Discussion about Single Sided Deaf, what is it like?

[Dantheman]

I have a temporary handicap tag and will get a permenant tag later this month. I don't worry about being a target, that's a worry for the guy that trys to mug me.

I had hoped to return to work at the end of this month but my single sided deafness and balance issues are going to force me to retire. I still suffer from fatigue as well. It would not be safe working in a correctional setting with SSD and poor balance. Fortunatly the government has a decent disabilty retirement package for LEO's whose physical fitness for duty changes due to illness or accident.

I find myself looking the wrong way when someone calls my name as well...when I'm not wearing my TransEar. With it the sound directionality improves.

Dan

[Captain Deb]

Has anyone requested a handicap parking tag for SSD?  I've considered one but wonder if I'd make a target of myself with the label.

Sorry to say, but, I take full advantage of my grey hair.  I notice people (most) slow down for me. 

I don't grocery shop alone after dark any more.  I am too worried about traffic in the parking lot.

You betcher old grey butt I gotta handicap tag for SSD! And being really Short! I don't wanta get run over by a speeding teenager at the flippin' WalMart! And getting wonkyhead inside the store and not being able to even FIND my car, much less walk straight to it.

Be Well and Sail On!

Capt Deb

[Boppie]

Thanks for the great replies, youngins.  As my grandson says to his Dad in praise of the swimming pool, "I love this place!" 

Update..."I love this place", turns out to be a reference to a sponge Bob episode!

[Dana]

I'm not fully SSD, I'm newly diagnosed, but also newly treated (GK two weeks ago).  My reaction to my partial SSD -- "I'm so confused!"  There's some character is some movie (TV?) that just breaks down crying saying "I'm so confused."  I can't remember who/where it was, but the scene comes to mind often these days.

The other frustrating part is that I'm not THAT confused!  It's the subtly of it all.

Separate subject:  I was office manager of Disabled Student Services at San Diego State for a short period of time in the '80s.  I learned so much in those few months.  One thing is that there are many people who need disabled placards for things that are NOT obvious.  We got at least one phone call a day from someone complaining that someone who "wasn't disabled" was using a disabled parking space.  We would patiently explain that people can have many reasons for needing one, not all visually obvious.

I've actually had my balance (....weaving, etc...) problems for many years although no tests were done until I started losing hearing.  I spent a couple years just hating it, feeling like everyone thought I was drunk or something.  Then I pretty much switched to "screw it, let 'em think what they want."  Now I pretty much don't care.  I know I can't help it and that's all that counts.

One other thought -- about working in a cubicle (or anywhere) that's near a noisy traffic zone ... talk to your boss or personnel dept about getting moved.  I believe it's your right as a disabled person.  I guess some of us might not want to advertise our disability at work, but maybe in that case figure out how to ask to be moved for some other reason.

My very first thought when I realized I was starting to lose my hearing --- "Well, isn't this appropriate, I'm so sick of listening to the state of the world, tonight's news consisting of one murder or car crash or ??,  man's inhumanity to man, ONE MORE commercial, no wonder I'm losing my hearing!"

Thanks for starting and bumping this thread; SSD is what I now have to start figuring out my "solution" to, now that I've had GK. 

Dana

[Soundy]

I wake at the slightest sound...always have ... with only one hearing ear this has gotten
worse... I don't know if my brain is over compensating by making night hearing more alert
or what... I have an orphan kitten  ( 2 weeks old ) that I have fed for the past week... he
is in a box in a closed bathroom to keep him safe from my other cat who would love to eat
him... he cries at night and down the hall , about 20 feet away and door closed I hear him...
but during the day I watch the clock as sometimes I don't always hear him ...the girls have had
to come to me saying the kitten is hungry and crying ... it may just be that there is more noise
during the day ... I don't think not hearing the smoke alarm would be an issue for me

In a crowd I get confused to the point of wanting to leave ... all the different voices make me
dizzy ... I am PTO secretary and even before surgery was strting to have some problems taking notes
at meetings due to AN ear losing hearing and distorting sounds ... now if I am gonna
keep the job I am going to have to get a small recorder so I can rewrite the notes later...

Knowing the direction of where a sound is coming from  is annoying ... I get startled as someone
comes up on deaf side and I never heard them coming... I have a 15 year old dog who since my
surgery has suddenly gone deaf... he came up and leaned against my leg the other day when I
was in the yard and like have scared me half to death... he has been my ears for so long... now
even the UPS man can get to the house without him alerting me ... the cat went to the door and
thinking he wanted out I go open it and there is the guy with a package... I screamed ,he jumped
and then we both laughed ...and there was CD laying asleep and never woke for any of it

The not hearing people coming while at home is a bother ... we live out in the sticks ... the drive is
about 600 feet long... I am not so much scared as annoyed by people getting to the house before
I know it ... we have never had a problem but I feel vulnerable ... I have thought of an alarm to go
across the end of the driveway to alert me ... I was napping Friday and my husband came home  from
work at lunch time to bale hay he had cut and raked ... he came in and touched me on the shoulder
and scared me ... he of course has a key... but if he can get in without me knowing someone else could..
I used to keep the door open and just storm door between me and the world ... now when I am
alone I close and lock the doors

Thing that bothers me is when people start talking slower and exaggerated to me ... talking to me like I am
a baby sets me off... I told a friend the other day I had lost hearing in my ear but didn't turn stupid

If I have to do any shopping I try to go early in the day ... I have more balance issues as the day wears on and
also concentration problems ... I have thought about a handicapped tag for when I am not doing as well...I
had problems finding my truck in WalMart parking lot the other day... for some reason I was thinking I drove the
Blazer (S 10 ) and was looking for it ... kinda bad when you forget what you drove and one is a small white
vehicle and the other a big , red , two seated pickup truck ...

