Today I received my first of two hearing devices…(Sshhh not hearing aid). I’m still way to vain to call it that. Besides when you say hearing device people are not even sure what you are talking about.
The young lady, Shanna, that assisted me in my hearing test and the selection of my device was very helpful, polite, and even sensitive to my obvious…vanity…thought I was going to say hearing didn’t you? Nope hearing was not the big issue today…today’s issue was…vanity. It was obvious to Shanna and eventually to me that the hearing loss did not bother me that much…while the wearing of a hearing device was causing me great anxiety. She ask what style I wanted and I said I want the style that no one can see. She smiled and said “Of course.”
However, this was not young Shanna’s first rodeo. She proceeded to show me the stylish devices that you wear behind your ear, she told me all the advantages, she told me how much more comfortable they were etc etc. personally, being in sales, I believe she showed me the ones that had the most mark up in them...unfair... maybe... anyway... I just looked at her…like you must not have heard what I said…this was not my first rodeo either (at being totally vain). She had apparently seen this same face before and began to demonstrate how the one in the ear would look and feel. I still did not like it but it seemed the better choice.
So, almost three grand and a week later I am hearing sounds…lots of crazy sounds…some I had forgotten. Small rocks crunching under your feet as you walk across the pavement…cool…my leather jacket makes a sound when the sleeve rubs against the front…I did not know that…how loud heels sound on our marble floor at work…and this one...my blinkers in my car sound like I hooked up speakers to them!...outrageous... and, I can hear the conversations even at other tables in a restaurant…okay that one is not always a blessing…also, my cell phone actually makes a sound when it vibrates…very surprising… I know this will get old soon but I am having a blast hearing all the sounds that have been going on around me that I knew nothing about.
With all that I am still most concerned with what people will think when they see it. Okay, you have to be at just the right angle and on my right side to actually see it but I feel like its this big thing in my ear that surely everyone can see. Yet I cannot see it in a mirror! But…I know someone will!
I want to say to everyone that walks by…I’m not old! I’m totally cool...I lost my hearing playing rock music….I am not old…I’m cool damn it! But actually I have been at work with it for four hours and no one has noticed it….yet!
I know…I know…ridiculous…vain…I should just appreciate the sheer genius of this device. It is so technologically advanced that it even talks to me…it gives me warnings like…”battery low” or “shutting down” it says that when you ignore the battery low warning. Very moody.
Also, I can set the tones higher or lower and for different environments…crowds, phone, restaurants etc….all from my cell phone! Amazing!
But hey, I do have the option of going back to my old device of constantly saying…”What…What…I’m sorry but could you repeat that?” And vanity has me seriously considering it.
Vanity won over good hearing for a long time…it just became such hard work to keep up in conversations. And now hearing is struggling to win over vanity…I must admit…hearing is pretty cool…may the best device win!
The young lady, Shanna, that assisted me in my hearing test and the selection of my device was very helpful, polite, and even sensitive to my obvious…vanity…thought I was going to say hearing didn’t you? Nope hearing was not the big issue today…today’s issue was…vanity. It was obvious to Shanna and eventually to me that the hearing loss did not bother me that much…while the wearing of a hearing device was causing me great anxiety. She ask what style I wanted and I said I want the style that no one can see. She smiled and said “Of course.”
However, this was not young Shanna’s first rodeo. She proceeded to show me the stylish devices that you wear behind your ear, she told me all the advantages, she told me how much more comfortable they were etc etc. personally, being in sales, I believe she showed me the ones that had the most mark up in them...unfair... maybe... anyway... I just looked at her…like you must not have heard what I said…this was not my first rodeo either (at being totally vain). She had apparently seen this same face before and began to demonstrate how the one in the ear would look and feel. I still did not like it but it seemed the better choice.
So, almost three grand and a week later I am hearing sounds…lots of crazy sounds…some I had forgotten. Small rocks crunching under your feet as you walk across the pavement…cool…my leather jacket makes a sound when the sleeve rubs against the front…I did not know that…how loud heels sound on our marble floor at work…and this one...my blinkers in my car sound like I hooked up speakers to them!...outrageous... and, I can hear the conversations even at other tables in a restaurant…okay that one is not always a blessing…also, my cell phone actually makes a sound when it vibrates…very surprising… I know this will get old soon but I am having a blast hearing all the sounds that have been going on around me that I knew nothing about.
With all that I am still most concerned with what people will think when they see it. Okay, you have to be at just the right angle and on my right side to actually see it but I feel like its this big thing in my ear that surely everyone can see. Yet I cannot see it in a mirror! But…I know someone will!
I want to say to everyone that walks by…I’m not old! I’m totally cool...I lost my hearing playing rock music….I am not old…I’m cool damn it! But actually I have been at work with it for four hours and no one has noticed it….yet!
I know…I know…ridiculous…vain…I should just appreciate the sheer genius of this device. It is so technologically advanced that it even talks to me…it gives me warnings like…”battery low” or “shutting down” it says that when you ignore the battery low warning. Very moody.
Also, I can set the tones higher or lower and for different environments…crowds, phone, restaurants etc….all from my cell phone! Amazing!
But hey, I do have the option of going back to my old device of constantly saying…”What…What…I’m sorry but could you repeat that?” And vanity has me seriously considering it.
Vanity won over good hearing for a long time…it just became such hard work to keep up in conversations. And now hearing is struggling to win over vanity…I must admit…hearing is pretty cool…may the best device win!
