Okay so, following an thread someone posted on here a while ago prompting people to check their hearing - I decided to go do a proper hearing test at an audiologist. But some background first.
I had many recurring ear infections as a child. It was literally the bane of my existence and hurt like hell. Long story short, I ended up with permanent holes in both my eardrums. I knew it affected my hearing (especially my left ear) but it was time to find out just how badly. I've never been hard of hearing. I actually listen to a lower TV volume than my wife who has perfect hearing - but since I've entered the AV game, it only makes sense to find out if my ears are even capable of appreciating what I've bought.
So, the audiologist performs her tests and the results are in:
20dB is the normal hearing level for soft sounds. If you can hear lower than that, then your ears are awesome. Having to go louder than that means you've got hearing loss of some sort.
My right ear starts hearing all ranges at 25dB. So that's a 5dB deviation from the norml Not too bad. Quite shockingly, my right ear actually has "normal" hearing even with my perforated tempanic membrane :faint: . My left ear, however, only starts hearing properly at 35dB. That's a 15dB difference which is considered moderate hearing loss. We tried a hearing aid in my left ear to see if it can improve anything and I'm shocked to say that I honestly don't feel that it's adding value. Sure, I hear some sounds better with the hearing aid, but I don't miss it when it's off either. At this stage I can definitely live without it.
Next step: I'm seeing an ENT on Wednesday to try and find out what my options are with regards to my perforated eardrums. If we can fix those, then my hearing should, in all likelihood, be 100% again. If not, well, maybe a hearing aid will be on the cards in my old age.
***Cool story bro. Needs more dragons***
I had many recurring ear infections as a child. It was literally the bane of my existence and hurt like hell. Long story short, I ended up with permanent holes in both my eardrums. I knew it affected my hearing (especially my left ear) but it was time to find out just how badly. I've never been hard of hearing. I actually listen to a lower TV volume than my wife who has perfect hearing - but since I've entered the AV game, it only makes sense to find out if my ears are even capable of appreciating what I've bought.
So, the audiologist performs her tests and the results are in:
20dB is the normal hearing level for soft sounds. If you can hear lower than that, then your ears are awesome. Having to go louder than that means you've got hearing loss of some sort.
My right ear starts hearing all ranges at 25dB. So that's a 5dB deviation from the norml Not too bad. Quite shockingly, my right ear actually has "normal" hearing even with my perforated tempanic membrane :faint: . My left ear, however, only starts hearing properly at 35dB. That's a 15dB difference which is considered moderate hearing loss. We tried a hearing aid in my left ear to see if it can improve anything and I'm shocked to say that I honestly don't feel that it's adding value. Sure, I hear some sounds better with the hearing aid, but I don't miss it when it's off either. At this stage I can definitely live without it.
Next step: I'm seeing an ENT on Wednesday to try and find out what my options are with regards to my perforated eardrums. If we can fix those, then my hearing should, in all likelihood, be 100% again. If not, well, maybe a hearing aid will be on the cards in my old age.
***Cool story bro. Needs more dragons***
