The Six Thousand Dollar Man

Today I get fitted with my new $6000 hearing aids, the Destiny 1600 by Starkey. I’m not expecting miracles, or the ability to hear conversations from 100 yards away, but it would be nice to have a normal conversation in noisy settings for once without finding myself trapped in a puffy shirt situation.

I grew up hoping with each new generation of hearing aids that passed, that the technology would finally advance enough to give me the level of hearing I so desperately needed and wanted. I wanted to be able to hear someone whispering in my ear at the movie theater, or the sound of crickets chirping in the early hours of the morning, or the sound of my car jingling its merry little tune whenever the keys were left in the ignition. I wanted to be able to carry on a decent conversation in places like the subway, or at ballparks, or anywhere I happened to be.

But most of all, I no longer wanted to be afraid. Afraid that if someone asked me for help, I wouldn’t be able to tell them because I’d have no idea what they were saying. Afraid to approach beautiful women I saw in everyday life, not so much because I was shy and ugly, but also because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hear a single thing they said to me.

But after 27 years of wearing all different kinds of hearing aids from all different kinds of manufacturers, I still have yet to realize those dreams.

Will today be the day? After so many years of disappointments and heartaches, has the moment finally arrived where I can at long get my life back?

We shall see.

Tags: aids, audiology, ballparks, beautiful women, conversations, crickets, destiny, everyday life, hearing, hearing aids, hearing loss, life, movie theater, new generation, puffy shirt, social, social life, starkey, subway, technology
Categories: Lincoln's Personal Log

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8 Responses to “The Six Thousand Dollar Man”

Kristee wrote a comment on September 19, 2007 @ 09:50:am
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$6000 sheesh you better be able to hear conversations from at least 200 yards away! :wink:

But, seriously, I wish you the best and hope for great hearing for you!

May the Lord bless you today with great hearing.
Kristee

Caseyc wrote a comment on September 19, 2007 @ 10:14:am
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I second Kristee’s prayer. I hope these new ones are nothing short of a miracle.

Lincoln Adams wrote a comment on September 19, 2007 @ 10:58:am
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Aww, thanks for the well wishes. I’m all teary eyed. :dream:

I’ll have to get weekly adjustments until I find my optimal settings, but hopefully the first try will prove to be close to the mark. These are the first hearing aids I’ll be wearing that relies on nanotechnology. :wideeyed:

Marshwiggle wrote a comment on September 19, 2007 @ 11:15:am
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ME THREE! Good luck! :cheer:

Hearing Aids wrote a comment on December 11, 2008 @ 01:44:pm
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I hope the Destiny 1600 gives you the clarity and acuity to hear what you want to hear. My husband uses the Destiny RIC and it helped him tremendously when it comes to being able to talk in moving vehicles and in ballparks. The reason is that it’s pre-programmed to change “modes” depending on what sound waves gets past through it’s filters. The battery life is really good as well (even though we keep extras on us at all times) and only needs to change and/or re-charge @ night. Let me ask you something, has it improved you being able to pick up higher-frequency sounds? I know for my husband it’s not complete, but he does hear some and according to him, it was a vast improvement.

Lincoln Adams wrote a comment on December 11, 2008 @ 04:48:pm
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Actually, it’s the 1200, not 1600. The BTE version didn’t have enough power to work with, so I had to go one notch down. This hearing aid is actually better because it has volume control. Why the 1600 doesn’t have that is beyond me, and it is by far one of the most annoying things about these digital aids.

High frequency depends on how how the equalizer levels were set, but when I had the bass reduced I heard higher frequency sounds with more clarity, sounds I hadn’t heard before with previous aids, so it does help there. The quality of sounds overall isn’t very good at times though, almost the way AM radio would sound. There’s no richness to the sounds I hear, which is why I had the bass turned up a notch, so acoustics would be a little smoother sounding (I’m a pretty big music buff, ironically enough.) :dance:

Gabrielle wrote a comment on June 23, 2009 @ 10:20:am
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Puffy shirt! LOL! Seinfeld. My brother found a puffy shirt like the one on Seinfeld and wore it in Iraq when he was interrogating detainees. He thought it was hilarious.

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