Hearing the Band
Bob was just 10 years old when he woke up one morning and couldn't hear out of his left ear. No-one really knows what caused it so he lived for most of his life with single sided deafness until he found out about a BAHA. This is Bob's story.
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It was 1954 and I was 10 years old. I woke up one morning and couldn't hear from my left ear due, I think, to a virus infection. Many doctor's visits followed with the conclusion that I was deaf in one ear and nothing could be done about it. I don't remember being particularly concerned, but I guess children view the world differently to adults.
So began my life as a person with single sided deafness. I became adept at positioning myself on my hearing side. I coped well with school and then university. There were problems of course. As a teenager I didn't want to draw attention to this difference. I often misheard and guessed wrongly and what I said often caused great hilarity for others but severe embarrassment for me. Noisy parties and gatherings were always a problem and I often left early (or chose not go at all) because making sense of conversations was too hard. Not being able to determine where sound came from was also a problem.
I began my working life in an office but decided to move to Africa and become a secondary school teacher. I continued my career in education and became an Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong until retirement a few years ago. I always explained my deafness to students and received, without exception, their consideration and cooperation. My colleagues were often not so thoughtful.
I tried a CROS system once. This is a hearing aid system which takes sound from the poor side and transmits it to the hearing side. This worked to a degree but I found having a mould in my hearing ear seemed to defeat the purpose.
There matters stood until two years ago when my youngest grandson was born profoundly deaf. His great success and progress with his cochlear implants, along with some prompting from his father, made me question whether something could be done for my hearing loss so I did some web research and came upon BAHA.
I had never heard of a BAHA but it looked intriguing. I made an appointment, tried one on a test band and was immediately convinced. I heard clearly from my deaf side for the first time in nearly 60 years. It was an easy decision to proceed and my surgery followed with my BAHA connected just before Christmas 2010. Switch on was not as dramatic as I thought it might be but the ongoing benefits are very real, though often subtle.
For the first time I had a conversation with a friend sitting on my deaf side without having to turn and watch her face. I have conversations while driving the car and cope better in noisy situations. One unexpected benefit, which continues to delight, comes from my banjo playing, a post retirement project. I belong to a group which plays traditional dance music and when I remarked the band sounds a lot better since the BAHA a number of members remarked my playing had improved markedly. I guess being able to hear the whole band helps!
I would not like to be without my BAHA, it has added a new dimension to my life. My soundscape is much richer than before.
Contact Details:
Name: Robert Williams
Born: 1944
Phone: (02) 4296 6115 Mob: 0412320413
Email: bobwil7@hotmail.com
Deafness History: SSD since the age of 10
Deafness solutionFitted with Cochlear BAHA BP100 December 2010