TIM MORIARTY 
SPECIAL TO NEWS-PRESS.COM
OCTOBER 3, 2010

Hearing aids open up whole new world of sound
This new experience has benefit: birdsong

I was standing in the checkout line at a Publix in Cape Coral last Sunday when I heard something that really wasn't "music" to my ears.

The young girl in front of me was chatting so loud to her friend that I said in my dry sense of humor to the clerk, "You wouldn't need hearing aids if she were always around you."

My comment was made after the young lady had left the checkout, but it started a short conversation between the clerk and me about teens and early hearing loss and my need for a hearing aid.

I write "aid" because after an examination last week by Bill Breakstone, owner of Better Hearing Centers and a board certified hearing specialist, I heard that I likely need only one hearing aid instead of two.

I was prompted to an office visit to Better Hearing Centers by its full-page ad in The News-Press in which they asked readers to "lend us your ears" in a hearing study.

I, along with many other people in Lee County, am wearing hearing aids as part of a study, and you get to see how you hear and feel with hearing aids during a free trial period.

Breakstone's exam and demeanor were so good that I felt extremely comfortable in not only hearing what he said but in recommending him to others who may think they have a hearing loss. Of course, the only way to determine is to visit someone like Breakstone or one of his specialists (458-7900 at his Cape office) or any audiologist and request a trial period.

Also, go to medical sites on the Internet and check out hearing aids. Another excellent source is Consumer Reports. Its July 2009 edition, available in many libraries, included a feature on what to look for and hear in hearing aids.

Earlier this year, I underwent an MRI of my left inner ear and brain to see if I had what they call an acoustic neuroma, a small tumor, most often non-cancerous, that imbeds itself near the optic nerve and needs to be closely monitored. The good news: they discovered I do have a "brain," and they did not find a neuroma, which another family member is dealing with very successfully.

When Breakstone programmed the hearing aid in my left ear, suddenly a world that I had not been hearing well, opened up. I sent him a thank you e-mail that evening and he replied by encouraging me to "listen to the birds" the next morning, something I had not thought about or did infrequently.

He placed hearing aids in both ears, and I appreciated his candor and professionalism when he said I might do just as well with one aid. Most people need two aids; I am the small percentage who may not need that extra boost in both ears.

When I sometimes ruminate about hearing loss, I recall the nightmare night when I was a teenager in Canton, Ohio. Our neighbors were deaf, and one Saturday night the father left the car engine running by mistake in their indoor garage. He had built that home by himself; that night carbon monoxide fumes, the "silent" killer, filtered slowly into the home.

A family who could not hear the noise of the outside world, including the melodic sounds of birds, died.

How fortunate are we who hear.

Despite not having an acoustic neuroma, Breakstone thinks that there still could be something going on in my inner ear that from a medical perspective may be impacting on my hearing as well.I plan to follow up with a visit to an ear, nose and throat specialist in the Cape.

As for the clerk at Publix, she told me about her son, only 19 years old, who has experienced significant hearing loss. Specialists know that very loud music does damage, and these kids are likely to need hearing aids and/or incur significant hearing loss too early in life, some in their 20s or 30s.

Young people have this sense of invincibility and often tune you out when you make any safety-related suggestions. Similar to what Breakstone said to me, you and I want them to experience the birds and the sounds of life, instead of sounds of silence.