I have tried very hard not to admit that I was losing my hearing but it became impossible to deny. I went to an audiologist and sure enough my husband was right, I had a
hearing loss.

The young woman who fitted my hearing aides offered me a caption phone which I gratefully accepted. It is like a mini computer and I love it. It has a certain entertainment value too, because it fails to understand certain words which can be hilarious because of what it substitutes. I have never h ad trouble hearing over the phone but Ted has and he uses it a lot since it prints out the other person's words.

I rarely use my hearing aides except for watching movies.
I am pretty much ok in other situations. Evidently I use a lot of cues and lip reading. I find this whole hearing loss thing to be sort of the final blow of ageing which I have fended off as long as possible.

It seems that batteries don't last very long and that is
inconvenient. They are very expensive and quite easy to lose. I got mine from a non profit that I was referred to by the audiologist at the VA. I am trying to spread the word that if you are left with a set from a
deceased relative, please donate them to a non profit
agency such as Heart's for Hearing in Oklahoma City.
They furnish hearing aides free of charge to children who need them.

If you have a hearing loss, you are entitled to a free
caption phone. I have known about this since college but
never imagined I would get one. I had a friend with a
particularly severe hearing loss but I could never talk
her into getting one. I lost her last year and miss her a lot.