Hearing difficulties not loss

[smcij]

I had successful gamma knife for a small right side tumour in 2010 (I'm in my sixties).  I always pass hearing tests at check-ups.  My right ear is slightly down but compensated for by my good left side. However I'm having increasing difficulty understanding speech.  The volume is absolutely fine but I can't make sense of what people are saying.  This is worse anywhere with background noise like bars or noisy restaurants but also understanding TV, necessitating turning subtitles on.  I try and avoid phone conversations as much as possible.  It seems almost more frustrating as officially my hearing's fine so a hearing aid wouldn't help.  Does anyone else have a similar problem?

[gbkim86]

Hi,

As I know, it is very common that patinets who have accoustic neuroma often have much worse language recognition ability than pure-tone sounds. I also have the exactly same problem. My hearing in AN-side is not that bad like you, but it is very difficult to understand speech. It is worse in noisy places because it inteferes overall hearing ability in some way. It is quite comfortable in quiet places.

If I should go to noisy places, I use special noise canceling earphones (Bose hearphone) supporting conversation. It helps, although it is not sure for long term use because anyway I had to be familiar with this hearing condition.

GB

[smcij]

gbkim86 - thanks so much for your reply. I've only just seen it as I don't get notifications. Not sure if I can sort that out!

It's good to know I'm not alone. It's something no-one can relate to if I try and explain my difficulties as not many people come across someone with the condition outside of these forums.

I've now developed a twitchy eye. I've had it for a few months now and starts up at some time during the day. I imagine it's caused by the AN as these only usually last a day or two if they're stress or tiredness related. I'll now see if this comes up in the forums.

[FrankSanDiego]

gbkim86,
              I was first diagnosed in 2015. At that time, I still had hearing in my AN ear, but within a year, I was down to 16% word recognition. For me, it was not bad at first. I adapted to the situations. I had my wife and others walk on my good side. In restaurants I would make sure that I placed myself in the most advantageous positions. I was good with small intimate conversations. Loud, crowded restaurants with lots of hard sources were difficult for me. I would feel overwhelmed and isolated. I had difficulties keeping up with conversations. When people were on my bad side, I would have to turn my ear towards them. This became more and more aggravating over time.

I recently made the decision to look into hearing aids. It turns out that my hearing has worsened since my last exam and I am now down to 12% word recognition. It was determined that I was not a candidate for a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (Baha), because I have some normal hearing loss in my good ear. They said that I would be marginal and that additional hearing loss due to age would render those benefits useless over time. I will be getting BiCros hearing aids later this month.

I have been told that I don't need them in quiet situations. The hearing aides will help me with that blind spot in my hearing and I would no longer have to twist around to hear what someone is saying on my deaf side. I have been told that it will not help me in that crowded restaurant situation and I will probably want to turn off the deaf side microphone to prevent overload. I have heard about people using LiveListen on their Apple iPhone, but I have no experience with that.

You are definitely not alone. I am able to function normally, but I just grew tired of some of the situations and want to try something new to help out.