Still new to this ... 5 weeks post op... so I guess I will learn new things as we go along

My insurance will not pay for hearing aids but will pay for the molding , adjustments and testing and 
surgery to implant any of the components that have to be implanted ... this makes no sense to me
at all and the doctors have told me that when I am past my initial healing  that a hearing aid may be
of good use to me


My plan is to trip along a day at a time and make adjustments as things come up

[Boppie]

Yes, my reamining hearing ear seems hypersensitive.

SSD is unique and difficult to describe completely until one gets there.  All voices seem equal in volume in a crowd.  Six people can be talking in the background and I can't distinguish the words in the conversation I am having with the one friend right next to me.  The background voices compete for my one ear.

Late at night small house sounds wake me up but they seem like loud sounds.  Microphone speakers in the grocery were awful pre op to the point that I'd hold my ears, but now the speakers make my stomach hurt and I feel jittery.

It definitely helps to wear a hearing aid in my deaf side when I am out in the world.

[Shrnwldr]

You have those problems too Boppie?  I thought it was just me.  I find here at work that the loudspeaker is almost unbearable.  I have been wearing an ear plug in my good ear and that seems to calm down some of the problems.  but yeah I can't distinguish whose voice is talking or where it is coming from.   

[hendi51]

My husband Lynn has lost the ability to know what direction sound is coming from. His hearing was checked this past Friday and was down from 44% hearing in his left ear to 18% hearing in his left ear.  We are waiting for an appointment for surgery. Even though his tumor is small it has grown since the last MRI in April and his symptoms are getting more severe. The ENT did talk some about some sort of hearing aid after surgery but I'm not sure what kind.

[Boppie]

The doctor is speaking about a BAHA, a Transear, or a CROS.

BAHA   Bone implanted hearing aid (post is implanted in the skull, aid snaps onto the post and sends sound through the skull bones to the good cochlea)

TransEar   Bone conduction hearing aid (worn in the deaf ear canal, sends sound to the good cochlea)

CROS    Contralateral Routing of Sound (from a pickup mic on the deaf side, sending wirelessly to the good ear) Phonak makes one

[Soundy]

I have noticed for last week or so that by mid day or sometimes a bit later my good ear starts
getting a stopped up feeling and I don't hear as well from it... talked to my surgeons nurse and when
she called me back she said it sounded like my good ear was just getting tired or over stimulated...
anyone with SSD have this going on???

[Boppie]

surgeons nurse was right!  Cat naps for a few minutes in the afternoon are helpful and good for the vestibular system.  Rest the eyes and ears in a quiet space.

[Soundy]

Well napping is something I have become very good at... between the predicted
fatigue brought on by surgery and the fatigue associated to my Lupus  I am napping
a big part of the day away...

Kinda scary with one deaf ear and then not being able to hear well from other...

Thanks for reassurance

[Ellenmn]

Well I'm only a month and a half post-op but the right sided deafness has already been a problem. When I came into work last Thursday one of my servers was sounding an alarm and I couldn't find the device that was causing it. I have so much equipment in the room. I kept going from device to device and putting my good ear close to them and I still had to have some one else come it and confirm that I had the correct device that was making the beeping sound.
Then on the other hand I think my good ear has gotten a lot more sensitive because I can now hear things even when they are on my deaf side or when I put my good ear on a pillow.
Driving or riding in the car with my husband is fun because he is also deaf in the right ear so we don't talk much because we get tired of asking for things to be repeated or talking really lound so that it can be heard.
I also find that I miss thinks that are said to me when in a group because I can't hear the people on my right side because the left ear is busy processing what the people on that side are saying.

[leapyrtwins]

I find SSD to be weird - having no tinnitus I have no sound at all in my left (AN) ear - kind of freaky when listening to my Ipod.

I also find SSD very frustrating.  Like others, I have no idea where sounds are coming from; plus I'm constantly turning my head so conversations are directed to my "good" ear.  I also say "what?" alot.

Before my surgery, I had diminished hearing on the left, but now I have total silence.

[Soundy]

I find the constant EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEe in my deaf ear irritating... I used
to could block it by a fan or radio and now nothing can block it out....

unless someone is to my left every sound seems to come from behind me ... which is odd if
someone is in front of me but not real close and I can see their mouth move and they sound
like they are behind me... just another little pain to deal with