Profound hearing loss and anxiety when more than a few conversations going on at the same time

I think there’s a real Catch-22 that occurs with anxiety. I think a sense of powerlessness contributes to the anxiety, but at the same time options that might actually help the situation contributing to the anxiety make it worse because the thought of “What if it doesn’t work or makes it worse?” arises.

Sorry to hear of your mother passing WH, my condolences with Sepsis, joined up thinking is extremely difficult, it gives me a euphoric feeling, I was in such a high, almost a feeling of invincibility, of course your brain is cooking, and hallucinations are common… That euphoria, tends to stop folk feeling the need to seek medical attention, fortunately for me, my wife was on my case… Cheers Kev.

I guess for me I grew up on a farm, and was always a loner by my nature. I enjoyed the peice and quiet of the outdoors and dislike the noisy city environments. I have always like small groups and never liked our was comfortable with a big group. Case in point my school was very small, there was only 5 in my senior class. Most of my classes were very close to one on one with my teacher. I failed miserably my freshman year in college because I couldn’t handle a large class size. I excelled in my military classes because I was offered self-paced classes. But my civilian work life was much the same I was a IT professional troubleshooter that worked mostly with very small groups of individuals and normally one on one. And with messaging services i did a lot by email and text messages. Even my church has small services and my men’s Bible study group is less than 10. I entertain myself by reading and streaming audiobooks and podcasts or YouTube. I have never my whole life fitted in with large groups, and don’t even try anymore. Even on the farm with all my parents, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins we seldom had time for a large group gathering. Even when my hearing was good I was a loner, and honestly I spend more time with larger groups now than then.

Yeah @Toyman1… I have heard/read of one other person contracting Sepsis 4 times! My first bout of Sepsis was after 7 straight UTI’s, urologist nailed that down to long term use of all things “Aspirin”!!! Predominantly used to thin my blood, now having read up a fair bit on Aspirin, it can have a severe detrimental impact on your gut, in lots of instances causing internal bleeding, especially in older people, it is a very powerful drug, and should be taken with caution! You have done wonders, surviving Sepsis on numerous occasions @Toyman1… Cheers Kev.

@pclewis said:

Another profound hearing loss, but I have worn HA’s for over 40 years. One thing I have figured out is that the more people are talking at the same time, the less substance. So, no sense getting anxious.

You have hit the nail squarely on the head.

I used to worry because I was always behind the curve understanding what people were saying, and worried about answering inappropriately.

Realizing that it is all just babble is liberating!

Walking away, doing some deep breathing, and realizing that as much as I’m missing, I’m really missing nothing - takes the sting out.

Now I work for a school board building new schools. I’m always in the Principals’ Office! However, there’s no strap anymore. 260 schools/150,000 kids. And we have a one room school where I work too.

Godavid_d

I had a sudden hearing loss 39 years ago and recall anxiety levels off the map as I drove closer to the audiology clinic due to the fear that this hearing test would be worse than the last one. Regarding noisy environments and multiple speakers no sound is more distracting than the one you are trying not to hear. Most of us will struggle and other people will most likely not accommodate us no matter how much we assert ourselves. It’s out of our control. Current hearing aids when set up properly and used with optional microphones may help and remember that the measure or who we are is what we do with what we have. Prayer helped me to handle the worries.

Explain what live transcribe is. Am app? Does it require any special equipment or heating aid manufacturer? Delayed transcription or in real time? How does it decide which speaker to transcribe?

Hi Meryl! Yes, it’s an Android app. No special equipment or hearing aid manufacturer needed. It’s in real time. It transcribes the nearest person that it can “hear”. It’s not linked to the hearing aids, just comes up on the cell phone. There is a similar app for the iPhone.

Anxiety about being i situations with multiple conversations and background noise is absolutely normal with hearing loss. And it leads to isolation due to the reasons you describe. As for medication - if what you are doing now is not working, what is the downside risk of trying medication for six months? It works for so many (myself in cluded) and can help put you in a better mind to search for other ways to cope with the hearing loss. It is not a weakness, but more of a strength to look for help with issues.

I got a CI and my loss is not as bad as yours. Got it at 61 and wanted to pursue it as soon as I qualified. The first person I talked to who had a CI got hers at 88.
Why not look for solutions and input from our care givers to make each day better? Life is too long when you are miserable.

Another idea is to “own” your hearing loss and share your status freely with others, that way you don’t have to exhaust yourself faking it and trying to keep up. It is my reality, so I don’t hesitate to ask for quiet restaurants or getting take out to eat at home when getting together with others. Let people know you may be quiet and not engage - but you still want to be out and about - set your stage for success. Hearing loss is not our fault.

Exercise (regular. 3x week; less is bad)
Sleep (enough)
Diet (eat right)

@Toyman1 said:

my dog’s veterinarian once told me to have my wife bring the dog next time because I couldn’t understand her in the echo chamber she calls an exam room.

ACK! That is so totally unacceptable I’d have probably changed vets. Not that we like to shout it out, but I’d have said, “I wear hearing aids that seem to amplify the ambient noise in your exam room too much. But I’d prefer to work through the communication challenge if you’re okay with that. Consider me a DEAF DOG, and treat me with the same care and compassion. Sound good?”

Hi godavid_d,
I actually first realized my hearing aids were working when I felt my shoulder relax, not when I realized with my ears. When I self-program my HAs now, I pay attention to the stress of listening as much or more than what I hear.

Part of what helps me is knowing I can access both auditory and visual communication in noisy or crowded listening situations. I use a combination of hearing aids, Live Transcribe and SpeakSee. It also helps if I tell folks I’m partially deaf. Some people are helpful, some don’t get how to help a person hear even after receiving suggestions. I keep it light. With the really hard to understand folks, I sometimes say, “thank you for helping me hear.” Most really want to help and will improve after being acknowledged for being helpful, even if they are not quite helpful–yet. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for your feedback. Your sense of self is extraordinary not that we don’t have extraordinary people on the forum, we do. You seem to be on another level more so the the ordinary person like myself. I must admit you have gone the extra yard in understanding your hearing. I don’t mean that as a put down. I have been real lazy in understanding my hearing loss. I guess, I have not wanted to do the work that you have done by using the tools available that you mentioned. It has been a slow journey for me. I’m really grateful to be a member of this forum where people gladly share there help and experience with their heaing loss.