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Along the Natchez Trace

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Can You Hear Me Now?

I know a few of you might be waiting for my final post about our Lazy Daze renovations, but it's been very cold here so Bill and Victor took a couple days off until it gets a bit warmer.

Today, Bill & I headed up to Ft Worth to the Cabela's store.  I had a couple of items to take back (yes, they have very good customer service and if you aren't happy with your purchase they refund your money or replace your purchase with no hassle).  

While we were in the store, I stopped by the Walker Hearing Center.  I don't know how many Cabela's have a hearing center in their store, but I do know this one, the Cabela's in Hamburg, PA and the one in Dundee, MI have them.  I had a hearing test about a year and a half ago and got fitted for hearing aids at that time.

While I have been very happy with the hearing aids I got, I really wasn't using them fully until this past December as I should have.  Part of the reason is that this past summer I was using a mower or other motorized equipment that was noisy... so noisy that I wore ear protection nearly every day.  No reason to amplify sound only to have to muffle it.  Anyway, when we back in Ft Worth last December I stopped by and had my hearing aids "recalibrated" for my particular needs.

Bill has an on-going earwax problem so the technician didn't want to test him back then.  When we stopped in today the tech didn't have any other appointments so he checked Bill's ears...  they were clear enough to get a viable reading of his hearing capabilities.

Yeah...  that's Bill...  in the testing booth....
The test takes maybe a half hour or so...  it's all computerized and at the end the tech has a graph that shows if/where the hearing loss is.  Neither Bill nor I were surprised that he has enough hearing loss on the high end of sound to warrant wearing hearing aids.

Neither Bill nor I were ever "concert goers" in the '60s or '70s.  But Bill was in the Air Force and did work around planes back then.  He also has been an equipment operator for several years...  loud, noisy equipment.  Whatever....  neither of us have profound hearing loss, but enough that if we take measures now, we may delay further hearing problems.

The kiosk in Cabela's is "Walkers Hearing Aids"....  not endorsed by Cabela's, but probably there because Cabela's also sells all kinds of guns and Walker's sells hearing protection for gun users as well as hearing aids for those that need them.  The hearing test itself is free.  It's quite thorough...  I think we were there at the kiosk about 3 hours in all.  No hard sell or anything....  

But if after a person is tested and knows the results, they can be fitted with hearing aids right then.  And after that initial fitting, the tech encourages you to walk around the store for a half hour or so to get a feel for what's going on.  This particular store has a very loud waterfall/fountain very close to the hearing kiosk.  When you're first fitted with new hearing devices all you hear is the noise of that fountain!  

I don't need to go into all the details, but will just say that from now on...  I know that Bill can hear what I'm saying...  heck, with both of us wearing hearing aids, neither one of us can claim we just didn't hear.  

I wish all our "aging" problems could be fixed so easily.

Next post will be the final post about the motorhome.  We are back living in it now, but there's still some outside work to be done.  As soon as it warms up a bit Bill & Victor will finish up.

That's All For Today!

PS...  I got so tired of those orioles from down in the Valley that I replaced them with moose from Maine...  a photo I took while we were there last summer.  I'm sure looking forward to heading back there this coming summer.

6 comments:

  1. You're going back up north for the summer then?

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  2. I wore hearing aids until they wore out. Replacements would be quit a few grand and I would rather say "huh?" a lot than spend all that cash right now. . . I love the picture of the moose, the coloration and shadows make it a fabulous picture. You done good!!!

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  3. I have had my hearing aides for more than a dozen years, sure is amazing to hear sounds, I have not heard for many years before,, like birds chirping and people talking.
    Make for a much better quality of life.

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  4. My S.O. got fitted for hearing aids a year or so ago. His V.A. doctor suggested the testing. After it turned out he did have hearing loss, the audiology clinic suggested he do the paperwork to get the loss classified as service related. He was in the Air Force and was exposed to jet engine noise on a regular basis. His medical records showed his hearing had been worse when he left the service than when he enlisted; ergo, service-related disability. The V.A. now supplies the hearing aids and everything that goes with them (batteries, etc.).

    I have a hunch my hearing is worse than the S.O.'s was, but I'm ignoring it for now.

    As for the cold, I'm wondering just how far South it extends. We're supposed to leave for Missouri in two days. Once again, the predicted high here for the day is a negative number so I'm fantasizing about maybe seeing highs that are posiitve double digits.

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  5. Glad to hear you are heading back to Maine, I love those bear and moose photos! Thankfully both of us still have most of our hearing, mine is very acute, Michael's a little off--he has operated heavy equipment all his adult life but doesn't seem to have much loss.

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  6. I love my hearing aids; good that Bill stopped and had the job done.

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