What?!

A few weeks ago I went to an audiologist to get a hearing test. I have been having trouble hearing lately, especially when there's a lot of background noise. I tend to hear different words in place of the real words; for example, the other day I heard my co-worker say she bought a bag of owls but they didn't taste very good. It's funny when I repeat what I think people say, but it also isn't.

The audiologist said that I do have some hearing loss, but not really enough for a hearing aid just yet. When I was younger I had a lot of painful earaches, seemingly once every couple of weeks. I was always at the doctor getting wax flushed out of my ears (I did an allergy scratch test back then, and the result was that I had an allergy to milk (my favorite drink at the time), which caused excess earwax, go figure). That may be a contributing factor. I was playing in bands for 12 or so years when I was in my teens and early 20s, and I went to a lot of club shows during that period, but the audiologist said that probably didn't have much to do with it. I went to a club show a few years ago, and it was the first time that I needed to wear earplugs. And actually, instead of killing the sound like I thought they would, they actually made the music more distinct, instead of the wash of noise that you usually hear at a club show.

The culprit may be the iPod. I never was into listening to music on headphones much until I got into the iPod. I resisted for awhile, Sarah got one for her birthday, but I wanted nothing to do with it. I eventually caved, and she got me one for myself, and it is now a constant companion. I have earbuds, the regular Walkman-type headphones, and a pair of ear-encompassing headphones. The audiologist said that a good rule of thumb for if your iPod is too loud is if people around you can make out what you're listening to. I cut the grass with my iPod on, and I used the ear-encompassing headphones for that so I can hear the music. One time this summer I was listening to A Day In The Life by the Beatles, and the orchestra buildup in the song actually drowned out the sound of the mower. I think that's when I realized that I had better start turning it down.

I always thought I had a mild version of tinnitus, because every once in awhile one of my ears would close up a bit and there would be a high pitched sound in there. This has been happening as long as I can remember, so that's probably due to the earaches, but the audiologist said it wasn't tinnitus. What he did say was that I have trouble hearing higher pitched sounds, which means women's voices, which is mainly what I hear all day, as I work with all women and am married to one. At work it's really bad, because there's a lot of background noise, and I have to have them repeat things 3 or 4 times sometimes.

I do say What quite often, but I have tried to vary it since I use it so much. I say Pardon, Excuse Me, and my favorite, I'm Sorry? I got that one from Die Hard, where Hans Gruber doesn't hear what one of his henchman says, and says I'm Sorry in order for him to repeat it. Saying What is also a reflex, I do say it sometimes when I've heard what the person said to me, which is kind of weird. Another thing I do is to repeat back what the person said if I can catch myself before saying what. I just need to concentrate and listen and stop saying What if I don't have to, because it gets annoying for the person that is talking. I can just picture myself as an old man (say, 48 if I keep up my iPod habits) with a giant ear trumpet saying What all the time, and scaring all the children.