Health to Prevent Hearing Loss

I'm often surprised how many people have hearing loss. John O'Connor, a fellow blogger, has some useful tips to help prevent hearing loss in his article below:


Reduce Noise

Noise is all around us but for some people, noise is a particularly loud part of everyday life. This includes those who work on construction sites, in gardening or with power tools on a regular basis. The best practice is to reduce your exposure to loud noise as much as possible, but if you cannot prevent exposure to the noise, wear earplugs or earmuffs to reduce exposure.       

Lower the Volume

Many people listen to their music player, such as their iPod, for several hours a day, often at very high volumes. However, listening to music at loud decibels can lead directly to hearing loss. Keep the volume down enough so that you can hear conversations around you. In addition, some iPhone or iPod players have a “Volume Limit” selection under “settings” that allow you to limit the volume at which the device may be set. This will help keep your music at a constant, safer level.

Be Conscious of Your Weight

While you may not instantly associate being overweight with hearing loss, the fact is that if you are overweight, you are at increased risk for pre-diabetes and/or diabetes. Even with pre-diabetes, your risk of hearing loss is more than 30 percent than those without diabetes symptoms. Consult your doctor if you suspect that you are overweight, obese and may have some of the first signs of diabetes.

Make an Appointment

If you feel you are slowly losing your hearing or are already affected by hearing loss, it would be smart to make an appointment with an audiologist.  An audiologist will be able to run you through various tests in order to find your baseline hearing levels.  After determining where your hearing currently stands, they will be able to provide you with tips to protect your hearing or depending on the severity of your hearing loss, prescribe the use of hearing aids to help better your overall hearing.

Work It Out

There is an association with a lack of cardiovascular health and hearing loss. Exercise two to three days a week at least for an hour each time and make sure you are getting your heart rate elevated, which will help make your heart healthy and strong.

Be Careful Cleaning Your Ears

Cotton swabs are great for applying or removing makeup but not for cleaning the wax out of your ears. Earwax is a natural process that helps keep the ear clean and protected from exterior debris and bacteria. If you clean it out using cotton swab, you may actually push the wax in deeper, blocking the ear canal and resulting in hearing loss.

Making some basic healthy lifestyle choices will help you be happy and healthy and may even help you prevent devastating hearing loss. Start making some smart changes today.

Thanks John!

Back with the little ones

Today I had my first day back teaching in the primary classroom since going deaf. I finally bit the bullet and thought that after a year out of the classroom I had to find out if it was something I could still do. I must admit, I cheated a bit as I taught a small group of children with autism who are mostly non-verbal. This makes it easier as I don't have to work out what they are trying to say all the time. Mostly, they sign or use other forms of non-verbal communication which suits me fine. Also, as the teacher, I do most of the talking. I work with three education assistants (wonderful amazing people) that hear things when I don't and being wonderful and amazing they act on whatever it is without a fuss.
So, all in all, I had a great day and can't wait to get back in the classroom again soon. Phew, that's another thing crossed off the list ................................

My Happy 1st Deaf Birthday Lunch.

Lunch out for my 1st deaf birthday 2012

One year deaf!!!

Today marks one year since my hearing went. I remember the day well, like it was yesterday. I woke up feeling dizzy and out of sorts, like I was getting a cold. I'd had had a root canal the day before so thought that was why I wasn't feeling the best. I was also hearing like I was underwater and I suspected an ear infection. I sent a text to work telling them I was taking the day off sick. By that evening I was in the hospital and it would take a month to be told that my hearing loss was permanent. I still remember clearly my youngest son yelling at me "can you hear me?', and I could only just hear him, like a whisper. Two hours later it was all gone and they would be the last words I heard naturally.

Instead of looking at today as a day to be sad and think of what I've lost, I'm celebrating today as my first birthday, the first of my new life. To some extent my life has changed forever and I've had to assume a new identity but there have been so many positives that have come from my life changing experience. They are both small and large; not hearing my husband snore, being able to get complete silence when I need it, connecting with family and friends that I haven't spoken to in years because they wanted to say how much they cared, making new friends as well, and learning more about coping with disability. I've also learnt so much about the human spirit, both mine and that of others.

So today I'm off to celebrate being deaf! Happy Deaf Birthday to me :)

Steve's Report

Well, true to his word, Steve (husband) wore ear plugs to the party. He wore them all night but as soon as we left the party he ripped them out. I asked him how he went and he said he found it difficult to relax and chat to people because he had to concentrate so hard to hear them. I also noticed that he wasn't as chatty as he usually is with people. Usually, he wants to stay at parties until the wee hours but he was asking to leave at 11pm!!! He said he was too tired (from listening) and had had enough. I think I have made my point and I doubt that he ever questions why I'm not enthusiastic about parties anymore!

Empathy please

My husband and I have been invited to a party this weekend. A party is usually a fun event filled with loud music, people chatting all at once, sometimes a band ..................................... sounds like a nightmare to me. I made a fuss, of course, about not wanting to go and Steve got a bit upset saying "why are you making a fuss"? So, to make him understand why, I'm asking him to wear a set of ear plugs the whole time we are at the party. One night without his perfect hearing should give him some small insight into my world, I hope.

Coming back to me!

I'm back in the classroom this week and having a great time. Ironically, I have a few deaf students in my class and one of them requires me to wear an FM. On the first class I set up my FM so I could hear the students and then my student set up her FM so she could hear me (she wears hearing aids) and off we went. Within a few minutes I realised that the bluetooth in my cochlear was picking up her FM waves and was projecting my voice to both her and me. This meant that I was getting both the amplified sound from my FM and hers. This made it impossible for me to concentrate on my teaching so my FM had to go, damn!
As it turns out, not having my FM was OK. I just had run around the classroom and stand in front of the student who was asking a question or making a comment.
I also have a student with visual impairment so I need to keep the classroom dark for her when I'm using the projector to display slides. This means that the deaf students and myself have trouble lip-reading ....................................... it's going to be a fun semester!