Forty-three-year-old swimming teacher Tracy White went for a hearing assessment in December 2020. While she thought her hearing loss had been noticeable to her for at least a of couple years, at her hearing test she was told that she had probably been deaf for some time. In fact, the WHO1 estimates that it usually takes someone ten years before acting on their hearing loss!
Tracy realised that she needed to act when “someone shouted down my ear and I couldn’t hear anything” and admits that she’d always tried to downplay or find ways to cope with her hearing loss. At work, for example, she’d bring herself down to water level so that she could hear what people were saying, although she would miss the warning signs if children were getting frustrated, “They had to practically burst into tears before I knew anything was up.”
But the biggest impact was on Tracy’s family life. “They would get really frustrated with me, I was constantly missing out on conversations and they were fed up with having to repeat themselves. I used to worry at night that I would never be able to hear my disabled daughter if she called me or needed my assistance in the middle of the night.”
The final straw for Tracy was being unable to hear the fire alarm go off one night.
Tracy had a hearing test at her local Hidden Hearing clinic in Bexleyheath and was fitted with the Oticon More™. The transformation was immediate, and Tracy remembers arriving home later the same day, “I was in the kitchen talking with my family, hearing every word, I thought, ‘Ah, this is how it should have always been’. I just wish I had got my hearing tested sooner.”
Since Tracy has had hearing problems throughout her life, many sounds are brand new to her, like the sound of waves, or rustling of leave and even less-romantic sounds, like the washing machine!
Tracy has found her relationships have improved, especially with her children, “Now I am able to hear everything and get fully involved in conversations with my children, I no longer feel left out.”
Like so many who have benefitted from the new lease of life that hearing aids can bring, Tracy urges anyone who is concerned about their hearing to get it checked, saying, “It could change your life like it has mine.” You can book your free hearing test by following the link.