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When I was suddenly deaf in one ear ...

Linda Parasiz is 34 years old, married and the mother of two children (4 and 6). She lives in Tilburg and works as a communication officer in education. She likes to do fun things with her family and friends and enjoys sports. She contracted sudden deafness in January 2019 and has been deaf in her right ear ever since. She wears a Starkey Livio 1600 cros .

“No madam, I fear that we are too late and that it is permanent” I hoped for a moment that I had not heard correctly, but unfortunately I had heard it correctly this time. That hit me hard! After many visits to the doctor and almost begging for a referral, I finally sat with the ENT doctor. I thought it probably had a trick to turn my hearing back – just puncture it or prescribe a medicine and my hearing would be normal again – but no, nothing could be further from the truth. He should have seen me earlier, he said. Now no treatment was possible, I was permanently deaf in my right ear, he called it sudden deafness . At the age of 34 …

"The only thing you could try is a hearing aid"

Well please, I do! I was glad that anything was possible at all, because I didn’t like the “radio silence” on the right. I had been worried because I was afraid it would stay that way forever, but there was still hope. There was life after sudden deafness. I had to indicate my complaints to the hearing care professional and fill in a questionnaire about my listening situations. What I mainly run into with my unilateral hearing loss:

  • I need to make sure that I sit / walk / stand on someone’s right side so they can talk in my good ear. If not, I have to turn my head to pick up the sound with my “good ear”. It creates uncomfortable situations, such as always asking if you can walk on the other side of someone to hear better or looking for a strategic place in the meeting room to understand as many colleagues as possible.
  • I don’t hear if someone on my right is talking. This can cause unpleasant situations at work, schoolyard, during sports and in restaurants… everywhere actually. For example, I did not realize that the waitress had asked several times what I wanted to drink.

  • Estimate direction. As you estimate a distance with two eyes, I have noticed that you need two ears to estimate where sound is coming from. When my kids call me, I have to scan my entire environment before I see them. I once lost my phone and searched the whole house. Even though I could hear the sound, I couldn’t locate it. In short, the hearing loss actually affects my daily life all the time. And that’s why I was happy that there was a hearing solution for me!

Starkey Livio 1600 cros

The Starkey Livio 1600 cros picks up the sound in my right ear (with which I hear nothing) and plays it through a speaker in my left ear. I could hardly believe it when the hearing care professional told me that the signal was being transferred to the other side of my head via Bluetooth. That almost sounded futuristic! It was clear that hearing aids have also moved with the times. Awesome! My friends were also amazed.

During the first appointment with the hearing care professional, I was allowed to choose the color of my hearing aid. I have often worked with color fans for my job, but never to choose the color of my hearing aid. I thought that was quite unusual, but was glad that there was a choice. I only knew the “skin-colored bananas”, as my grandfather used to wear behind his ears. I chose the color that most closely resembles my hair color and is therefore least noticeable behind my ear. Bronze. After some more measurements and forms, the order was placed. Now we had to wait and see that it was going to work.

"I was relieved to see how small they were"

 

When it finally happened, I couldn’t wait to peek into the boxes. How relieved I was to see how small they were! When I got the devices in and the hearing care professional sat down on my bad side and spoke, I was super happy! I could hear again! No more sudden deafness. I did not notice at all that the sound came in through my left ear. I could hardly imagine that beforehand; that your brain doesn’t notice. I also did not hear double (once naturally through my left ear, and once through the microphone). What struck me was that I heard my own voice louder, as if I was talking into a microphone. Fortunately, this got used to very quickly. I was especially happy that I could hear from the right again. My aforementioned problems were largely resolved, only the “sense of direction” was nothing to be done as all sound still enters through one ear. I took this for granted. I could hear again! And so I got rid of my sudden deafness.

Louder and softer via the app

The hearing care professional adjusted my hearing aid. We also linked it to the Thrive app. This allows me to set the volume of my hearing aid at any time via my phone. I make quite a lot of use of that. During a conversation with my colleague a little louder, during a drink a bit softer.

The hearing care professional adjusted my hearing aid. We also linked it to the Thrive app. This allows me to set the volume of my hearing aid at any time via my phone. I make quite a lot of use of that. During a conversation with my colleague a little louder, during a drink a bit softer.

I was allowed to try the devices for 2 months. During this trial period, I noticed that noisy situations remained difficult, such as a restaurant or the schoolyard. All the sound – including background noise – is amplified in my left ear, making it sometimes quite “busy” on that side. What my hearing care professional has done is to set up an extra profile “crowd”. If I keep the button on my device pressed a bit longer, it switches to this profile. The sound will then automatically decrease a bit. This ensures that I can hear a little better in noisy situations, and that I can quickly switch between the profiles “crowd” and “normal”.

I can not live without it!

I am very satisfied with my Starkey Livio 1600 cros. My hearing aid ensures that I do not have to take my hearing loss into account as much in my daily life. I can understand the people around me wherever I sit, and sounds from the right come in loud and clear again. Without a hearing aid, I really don’t leave home anymore! And now I also read that in January 2020 there will be an update for my Android phone that makes it possible to stream music with my hearing aid and make hands-free calls (with iPhone this is already possible). How cool is that! In a little while it will be just hip to wear a hearing aid. I look forward!

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By Yvan Karman
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