No wonder

I find it very curious when I discover reasons for the small things in life. I learned another few today and just had to say - No wonder.

I had a hearing test today as follow-up to the MRI last month. The results weren't exactly what I had expected. I am happy to report the pure tone average (i.e. my ability to hear the beeps) has changed very little over the past 6 months and I continue to have a mild hearing loss or a PTA of about 25db in my left ear. As comparison, my right ear's hearing is simply stupendous with a PTA of about 5db. The lower the number the better.

However, my ability to recognize the words at a deemed comfortable hearing level has declined rather significantly (statistically significant according to the audiologist). At a level of about 50db (i.e. a comfortable quiet conversational voice), I only recognized about 76% of words spoken by the left ear. This dropped from about 96% recognition (at 60db - so a bit louder, but supposedly not significant) two months ago. [As a comparison, at 30db (i.e. a whisper), I recognize 100% of the words on the right side.]

This is a pretty big drop - but perfectly within the norm of an acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma). The PTA may stay stable for a longer period of time but the ability to actually distinguish the words will continue to decline.

An important note - this was a snapshot in time - I know my hearing is some days better than others. Today, it wasn't at its best so the score may reflect a poorer result than if I had the test done tomorrow, next week or at the follow-up in six months. However, I know the decline is real (perhaps just not the magnitude of the drop). I can't lie on the couch and watch TV as my 'good' ear is down in the pillow and the bad ear listens - at times, I may as well be listening to Radio Canada or to be honest the BBC - it is all greek (or french, or just british english) to me. Always one to find the advantage in situations, I also don't wake up to Seanie crying at night - with the bad ear exposed, and two closed bedroom doors, Seanie's random incidents in the night just don't wake my up. Jim wakes me up when he goes to see the boy - then I hear the crying, but otherwise, I am oblivious.

At this point, the audiologist certainly doesn't recommend any hearing aids - but I am borderline. It is an interesting dilemma with these tumors. The old adage 'use or lose it' also applies to hearing and hearing nerves. With the right side nerve working so well, the left side is essentially atrophying both from the impact of the tumor (which isn't growing) but also because the dominant side is taking over. A hearing aid is less likely to improve any word recognition score because all it does is simply amplify the noise; however, by amplifying it keeps the nerve in touch with its purpose and doesn't allow big brother on the right side to dominant.

I am not surprised. I suspected my ability to distinguish words had declined. I had already thought about re-organizing the furniture in the family room so I could lie down to watch television with the right ear up - but had honestly thought my perception of reality was more than likely exaggerated and the loss not quite so (statistically) significant.