This morning a beautiful thing happened – a patient I’ve been seeing for two years tested normally on repeating sentences in background noise.
This is HUGE!
When we first met, she had trouble at Starbucks hearing the barista through low levels of noise even when they were not busy. She had trouble out to lunch with her daughter hearing her while there were competing voices around them.
What happened? She put in the work. She got a hearing test, and when I recommended hearing aids, she was all in. She wears them all waking hours, she cleans her hearing aids daily, she comes in diligently for her 6 month professional hearing aid cleanings in our office. She practices listening in noise by putting herself in situations where she has to use her ears. She turned off the closed captioning on her television and forced herself to practice listening shows where there was plenty of competing sounds.
Watch her go! We got to celebrate her success together today. THIS is why I do what I do.