KayPea

Congratulations!! I'm SO happy for you! :)

First of all I want to say good for you for pursuing a career in nursing. I cannot agree with your comments more. To nursingyoursoul: As I mentioned in my other post, hearing aids have come a long way in recent years. My advice is if you are still struggling to hear you need to get a second opinion. Also, make sure this is a qualified audiologist. Also, the audiologist may give you some advice regarding other accomodations that can be employed if hearing aids are not appropriate for you. Certainly appropriate seating in your classes (at the front) is a must to aid with hearing and speechreading. If hearing aids are hurting your ears, there is something definitely wrong. It probably means that the hearing aids were set too loud and that perhaps the audiologist was too aggressive in his/her treatment. If you are struggling with background noise, you should discuss this with your audiologist. It is right that hearing aids are not like glasses. Hearing aids amplify the sound but do not "correct" the problem in the same way. With sensorineural hearing loss, there is a clarity problem as well as a decrease in volume. So the hearing aids are amplifying the sound so that the person can detect the sounds, but not hearing the same way as a person with normal hearing. This is one reason why we use an FM system with students in school. The FM system reduces the effect of background noise and also the distance factor between the teacher and student. However, in saying all that, hearing aids ARE being changed to compensate for background noise and there are different settings, sometimes even with a remote to adjust your listening options. I would discourage people from looking for a cure for their hearing instead of seeking out proper accomodation/intervention. I haven't heard of the gene research that you mentioned, but that is a long way from coming into play. I know they are researching the Connex 26 gene, the most common cause for genetic deafness, at the Hospital for Sick Children in T.O. What people need to do imho is to look at the here and now. What do you need to be able to get through nursing school and also to be the most effective nurse possible? I can't know what is right for an individual, but certainly people should thoroughly investigate what help is available for his/her individual situation, and then act on it. Cover all the bases so to speak.

^I agree with you there. It's best to have a realistic view, to have, at least a general idea, of what you are getting into. It's hard tho and I'm not sure I really knew what I was getting into with my profession, but I have stayed with it because I have a calling to it.

I see your point, but I don't really agree with this. Whenever you go into a course it is never a "waste". You grow as a person and help others if nothing else. And honestly people aren't going to know if something is right for them until they go through it. I'm sorry if people can't get in to programs because others are in there that eventually won't stay in the profession, but I'm afraid that's just a fact of life. It happens with other professions also. It's just a risk you take when you go into any program.

Although it won't slow down a hearing loss, it might allow for intervention if the loss is correctable. There are different types of hearing loss. Is it Conductive or Sensorineural? That's really neat about your experiences with the hard of hearing/deaf people in your classes. Cochlear Implants are very helpful for many people. I believe you are talking about an FM system? Perhaps the teacher was wearing a transmitter/microphone? Stethoscopes are generally used to listen to hearing aids, to troubleshoot. I've also seen people listen through stethoscopes if they don't have hearing aids. But, what you're talking about may be a kind of FM system. The girl would be plugging her Processor (mini computer with her implant) into an FM Receiver. The girl with a hearing aid could put Receivers on the end of her hearing aids in order to hear the teacher better. He/she would have to wear a Transmitter/Microphone though. Neat with advanced technology isn't it? Your classmate may have been benefitting from Real Time Captioning and it's really terrific that she had that kind of accomodation! :)

Hello. As someone who has worked with the deaf and hard of hearing for 20 years, I have to put in my two cents here. My advice would be for you to go see a qualified audiologist, have your hearing tested and discuss your options with the audiologist. A hearing aid may or may not be appropriate depending on your type of loss. Also great gains have been made in hearing aid technology in recent years with digital technology. The background noise issue is definitely being addressed with modern amplification. Also, many hearing aids are the In The Ear style and are hardly even noticeable. Even if someone notices, if they treat you differently because you have a hearing aid, THEY have a serious problem. My experience has been that hard of hearing people who don't wear their hearing aids are often very misunderstood. Often people notice that the h of h person misses things, but instead of people realizing it is hearing, they often think the person is not "sharp" or "on the ball". Little information is many times extremely important. I often think of the example of my student who missed an important meeting for work because he thought his boss said P.M. instead of A.M. Needless to say he was in trouble with his boss, who may or may not have been understanding about the fact that he didn't hear correctly because he wasn't wearing his hearing aids. I say, why make it harder on yourself and others around you, including the patients? I'm sure you want to do the best job you can as a nurse which may involve addressing your hearing needs. I recently went to a conference where I met many people who were profoundly deaf, all oral and all highly successful. These individuals all have profound hearing losses, but it has not stopped them in the least. Have they dealt with ignorant people who have not understood their hearing loss? Yes, but they have overcome it. I do think having the dr. repeat or you repeating the info. back to him/her is a good strategy, but I honestly think you should first of all go to an audiologist that can present your options to you. You may even find out you don't need a hearing aid at all and he/she may have some other ideas for you. And if you do, it will only make your life much better I'm sure. It often takes time to get used to the idea and to adjust to it, but I feel it is worthwhile in the end. Sometimes people just don't really realize what they are missing and it opens a whole new world to the person. Another factor is the encouragment you can be in the future to patients of yours who are hard of hearing themselves. Think about what help and encouragement you could be to them?! Good luck and let us know how you make out!

Congratulations on getting your funding as well. :)