TYMPANOMETRIC TUESDAY

Tympanometer : An instrument that measures movement of the tympanic membrane at various levels of air pressure, used to assess function of the middle ear.

For those of you who watched the England v. Iceland football game last night, along with Mr. HCB you are probably feeling a little gutted and rather dismayed that players of that quality produced such a sub-standard performance - his words, not mine!  He did wear the headphones and all I could hear was him shouting at the television!  

Who knew yesterday that Mr. HCB would be wearing Sennheiser headphones again at his hearing test but I’m glad to say he didn’t shout at Elizabeth, the audiologist, possibly because not only was she an attractive blonde lady, but also because she didn’t produce a sub-standard performance.  In fact, both he and I were very impressed with the service received, the many and varied tests and subsequent explanations of what was causing his hearing loss and more importantly, what could be done about it.

Mr. HCB’s work over the years has meant that he has been subjected to quite a lot of loud noise, which has probably not helped his hearing loss, but after doing various tests, Elizabeth then put hearing aids into both ears, and it was wonderful to observe the difference.  You can see on the chart in the middle right photograph that birdsong is out of hearing range for Mr. HCB, so I felt quite tearful when Elizabeth played bird song through the speakers and Mr. HCB could actually hear it, something he has missed hearing so much.  

So now it’s decision time - yes, the hearing aids will be expensive, but what’s the point of not being able to hear when that situation can be remedied.  There was no hard sell and Mr. HCB and I are now chatting about the situation but I have no doubt we will be ringing tomorrow to make another appointment to go and see Elizabeth.  

“Blindness separates people from things;
     deafness separates people from people.”
Helen Keller - 1880-1968

P.S.  Elizabeth was intrigued that I was taking photographs and said no-one had ever done that before - obviously the first Blipper she has met!