My newest venture into the world of hearing

So...I am the new owner of a fun little gadget.

Granted, I'm about 50 years younger than the average owner of this fancy gadget, but nonetheless I am totally stoked to be using it!

I really haven't told anybody about it, just in case I tried it and hated it (and that did happen before, when I tried one about 15 years ago). But technology has changed A LOT in the past 15 or so years so I thought I'd give it a go.

(Oh, and for those of you who read this and don't already know, I was born with hearing loss in both ears due to congenital rubella)

Yup, a Widex Dream. So, this little doohickey is totally amazing. There's a new thing called "open fit" that didn't exist during my last go 'round with these, and it really makes all the difference. Before, I felt like I lived in my own tunnel where my voice echoed in my head and it felt like I constantly had my ear stuffed up with water. Ugh! Now I can hear even if it's turned off - allowing my ear to essentially 'breathe' and my voice doesn't get trapped in my own head. 

The audiologist emailed over a cool program that plugs in my audiogram so that Daniel could hear how I naturally hear things around me. It was neat to see him finally understand that it isn't just volume that I'm missing, I miss a lot of key sounds and everyday things. Birds chirping, certain consonants, and high pitched tones - all things I don't naturally hear. 

It's been so awesome to hear stuff I've never heard before. Music sounds totally different (not to mention I can listen to it at a lower volume!) and I heard palm fronds blowing in the wind. There's been some adjustments too, which the audiologist warned me about. Ummm, it sounds like I live in a rainforest (the A/C is SO loud!!), the toilet flushing is crazy obnoxious, and our doorknobs make an annoying rattle. But apparently my brain will adjust to the everyday stuff and tune it out.

And another upside? It's so tiny, no one has noticed it all (that's the vain part of me coming out, haha). Basically, I love it so far! Andddd that concludes more than you probably ever wanted to know about hearing aids :)