Hear, hear!

We all know that hearing is important, but few of us really understand what that means. At least we don't until our hearing is lost or impaired. Last October I discovered that, like many older people, I have some loss in the upper registers of both ears. Losing the sounds of the upper registers means that you have trouble distinguishing the sounds of consonants -- f, s, t, etc. And that can make comprehension of the spoken word difficult. At the same time, a virus caused a profound sudden hearing loss in my left ear. I figure my ability to hear has roughly been cut in half. After ten months and many tests, there is no hope for any kind of cure or improvement. The good news is that a number of horrible things, like a brain tumor and lyme disease, have been ruled out. The other good news is that with hearing aids, I can function fairly well, but noisy rooms and crowded restaurants present obstacles that I can't quite overcome. My hearing loss also makes it more difficult for me to understand foreign languages, one of my lifelong interests. And it presents a challenge to understanding my foreign students who are studying English. I tell myself it could be worse, and indeed it could, but coping with a hearing loss is an ongoing process both for me and for those around me.