Daily Update

Hello All,

Today was a fairly normal day in the clinic. I saw half a dozen patients who are over the moon that they can understand speech in background noise (restaurants, Church foyer, vehicle.) and their Iphone calls are clear as a bell through their hearing aids. Not to mention TV dialogue is spot on.

The most difficult case was a 93 year old lady with a unilateral hearing loss. Her left ear was 90% gone and her right ear had about 50% loss. The interesting thing was that her poor ear hearing loss was mixed in nature meaning that a portion of the loss was sensory (loss in the hair cells in the cochlea), the other 40 % loss was conductive. Meaning that the loss is coming from a restriction in the middle ear. Essentially her 2 cochleas had the same loss of hearing. Her left middle ear was completely seized.

I sent a report to her family physician to check out the need for medical intervention and fit her right ear with an Oticon OPN1 mini RITE hearing aid. Later this evening on my way home I stopped by her home and set up her Bluetooth TV box which is included in her kit with her OPN1. As I was setting up the box, she was telling me how joyful it is to hear again with ease. Although I have heard this hundreds of times, it never gets old. By the time I left, she was hearing Ellen and MArk Hamill perfectly. What a treat and a fantastic end to another fulfilling day in the clinic!

I subscribe to the Japanese notion of Ikigai regarding finding purpose in life and as a hearing impaired Doctor of Audiology I understand all too well how much of an impact hearing loss can have on one's quality of life. It is joyful to be able to use my curse as a gift to ensure these patients succeed. All the way. No excuses.

Be well.