Shortly after I wrote my anniversary blog post, I began researching panic attacks after concussions. I found a great website that detailed all the tests I should have pursued after being diagnosed with a concussion and what I learned led me to getting my hearing checked.
I found a highly rated audiologist with a free two-hour evaluation and made an appointment. The audiologist sent me a video about the damage hearing loss (or in my case, hearing distortion) does to a person's cognitive abilities. People with hearing problems have an increased risk of dementia due to lack of auditory stimulation, which leads to the degeneration of the auditory nerve. Hearing problems can also cause social isolation, depression, cognitive overload, memory problems, increased risk of falling and deterioration of the quality of life. I think I had everything on this list except depression.
I went into my appointment thinking that I had a noise sensitivity and would need ear filters. After going through multiple tests, I discovered that I was hearing differently in each ear. In one ear, I had high frequency hearing loss and in the other ear I had low frequency hearing loss. This unusual condition is called asymmetric hearing loss. My poor brain has been trying to process different sounds from each ear and that's why I have been getting overwhelmed in places like crowded restaurants where it's too noisy and loud. I also was missing words when listening to people talk, especially if there is background noise. As a result, I had a hard time concentrating on what I was hearing and finding the right word when talking. No wonder it was so difficult to write!
My tests showed that if I didn't get corrective hearing aids, I would have an increased risk of dementia, falling and cognitive decline. Asymmetric hearing loss also caused my brain to generate a new, inefficient auditory pathway, which overloaded it easily. So, I chose to get hearing aids in each ear. They will be gradually tuned so that my brain can catch up and reprogram itself. It will take six months for my brain to be fully reprogrammed, but I am already hearing well enough to eat in noisy places without any problems. Some noises are still too loud, though. I can tune down the hearing aids a little bit, but sound reducing head phones work better. I will have to bring this up at my next appointment.
I received my hearing aids on May 15th and left for a two week trip to the UK on July 12th. On the whole, I did fine with loud noises. But one day I became overwhelmed and had a panic attack. We were visiting what we thought would be peaceful Kew Gardens, outside of London. I went there in 1976, found it quiet and fascinating, and was eager to show it to my family. But since my 1976 visit, Heathrow Airport grew and now large, low-flying airplanes are constantly flying over the Gardens, bringing their disruptive noise along with them. What a surprise!
July 20, 2023 at Kew Gardens |
Here is an interesting post about living under the flight-path of Heathrow Airport during the pandemic: https://hacan.org.uk/?p=78676