Kathy. “What is RPIE? You keep mentioning the word I don’t understand.”
Explanation was given as the conversation continued. A few sentences later, Kathy once again asks what the meaning of RPIE is.
Me. “What the fish-sticks? I just explained to you what the acronym means, and here you go again asking the question. It means Report of Property Income and Expenses. A curse word used before continuing the conversation.
I have been under stress for years. Due to this fatigue, I have become suspicious of many. During conversations, I often dismiss questions because I’m too tired to investigate the meaning behind the person’s words, and I feel agitated when I constantly must explain myself to others.
Let me tell you about 1Kathy. Kathy tries to hide the fact that she has a hearing loss, and becomes agitated when someone tries to explain themselves for understanding. Therefore, in a person’s attempt to justify themselves from her concluded thought, she becomes annoyed.
The difference between Kathy and me. Kathy has hearing loss, which does not allow her to hear all words spoken. If indeed she has, words heard differently alter the context of a sentence, giving a different perception of what was said.
In my case, my hearing is subjective. There is a constant sound, and it is only more dominant when in a quiet surrounding. My hearing is very sharp, allowing me to hear other sounds around that Kathy is unable to hear. This is not always obstructive, but rather productive, allowing me an evaluation of my surroundings.
The Bible book of James advises us to be quick to listen, slow to speak; an action that still applies today. However, not by some due to many life-altering factors.
Listening is so essential, yet an often-overlooked skill in business activities and social interaction. Even though 70% of our waking hours involve communication—among writing, reading, and talking—40% contributes to listening. Listening effectively can reduce stress, tension, and the interjection of personal thoughts from the perception of others’ lack of knowledge.
The ear is the most complex and compact part of the body and is the third most common illness that destroys a person’s life. Stroke is number one, followed by insomnia.
Approximately 50 million US adults have experienced tinnitus and suffer from hearing loss, in addition to millions around the world.
With millions of people suffering from or reporting hearing loss, only one in five who could benefit from a hearing aid uses one. They make sounds louder and often clearer, but not always. A person wears them for as long as required per day, with the recommendation not exceeding eight hours. Since they are battery—operated, they need to be changed every four hours.
There is no cure for tinnitus. The mechanisms prolonging the condition are unknown. The severity and persistence of tinnitus can range from short-term occurrences with no consequences to a chronic and life-interfering condition associated with stress, insomnia, depression, irritation, and suicide
THE COST FANOMAL
Hearing aids are expensive, ranging from $ 6,000 to $1,800, depending on the type of hearing aid you prefer. There are, however, hearing aids to fit and suit a person’s lifestyle, and there is some financial assistance, but with the government assistance, there is still an out-of-pocket, costly expense.
In every country across the globe, as communications are distorted, the cost effect is growing among nations to stop or prevent further conflicts.
Statistics indicate that in 2013, 4.6 million Canadians aged 20–79 were estimated to have hearing loss, which affected their ability to hear everyday speech. This was determined by their audiometric test, which revealed a pure-tone average (PTA) across the four speech frequencies (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) of greater than 25 dB. Measured hearing loss rose sharply after age 40, and this number is likely to increase substantially due to our advanced technologies that are seeing more than average time use of cell phones, loud noise of all sorts, and electronic frequencies from the atmosphere, in the coming decades.
The population 65 years and older—the age range most likely to have hearing loss—is projected to double from 10.4 million to 5 million by 2036. However, this estimate may be wishful thinking, as the level of surrounding noises has increased.
A released report, dated August 15, 2018, highlights the effects of excessive workplace noise, which contributes to elevated blood pressure, sleep disturbances, stress, and noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, and other unfavorable health conditions, making Canadians particularly vulnerable.
An estimated 22.4 million US workers report that in their current jobs, they must raise their voices to be heard. Approximately 50 million US adults experienced tinnitus in the past year of this report, and 16 million had it almost all the time. Those who had experienced tinnitus during their lifetime amounted to 11.5 million.
