in law school. To my audiologist I say thank-you from
the bottom of my heart and God bless you and yours. -- Ms. Margaret D'Elia
"I had always envied people..."
When I came to see you a month ago, it was because I had finally accepted
that I needed
a second hearing aid. I was very happy with the small in the
ear hearing aid that I had, and thought that another just like it would be
what I needed. You told me that while the hearing aid that I had was
adequate, there was a hearing aid called ReSound that you thought would be
better for me. It had a computer chip that reproduced sound clearer than the
hearing aid that I was using.
I would not say that I was skeptical, because I wasn't, but when a person
has a hearing loss for as long as I have it is difficult to accept that what
you are hearing with help of a hearing aid is still not what everyone else
is hearing. So with your encouragement I agreed to try the ReSound hearing
aids. We set a date for Valentines Day for me to receive my new ears. When I
came to see you on that day, I had no idea that everything would change for
me. I cannot begin to tell you how I felt when
you put the ReSound hearing
aids in my ears and then spoke to me in a soft voice. With my old hearing
aids I would still be straining to hear you, especially if there was any
additional noise in the vicinity, but with the ReSound hearing aids I could
hear you so clearly. I had always envied people who could hear another
person that spoke to them in a soft voice, and here I was enjoying that same
privilege. This was something that I had given up on being able to
experience for myself.
Since that day there has been less strain in my days, I no longer have to
concentrate so hard in order to hear. This means my body is less tired. Now
instead of my asking people to speak up, they are asking me to speak up. Because I can now hear myself speak, I no longer have to raise my voice. Also my family can listen to the television at a level that is comfortable
for them instead of a level that is comfortable for me, and there is no more
shouting as I can now hear what someone in the next room is saying to me. To
be able to hear something as simple as the birds without actually being
outside is wonderful. I am also able to locate sound more quickly than I
could before.
You have given me a gift that I will always be very grateful for. I am
recommending the ReSound hearing aids to anyone that I know who has a
hearing loss. Hopefully they will try them for themselves. I know anyone who
tries them will surely love what they hear. I cannot thank you enough for
your caring and help. God Bless you. -- Mildred McGowan
"...I
thought they weren't working..."
This is to express my gratitude for the relief and pleasure the new ReSound
hearing aids have brought me.
Having used hearing aids for several years, I had found them indispensable
but constantly irritating. Since mine is a high-frequency loss, the aids of
course had to boost those frequencies -- and boosted, at the same time, all
sorts of unpleasant noises, such as voices at a party or in a restaurant,
traffic noises, wind on the parkway, all these I dreaded. These things were
occasional, and they were the worst. But all the time there was an unnatural
sound in my ears, relieved only when I took the things off at night. I tried
more expensive brands, but nothing really helped.
Finally this year, after some further deterioration in my hearing, I heard
about ReSound and -- with great skepticism -- agreed to try them. In the
first moments I thought they weren't working, it seemed that the room had
simply grown quieter, and that this audiologist was the clearest speaker I
had ever heard.
I love that sensation; it's like having no hearing aids and just being able
to hear easily and naturally. When a battery goes dead you won't even know
it until somebody speaks to you and you don't understand what they're
saying. I regret that I didn't get them 5 years ago.
If this letter comes to the attention of the inventor, let me close by
saying THANK YOU. -- Walt Multer
"...I found my voice again..."
After experiencing frustration with my two previous aids, I am absolutely
delighted with my two ReSound hearing aids. It was a shock to discover that
the ReSounds did everything promised and more! I had expected that it would
take several weeks or months to get used to them but in fact I felt
comfortable with them the first hour. But the real test in the real world
was yet to take place.
The very next day I gave a talk, using
my new aids, at a local SHHH (Self
Help for the Hard of Hearing) meeting. After my presentation, we gathered
for some refreshments, an excellent opportunity to test my aids in a noisy
environment. As loud noise is painfully uncomfortable, I normally stay away
from such gathering. But this time, I used my remote control to switch over
to program
II, the softer program, and I was now able to tolerate the noisy
chatter while still grasping the conversation. Usually, after these
meetings, I go home exhausted from the strain of listening. This night, I
went home refreshed. Another plus!
The following Monday was another important and very special test. It was a
Board meeting of at least eight members who sat around a large table. For
the first time, I was in tune with all that was going on; in fact, I forgot
that I was wearing my hearing aids. The other interesting thing I noticed
was that I found my voice again. By that, I mean, my voice no longer sounded
mechanical as if it were coming from a robot. My voice now sounded more like
it used to, and it was like I found a part of me long missing.
I know the ReSound aids are expensive compared to some other aids. But how
can you put a price on something that dramatically improves the quality of
your life, and in some cases makes the difference between being a "shut-in"
and participating in life? And I finally figured out too late that if I had
obtained ReSound hearing aids in the first place, I would have been spared
years of frustration and the cost of regular hearing aids that failed me.
My advice to my hearing-impaired friends dissatisfied with their hearing or
with their current aids is: "Beg, borrow or steal, but get the ReSounds! You
deserve them!" -- Inez Boyce
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