The common bond there really is amazing. And learning other people’s stories is so encouraging. So glad you could come!
Liz

I have been around a lot of deaf kids growing up who had worse hearing than I did and then having a sister and brother with hearing loss, I was used to repeating myself.

I never really wanted to hide my hearing loss. I never had to. But when I was totally mainstreamed in high school, that’s when I felt “different” and wanted to blend in. Funny how that works. I should do a post on that.

HUGS

And, I married the lady I met at my first SHHH (HLAA) meeting, too, back in 1989; the very same night I met Wayne Roorda.

What the audio hung on both yours & Abbie’s ears would not be classified as a well-fit hearing aid.

And I’m putting my reputation as a hearing aid engineer & former dispenser behind my contention both you and Abbie were improperly treated by the audiologists who performed your CI evals, as they were forcing SPL’s that were either triggering your stapedial reflex’ &/or vibrating your VIII facial nerve.

Without a monitoring tympanometer in the opposite ear, I cannot confirm stapedial reflex triggering.

But, both of you had your ears completely blown out to the point of discomfort with VIII facial nerve vibration.

And, to the audiologists monitoring this column, remember in school that funky piece of test equipment that has a headset with an earphone on one side & probe on the other? It’s called a diagnostic tympanometer, and is needed to nail down SSPL-90 (MPO) limiter settings on hearing aid fittings on patients who can’t communicate during UCL testing that their limit has been reached.

Daniel L. Schwartz
Electrical Engineer
Cherry Hill, NJ
Dan@Snip.Net

I’m sure if it wasn’t required by insurance companies, etc. that they wouldn’t have even bothered with the hearing aids since it was obvious they wouldn’t help me.

As a former (& perhaps future again) dispensing engineer, I would add that it had shown incompetence on the part of both of the audiologists.

Let’s try a little thought experiment:

With these hearing aids set with SSPL (MPO) at max, way above any UCL (uncomfortable level) — which apparently was NOT tested for either Wendi .OR. Abbie — let’s just pretend for a moment that at these extreme settings they actually passed a couple of word list tests.

Now, does anyone think for a minute that either Wendi or Abbie could walk out with those hearing aids set to painfully uncomfortable levels?

Didn’t think so.

And, if you want to go further in this thought experiment, as someone who held hearing aid dispensing licenses in Georgia and Pennsylvania (and knows the laws in NJ), it is ILLEGAL to fit a hearing aid without first testing for UCL’s!

[And this is The Law in almost every State, as many of them adopted boilerplate legislation in the 60's & 70's.]

By the way, I have a slight hearing impairment and quite severe tinnitus myself – but hearing is one of those things that is very easy to take for granted. Being reminded that nothing should be taken for granted is always useful!

Thanks a lot for sharing your story and providing such a massive resource of information on the topic. And for doing it in such a friendly and open-minded way. This is the kind of blog I would show my clients as an example of top-quality content (and that comment comes from a person who makes a living from blogging), and that I will happily recommend to anyone who may find it useful or interesting.

Good luck with everything in the future, and give Dave a big hug!