THE STORY
I suffer from subjective (tinnitus) hearing loss that started in my late 50s and occasionally use a hearing aid. It started one night when I woke up to go to the bathroom, unable to move off the bed, and stopped due to the spinning effect of my entire surroundings. I called my niece, who advised me against making any attempts, as I might fall and cause further harm to myself. Later that day, as morning arrived, I called for the ambulance as I was still feeling a spinning effect. By the time the ambulance arrived, I was able to walk, but still had a spinning sensation. After a very long wait in the emergency room, where the nurses occasionally checked on me, the doctor could only suggest that perhaps it was from water in the ear. I was given a few pills, and one to take home in the event the sensation should occur again. It never did, but the noise in my ear continues to this day.
I have taken medication to cure the symptoms that did not work, to complementary therapy that helped relax my body, to a hearing aid that I worked with to allow me time to rest, which was worse, as the sound, although soothing, made it more difficult to sleep since I also suffer from insomnia.
Earlier, I mentioned that one in five would benefit from a hearing aid, and from my experience, I can only guess the reason. First, it takes time to get used to. Secondly, you must keep getting the sound adjusted to the right frequency suited to your level of comfort. In my case, because the sound is only in one ear, loud noises affected me, although the hearing aid assisted in balancing the intake of noises. When it comes to communication, I often miss out on words spoken, so I prefer not to wear them in a crowded room of people.
RECOMMENDATION
Categories of hearing loss are difficulty hearing soft sounds (threshold) that some can listen to:
- Mild hearing loss 26-40 dB
- Moderate hearing loss 41-70 dB
- Severe hearing loss 71-90 dB
- Profound hearing loss, greater than 71-90 dB.
In my experience, although the test showed Moderate hearing loss. I find that my hearing remains very sharp. I could be having a conversation on the phone and would hear a click sound as someone hangs up. When the party member is questioned, if they heard the click. The answer is always, “No.” Even in crowded rooms, compared to others who don’t have this condition, my hearing is quite sharp.
Therefore, should you start to suffer from tinnitus, be sure to have a qualified practitioner examine you. Those I have seen have been more inclined towards getting a hearing aid, which, as I mentioned earlier, only one in five people benefit from.
TREATMENT
While there is an emerging technological treatment on the horizon. The realistic goal of treating chronic Subjective tinnitus is management.
The basic education—a doctor must take the time to explain what tinnitus is entirely, what causes it, and how to manage it, as there is no cure for this symptom; in some, it comes and remains a lifetime; its debilitating effect is on one’s quality of life. For others, it’s just a memory from an experience. Some management suggestions taken from The Ear Book – A Complete Guide to Ear Disorders and Health by Thomas J. Balkany and Kevin D. Brown are:
- Sleep is essential for overall health.
- Diet. Caffeine, alcohol, and smoking make tinnitus worse.
- Sound therapy. Sound therapy uses external sources of sound to reduce the severity of tinnitus.
- They should be reserved for cases where the basic methods are not effective alone.
- Counseling and Psychotherapy. Because tinnitus is involved with anxiety, depression, suicide (rare but does occur), and insomnia, these issues must be dealt with directly when they are severe.
- Complementary Therapy. Treatments include: massage, acupuncture, aromatherapy, medication, hypnosis, to name a few. When therapy is successful, they all have one common element: a reduction of stress and an improvement in well-being.
Bimodal Neuromodulation, which combines sound and electrical stimulation, is a promising approach in the field. It involves using two different stimuli, sound and mild electrical pulses, to retrain the brain’s auditory and somatosensory pathways, potentially reducing tinnitus perception and distress. A future interest of treatment.
IN CONCLUSION
If you haven’t seen the movie Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts, you should. That movie showed a glimpse of what a person under stress is capable of. A woman with three children, already in a stressful situation, became irritated by her neighbor’s motorcycle noise and shouted at him, acting as if she had lost her mind.
From my experience and observation, I see the future with more people at an earlier age assessed with hearing loss. This is due to loud external noises and one’s inability to control their personal enjoyment level of sound.
So, the next time someone is finding it challenging to understand you, take a moment to assess the situation before becoming agitated. Perhaps they are experiencing a loss of hearing. Further, if a simple question leads someone to become defensive, it may be a sign that they are dealing with a lot of stressful situations, compounded by sleepless nights. Take a moment to pause before responding.
What the world needs at this time is love, kindness, and understanding to be expressed by everyone.
This post is from personal experience and observation. I hope to enlighten some with my experience, knowledge, and recommendation of The Ear Book.
If you find this post resonated with you, I would like to hear your experience. Thanks.
- Name changed
Better The End 