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I have a big mouth. I'm often asked by my patients if I have a hearing loss and my response is always the same, "no, I just have a big mouth." Some laugh, some back-pedal saying, "no, that's not what I meant." but I'm not offended. If I didn't speak loudly and clearly, I would spend the better part of my day repeating myself.

Most of my patients don't have a hard time hearing and understanding me. I'm blessed to have normal hearing and I do all I can to protect it. Despite my normal hearing, I've had the opportunity to experience hearing loss and though it was temporary and I knew it, it was an eye-opening experience.

Back in 2000, I was a first-year grad student at the University of North Texas. That year was a huge year in my life and I went into that experience with a lot of mixed emotions: fear, gusto, excitement, pride. I can recall very clear, now eleven years ago, sitting in my very first graduate level class and seeing a note on the board that instructed everyone to take a pair of earplugs from the box on the table, put them in, and wait for our instructors arrival. She came in a short while later, and, with earplugs in our ears, we had to listen to most of her lecture with earplugs, which made things muffled, unclear, hard to understand. It was eye-opening. The material was unfamilar, the speaker too. We had a lot riding on what she said--it was our FIRST class. And, though it was mild and temporary, it gave me a great appreciation for a taste of what my patients would experience on a daily basis.

I try very hard to sympathize with my patients, but I truly cannot fully grasp what they go through with a hearing loss. The closest thing I can compare it to is vision. I have great hearing, but I have terrible vision, and it can be terrifying at times when I don't have my glasses or contacts in. But hearing and vision, though both important senses, are not the same thing.

See if you can make sense of this phrase:

_ally _ell_ _ea_hell_ by th_ _ea__ore

Hard isn't it?

Without vital letters and sounds, it becomes a garbled mess, indistinct, unclear, crazy babble.

However, this is similar to what someone with a high-frequency hearing loss hears. Hears but doesn't understand. Frequently mis-understands what is being said. Because for most people who have a hearing loss, it isn't the hearing they've lost, rather the clarity of the words. Things are as clear, sharp, bright as they should be. Things may sound dull and muffled. It may sound like the person is mumbling. Add a little bit of background noise and WHOA! Its a jumbled mess of sounds that don't make sense. "Fifteen" may sound like "Fifty", which is no big tragedy if we're talking about cents, but it becomes a really big deal if we're talking 15 million versus 50 million, which is what happened to a patient who happens to be a real estate developer and really almost flubbed a deal due to that misunderstanding!

So, you're probably wondering, "so what's that phrase up there?" Here it is:

Sally sells seashells by the seashore

See! It makes much more sense when you have all the components! And for someone with a high-frequency hearing loss, the first example of the phrase may be what they hear, which is why you may get a weird answer or a puzzled look, because the first phrase clearly doesn't make sense!

If someone you know talks too loud, frequently misunderstands the conversation (especially in noise), has the TV or radio too loud, asks people to repeat themselves, or tells others they are 'mumbling', a hearing test may be needed. It doesn't hurt, takes only about 20 minutes, and is covered by most insurers. With the holidays approaching, now is the perfect time to get help so the sounds of the season can be heard and understood! Call us today to schedule your appointment. We'd love to help.