A NEW LEASE ON LIFE! My First Two Months with My New Hearing Aid
By: Anne Carpenter
For many years, I resisted the idea of getting a hearing aid as it was a marker of growing older and losing an important function, yet I knew that my auditory processing was less than optimal and I was living with a nonfunctional right ear due to nerve deafness from birth. When my sister, Kit, suggested a hearing aid for my left ear I thought that maybe that was what I needed after all.
I thought I was hearing things well for the most part, but I had trouble hearing what people said during Quaker Meeting when they spoke during the sharing of Joys and Sorrows and announcements. I also had difficulty hearing what my stepbrother David and his wife Jacki were saying when I visited them. Back in October 2025, I had my hearing evaluated at the auditory center at Michigan Medicine where I was found to have mild to moderate hearing loss. At my next appointment I found out that the hearing aid options offered were way too expensive and that they also charged a fitting fee. So, I abandoned that option and I found out that Costco had a hearing aid center, so I bought an annual membership and my stepsister took me there for another hearing evaluation where it was found that I had lost even more hearing so I went ahead with getting a brand-new hearing aid for my left ear!
A few weeks after my evaluation, I went back to the hearing aid center and got fitted for the Sennheiser Sonita Rise and was advised not to use Bluetooth, but to just get used to all the new sounds around me. And…WOW. Everything sounded louder, but clearer and when I went outside, I could hear birds chirping-something that had been missing from my life for so long. After awhile, I tried the app for the hearing aid but discovered that I could only use that for Bluetooth, but nothing else. With the hearing aid in, the magic started! The speaker had louder, clearer sound with an undetone of bass. The TV sounded clearer and I didn’t need to have the volume up as high. But the real magic was during social occasions. At Meeting, I no longer needed the clunky listening devices because I was able to hear what people said, loud and clear! That first Sunday with the hearing aid, there was a thunderstorm and the rain was a loud, teeming roar of sound that I had not heard. Before, it would have been a quieter shushing sound. I was blown away.
I have been living in bliss with my newfound hearing ability, and I have been able to hear better even without the hearing aid in! I have also broken a bad habit; I no longer walk with Bluetooth on as I can hear traffic sounds when walking, keeping me safe when crossing the street-not an easy feat in Ann Arbor! I have become more attentive to what people are saying and I enjoy social encounters so much more now. And I’m happy about another benefit; the World Health Organization now recommends hearing aids as a hedge against dementia, as hearing loss is now thought to lead to dementia due to isolation because of hearing loss. I really have found a new lease on life with this remarkable piece of technology!