LL came to the Zephyrhills office of Gardner Audiology with his wife and his son. He had history of Meniere’s disease and was treated with transtympanic injections of Gentamycin, resulting in loss of hearing in one ear. He was very non communicative at the initial appointment, with his son doing most of the talking. Testing revealed moderately severe loss in his better ear. If we spoke in normal conversation levels, he was unable to hear anything we were saying. He was previously fit with a CROS hearing aid, (microphone on the bad ear sending sound over to the better ear hearing aid), but did not like it and stopped wearing it two years ago. For two years he has been isolated, due to his hearing loss.
After testing, I demonstrated a Starkey Muse i2400 receiver in the canal hearing aid on his better ear, and placed the SurfLink remote microphone on his wife. When she started to speak to him he broke out in a huge smile! I sent him home with both for a 30 day trial. They returned in one week, thrilled with how well he was hearing. We did fine tune the aid to help him adapt to hearing again. He was using the remote microphone for TV and to hear his wife in the car. His family was happy to have him back in the conversation again!
Hearing loss can be very socially isolating and can lead to depression. This is a case where, even though he was happy to be able to communicate with his family once again, it was very stressful in the beginning, learning how to deal with all of the other sounds around him. During a follow up visit, he admitted he stopped wearing the CROS hearing aid because he heard so many other things, he could not follow conversation. Using the remote microphone, he is able to selectively apply it when the circumstances are right. We found the perfect mix and he and his family are thrilled!
