The Better to Hear You With

We know the story of the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood. "What big ears you have," said Little Red Riding Hood to the wolf in disguise! "The better to hear you with," was the response, but that does not tell the whole story. You hear with your brain, too.

My mom has been wearing hearing aids for years. She never felt like they did much good - she can hear fine. I would always point out when you need glasses, you know what you can't see. You do not know what you do not hear. If I say, "I'm not leaving now," versus "I'm... leaving now." Missing the "not," though one word, changes the whole meaning.

Meeting with the audiologist

A few weeks ago, my mom tried to drop her hearing aid down into her bottle of Diet Coke. My husband stopped her just in time. He called to tell me how he saved her hearing aid. We have found one in our Roomba vacuum cleaner before. He put it in his pocket, and we never saw it again. Apparently, it was destined for oblivion.

We met with the audiologist to discuss our options. I was hoping to just get one to replace the one we lost, but she said we really need 2 new ones because they work in tandem, communicating with each other.

I asked about the cheapies we have seen advertised on television, but she said those are no good either, because they just make everything louder. They do not help with filtering out noise and amplifying certain frequencies, especially the higher ones associated with speech.

The connection between our ears and our brain

During mom's hearing test, the doctor would say a word and have mom repeat it. She was close on a lot of words, but she often missed the consonants at the end or beginning of a word. The doctor said "book," but mom said "good." When I commented, the doctor smiled and said, "That's the higher frequencies."

One big surprise was the role the brain has in hearing. It is not just about volume and cranking it up. The brain has to interpret all of the sounds that are converted to signals. If the brain stops receiving signals, it stops being able to recognize them, and cannot process the information. The brain goes deaf if the ears do.

The audiologist informed us that hearing loss is associated with rapid mental decline and increase in dementia. It can lead to isolation and depression, even balance issues and falls. Wearing hearing aids, properly fitting ones, everyday is important to keep the brain engaged. My mom already has dementia. She takes medication to slow the progression. I had no idea her hearing aids were doing the same thing.

Proper hearing aids for mom

My other surprise was that the old ones were not fitting properly, so she wasn't getting the full benefit. No wonder she was fiddling with them and taking them out. They were loose and were not inserted far enough in her ear canal.

There is a little filament that was supposed to go in her concha, the curved part just outside of her ear canal. It helps brace the hearing aid from falling out, like the ear buds people use to listen to music while exercising.

I did not know that, so I wasn't putting them in right and letting it just stick out, like a handle or something. The doctor also thought the filament connecting the part behind her ear to the dome in her ear was too short.

No wonder mom did not think they made much of a difference! They probably weren't!

You don't know what you're missing

My mother said when my brother was a kid and got the proper prescription glasses, they were the first things he put on in the morning and the last things he took off at night. He could see!

Properly fitting hearing aids are just as important for hearing. When the new ones were fitted, mom's eyes lit up! She could hear a lot more than she had before. The doctor asked mom a question while she was looking at something else and mom answered, without being spoken to directly.

Upgrading mom's hearing aids

Mom's new hearing aids are less expensive than the old ones but not cheap. They don't connect to her phone like the old ones, but they can be controlled by an app on my phone.

The best feature is they can be found if lost! The last location is stored in the app. The technology has also improved, and we are getting more bang for our buck. Although mom is hearing better already, it will take a while for her brain to get used to hearing again and receiving information.

We only have 5 senses and one brain. Lets keep all of them going for as long as we can.