How I Learned I Had Hearing Loss
A Medical History Discovered
First, I have to thank the TSA.
That’s right. The Transportation Security Administration was considering hiring little ole me to check for weapons, bombs, and other explosives to keep you safe on an airplane.
I was 19 and my gap year quickly became two.
Out of desperation and a why-the-heck-not attitude, I went on govjobs.com and looked for what jobs they had to offer that fit my minimal skills.
As I scrolled down the job postings, I saw an opening for TSA right at the Philadelphia airport. I clicked and applied.
It was the simplest online job application I’ve ever experienced even simpler than McDonald’s application, which I never even got to interview with.
After clicking submit on the online application came emails requesting that I complete and submit information about previous employment and education. After an unnecessary in-person meeting about previous names, I submitted my fingerprints and completed the oral interview.
The application process was almost complete, but there was just one little box left that I had to check off. A hearing exam.
Then I became worried.
I noticed I couldn’t hear the TV as well as I once could. I noticed I asked people to repeat themselves more often, and there was some strange clicking and ringing in my ears. Already aware of some form of hearing loss, I questioned the seriousness of the requirement.
Maybe they’re not that strict. I hoped.
On the day of the hearing test, I walked into the audiologist’s office ready to get the exam over with.
The doctor did not have to explain much about the process.
I remembered the hearing test I took at my pediatrician’s office. Raise either your left or right hand when you hear a sound from its coordinating speaker.
After waiting a few long minutes, my name was called.
“What brings you in today?” The audiologist asked.
“I need a hearing test for employment,” I responded.
“Oh great. Where will you be working?” He asked.
“At the airport as a TSA Agent.”
“Congratulations. Let’s get you all set then.” Already assuming I would pass.
“I see in your questionnaire you checked yes to having some hearing loss. What symptoms are you having?”
“Well to be honest I use headphones a lot, and I think that caused my hearing loss. I can’t hear as well as I once could.”
“Are you hearing ringing or clicking in your ears?”
“Yes.”
“Are you asking people to repeat themselves more than often or having trouble hearing the tv?”
I responded yes to both. Making the audiologist pull my teeth to understand the nature of my hearing loss.
“Okay, let’s look at everything so we can understand what we’re dealing with.”
The doctor checked my ear to see if there was any wax build-up. None.
Next, he placed this device behind my ear that made a humming noise. To this day I don’t know what that instrument is for. Then it was time for the hearing exam.
Three consecutive beats of the same frequency would ring from the speakers before I raised either hand.
The sounds were far between, just like when I was a kid. Maybe not much had changed I began to wonder.
After what felt like an anxiety-inducing eternity the test was complete.
I exited the booth and waited in the exam room as the doctor left to look at the results.
I waited anxiously until finally, the doctor returned. His cheerfulness had disappeared. His look was now serious, concerned, and almost sympathetic.
He didn’t have to say the words. I knew I failed.
He explained my results in words that meant nothing, but the graphic came, and finally, I understood everything.
He showed me all the sounds I could not hear through images. There was the wind portrayed as leaves blowing, then a faucet running, and an alarm clock.
I could hear noises like a train, a jackhammer, and loud music.
I was diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss. There is no cure.
“Is it because I used headphones to listen to music on my way to school for the past four years?” I asked desperately for answers.
He stopped and looked at me for a second being careful with his next words.
“Acaila, have you ever seen a sandwich that has been bitten and that crevice forms? Well, that’s what your hearing is like. It’s as if someone took a bite out of your hearing, and I’ll be honest. In all my years, I have never seen headphones do this. Does anyone in your family suffer from hearing loss?”
I explained to the best of my ability. Up until this point, I was the only one I knew of.
He explained that he would like to see me again this time next year to monitor my hearing. He also revealed that I qualified for a hearing aid but that most insurance companies won’t cover hearing aids. Even more confusing, some practices don’t accept insurance to pay for hearing aids.
I never went back to that audiologist.
I did, however, look into the question he asked me. Did anyone in my family suffer from hearing loss?
I directed the question to my mother who revealed that she had hearing loss. At the time my mother was already in her 50s, so I contributed her hearing loss to aging.
She did, however, let me in on a medical fact that I had never known.
I had never passed a single hearing test as a child. Not one. I always had a hearing problem.
She was instructed by the pediatrician to take me to a specialist, but in her words: “What were they going to do?”
Maybe diagnose me a lot sooner in life and provide preventative ways to not let my hearing get worse, which it did. I answered in my head.
I spent the next couple of years being overly anxious about my hearing. I avoided job opportunities if they involved being on the phone or talking to people across rooms.
I experienced not being able to hear at work and feeling anxious as I annoyed people with my condition which I had no control over. If you didn’t know, people don’t like repeating themselves.
I got my first pair of hearing aids in 2018. They were the most basic hearing aids you could get medically and were more suited for an elderly person living in a senior home with limited noise.
I had them for a couple of years and only wore them during working hours.
I lost the right hearing aid twice, the left hearing aid broke, and they made my ears feel like someone was tickling them with a feather.
I got what I paid for.
In 2022 I was in a much better position in life financially.
I prioritized getting the best hearing aids I could afford with a little help from my mother and my acorns account.
I paid over five thousand in total for my new hearing aids.
I appreciated sound more than ever.
I heard the water running from a creek. I heard individual leaves blowing in the wind, I heard my coffee brewing from the next room. I heard the faucet run.
I’m not anxious over the phone at work. I noticed I hear music much clearer than without my hearing aids.
I don’t ask people to repeat themselves as much, but this is where I tell you that hearing aids don’t cure hearing loss. As told by every audiologist I’ve seen, hearing aids do exactly what they are assigned to aid my hearing. Think of crutches or a cane. They may help you walk but your limp is still visible.
I’m more conscious of how loud I use headphones. I’m aware that I need to be okay in the silence even though I know I have a long way to go.
