The difference? Behind The Ear and In The Ear.  The name says it all the BTEs had all the technology sat behind the ear, and a little tube taking the amplified sound into the earmould.  With the new ones, all the technology is contained ITE.

Take a look at the difference (Top – BTE, Bottom – ITE)

It’s quite odd to get used to them as you may be able to see from the picture they go further into the ear canal than the BTE moulds.  Plus the little challenge that your ear canal isn’t straight so it taken me a while to get the right technique!

With these Vigo Pro Connect ITEs they have this little BLUETOOTH functionality which means once I purchase the Oticon Streamer, that I’ll be able to listen to calls without lifting up the phone! As well as streaming music into them from the iPod etc.

It also means that if I change one of the aids to a different programme (I have them setup for: Normal, Telecoil/Phone, Meetings, Clubbing) the other one automically detects it and changes as well!

This is me with them in:

Many thanks to the NHS!

It may have involved some tears, some nasal surgery, and a couple of oticon hearing aids; though now I am fixed. To some degree of normality.

Hearing things is still odd. The fact that I can’t bear my favourite coffee shop, as it now seems too loud. The fact that I can hear 8 different conversations going on around me, when I just want to read the paper. Luckily there’s a volume control, but with time I’ll get used to that.

Overall with hearing, it’s all been great. The only things I don’t like are
- The fact that I have hearing aids (yes I know you lot don’t care, but I do).
- I can’t easily listen to my iPod with them in.
- The way it makes my tinnitus seem much more profound when I don’t have them in. So waking up in bed, and getting to sleep can drive me mad!

The good things though:
- I can hear.
- I don’t need to blag conversations.
- I’m more aware of my surroundings.
- I don’t feel broken.

I’ve come across some advice, which covers both how some deaf people cope, and some general advice about what might work when talking to them – it’s a handy PDF, and well worth a gander. Somethings you might not know, or may surprise you.

Anyway, a week ago I got fitted with my ‘new ears’. Or Ears 2.0 as I like to call them. The are a pair of ear moulds with a behind the ear (BTE) aid. The fancy ‘Oticon Spirit Zest P/Mini’ or some catchy name like that. My first impression is that the actual unit is much smaller than when I last used a hearing aid.

So this hearing malarky. It’s a bit overrated right? Well not quite. but this was my first impression:

In general, this week has made be realise:

• The world is noisier than I thought.
• Somethings make sounds, that I never was aware of.

For the first point, I’m now much more aware of noises on my peripheray.  The only downside is that I’m obviously also hearing a lot more noise around me, that I need to get used to and tune out.

The second point is the funniest, my iPhone keypad makes noises when you dial a number.  I had never heard that, or had an inkling it did that.  I can hear the fan on my Macbook whirring away as I type, I can hear the sounds of me tapping away on keys!  I can listen to music on the Macbook without needing speakers or headphones, even if it’s only half way up (before I could never hear it).

As you can imagine it’s a bit of aural overload at the moment, but it has been great.  I’ve not needed to ‘blag’ a conversation at all; I can hold down a conversation without needing to focus all my efforts on the person talking to me – a success.

I’m learning day by day what ‘normal noises’ sound like.  Curtains screeching along a curtain poll, leafs crunched underfoot, that the toilet flush is a bloody loud noise. A lot of the time has been spent with me just listening, and looking to work out what is making the noise. Like when I heard a printer churning out pages slowly, 20m away!

So whilst it is early days. I’m looking forward to seeing what technology is out there to assist, and generally provide more functionality. I know bluetooth exists in some hearing aids! My current task is to workout the best way to listen to my iPhone/MP3s, and whether I get telecoil style earloops, or bluetooth neckloops, to use with the aids, or just remove them etc.

I’m deaf.

I said it.

Whilst it doesn’t sound like a big revelation, for me it has been. I always have been deaf. My hearing is worse in my right year, even having some surgery on it back 11 years ago. Since then it has felt that it has slowly declined, with my left which was never ‘normal’ declining too.

Previously, I had always been one to hide my deafness. After all, I could get on with my life and over many years I’ve learnt how to cope.

Whether it was by

• Keeping good eye contact with the person/people talking.
• Avoiding situations where I knew I wouldn’t be able to hear.
• Blagging the conversation (it’s easy after a while to know how a conversation ’should flow’, and what you should/are expected to say.)
• Placing myself near the front of discussion/meetings.
• Withdrawing from large groups, into smaller/one-to-one conversations.

The first point has probably become my most required need when having a conversation. If I can’t see your face, I most likely have no idea what you are saying to me. I might know that you are talking, but I may end up blagging that conversation.

Over many years, I’ve used some of the above to hide how bad my hearing actually is. I was in denial.

Eventually I got past the denial part, and I got back to living

(Quote courtesy of Lost).

More recently I’ve come to realise there was no point hiding/denying/avoiding my deafness.

So, I told the world.

After all, on Friday of this week coming I will be trying hearing aids for the second time in my life. It’s been many years since I ‘gave up’ using them. I think the last time I really used them was back towards college time. I never got on with it.

Hopefully that will change on Friday. I’ll be the recipient of two hearing aids. The start of my adventure back into the ‘proper hearing world’.

PS. This is obviously the rather abridged version, I could have talked about early memories of hearing tests in primary school. But i didn’t!

Update: The second part ‘Adjusting to Hearing’

A schedule that means I’m never sure where I am more than a week in advance, means that I’ve been a bit bad at keeping in touch. I’m sorry for all the meetings, catchups and coffees I’ve meant to have had as of late, it’s just a bit hard to cram everything in (and do nothing some days) when I’m back in Birmingham!

As well as ‘proper’ work, I’ve been kept busy with a few side projects.

• Kitecrowd has grown over the last two months to achieving aroun37,000 unique visitors for each month. Further detailed breakdowns can be seen here. It’s great to see the community grow, and be nurtured by the great moderation team. It’s also doing well at becoming sustainable cost wise, with advertisers coming on board
• YetAnotherGin has been really attracting the traffic, last month it saw over 2,000 unique visitors, a whole 1,000 visitors up from the previous month! There has been some great feedback, interactions with brand PR companies, many a cocktail imbibed too.
• I decided to make a ‘web app’ and created an online spirits, wine, champagne price comparison site: Tipplepicker, it’s still very early days but a lot of the core functionality is there.

I also found out that a talk/proposal for SXSW that I submitted did get through to the ‘PanelPicker’ stage, but alas not in the first draw of items for the schedule (there is the potential it could still go ahead though!). You can read the proposal, as it’s online: ‘Online Communities, Get Them Growing, and Money Making‘.

I don’t know when I’ll be back settled in one place for a more consistant time, but hopefully I will be. After all I’m writing this in a hotel room, on my seventh trip to Prague in four months. It will be great to see the Birmingham faces on a more regular basis, but hey I’ll still be around on Twitter.