Hearing Aids

I wear a pair of hearing aids. All the men in my family develop tinnitus (ringing in the ears) in adolescence, and start to lose their hearing in their 40s. I was no exception to this rule.

The smarter men in my family accept this maturely. They find a good audiologist, purchase a high-end pair of hearing aids and learn how to use them. The dumb members of the family refuse to do this, or they buy a pair of cheap hearing aids that can't get the job done. They go through life becoming detached, not really hearing what others say. They become increasingly odd people.

Most people don't realize that one has to learn to use hearing aids. The hearing goes slowly and by the time you are fitted for hearing aids your brain has forgotten about sounds that everyone else hears. All of a sudden you are hearing sounds that you have not been able hear for a decade. It causes an unpleasant "startle" response called "hyperacusis" that takes a lot of getting used to. You also have to get use to how your ears feel with a fitting inserted into them. It changes how your own voice sounds and causes a lot of background sound when eating, etc.

But, hearing aids do work and if you are smart and have a good set of instruments, you can function pretty well.

There are a few benefits. If you get into an argument you can just state your side of things and then turn your hearing aids off. That can be restful.

There is a biological issue too. When men lose their hearing they tend to develop what is called a "ski slope" hearing loss. This means that the ability to recognize sounds drops off in the higher ranges. This higher range is where women pronounce their consonants, which is why older men can hear other men better than they can hear women.

However, when women lose their hearing they tend to develop a "cookie bite" hearing loss. They hear the upper and lower frequencies fine. The loss is in the mid-range, where men tend to pronounce their consonants.

So....God has decided that as men and women age they become incapable of hearing each other. God is wise. No doubt this is the only way older men and women can get along. ;-)