Confusion...21º--37º`

Yesterday Herb and I entered the world of confusion..."Hearing Devises".  Of course the confusion started sometime ago when our hearing started to diminish from aging, too many days spent with the chainsaw getting winters wood, target practice, lawn mowers, etc... Earplugs were not used in the early days of our lives and we like all young people thought we and our hearing was invincible...The hearing problem started to rear its ugly head when Herb or I accused each other of ignoring a question..."Selective Hearing", maybe... But more likely, it was diminished hearing...So we started getting the other persons attention by saying their name instead of just beginning a sentence...We learned to converse mostly face to face or at least while in the same room...Then it became more difficult to hear in a social setting especially for Herb...Soooooooo for several months now we have tossed around the idea of hearing aids...Now from my limited knowledge of hearing aids, it seems that most of them take up residence on the top of the dresser, then in the dresser drawer and then shoved way back in the drawer and forgotten...ALL for good reason...They whistle at most inopportune moments, they don't fit properly, wearer is still unable to hear, they definitely take some getting use too...Also the stigma of loosing your hearing...We wear glasses without a second thought, like we were born with them but "HEARING AIDES?" No, they are for old people.

The appointment was at 1pm yesterday at the "Senior Center"...The hearing specialist has just taken over a practice in LaGrande and will be setting up a satellite office in Enterprise, coming here at least once a month...That is good because hearing aids need fine tuning on a regular basis...We talked to our friend Sharon (food supervisor for the senior center) while waiting for our appointment...She is a veteran wearer of hearing aids...First thing she said was "Buy the European brands, they have been making them much longer than the US, make sure they fit properly, don't settle for an okay fit, wear them, starting with a few hours a day and working up, don't save them for special occasions."

Now the hearing aid specialist was a little exuberant (Herb's words, "full of BS") Sort of "Car Salesman" material...He's been in the business for 15 years, but is new to Eastern Oregon...He proceeded with the testing...explained about hearing aids in general... showed us on a graph what Herb can hear and what he can't...Definitely can benefit from hearing aids...This guy sells only European aids...This is good, we think... YES, he would have sold us a hearing aid yesterday, but he didn't get all pushy or have a buy it now deal, only good for today, cost you twice as much if you go home and think it over...THAT was very good...He gave us names of local people who are using his products and at our next appointment he will let Herb actually wear a hearing aid onsite to see how it works, feels and fits...In the meantime I will be doing some research, talking to more people with hearing aids, before we make a decision...So everybody, stay tuned, turn up your hearing aids and I will get back to you...OWAV:)

P.S. Any advice, we will be listening, just make sure you enunciate, speak to our face in a clear, loud voice or better yet...Send us an email...Our eyeglasses are the first thing we put on every morning!