The "Can You Hear Me Now?": Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Trying to listen to the sound that one of my cats makes, but just can't seem to hear it.  My wife tells me of the sound that Snickerdoodle makes from time to time, but I have never heard it.  Seems the constant ringing I have all the time in my ears drowns out the very subtle noise he makes.  Our other cat, Gray Lady, is a very vocal little gal and her constant noise is easy to hear, but I am deaf when it comes to Snickerdoodle.  The ringing in my ears is known as tinnitus and I have experienced it since the early 1970s when I was the rifle coach for the high school where I taught.  At the time I didn't realize the constant sound of rifle fire was dangerous to my hearing, but I guess I should have known better.  I really have no one to blame but myself, but that doesn't make my hearing return.  I'm not quite sure how to describe the ringing other than to say it is a very high pitched, constant noise that accompanies me every where I go, night and day.  It is the source of my hearing problem and one of the main reasons that I need hearing aides to hear better.  The pair of hearing aides that I had from Miracle Ear did mask the sound somewhat, but its like the little dark mole I have on my arm that gets less noticeable in the summer when my skin darkens due to suntan...the noise will never go away.   For some who have tinnitus, the sound may be different than what I hear.  It may be a buzzing, roaring, clicking, humming, pulsing or even a hissing sound.  And, for some the sound may go away from time to time.  Luckily my chronic condition doesn't cause me to lose sleep or affect my everyday routine.  What it does do is make it harder to hear people, including my wife.  My tinnitus is a result of damage to the cells of my inner ear.  The tiny, delicate hairs in my inner ear move in relation to the pressure of sound waves.  This movement triggers the release of an electrical signal through my auditory nerve to my brain.  The brain normally interprets the signals as sound, but if the hairs of the inner ear are damaged, bent or broken, such as mine are, they release random electrical impulses to my brain, resulting in tinnitus.  Tinnitus can occur for many reasons such as head trauma or a concussion, head or neck injuries, side effects from medication, a problem with the joint where the lower jawbone meets the skull or as in my case, from a constant loud noise.  Those who wear earbuds all the time and listen to loud music will almost certainly get the same thing I have.  There is no known cure.  You just have to find a way to cope with it.  For me, I have been able to ignore it in most instances, but it does make it harder to hear those speaking to me.  That is why when I recently lost my hearing aides to my stupidity, I knew it was necessary to replace them.  I hope that this story may help those with tinnitus know that you really can cope with the constant ringing by using hearing aides.  Hope you give it a try.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.