Finding new hobbies after losing my hearing.
By Frank Cervantes, M.D.
I am an 80-year-old, retired family physician who had to leave my practice of over 50 years due to hearing loss.
I had been in generally excellent health until May 2020 when I came down with Covid-19. I had a prolonged bout with recurrent fevers, weakness, weight loss, and fatigue. I did not have respiratory issues and recovered after about a month of illness.
Within several months,however, I began noticing some new symptoms including a noticeable hearing loss and increasing difficulty with speech comprehension. A hearing test showed profound high frequency loss with moderate low and mid frequency loss.
For clarification I did have some mild hearing loss and tinnitus for many years prior to this related to my service in the U.S. Navy as a gunner's mate but it did not significantly affect my lifestyle until after Covid.
I had been a crewman on a destroyer and as I recall was never offered hearing protection during live firing. Naval guns are big and loud! After Covid I noticed difficulty understanding my patients, even with prescription hearing aids.
Among my other conditions I developed after Covid was a heart block that required a pacemaker and a mild neuropathy in my feet, but hearing loss is the condition that has affected me the greatest.
I have had four pairs of hearing aids in the past four years including a pair from the Veterans Administration (VA). None of them have been ideal. I also was tested for cochlear implants but was told they would not benefit me. I have seen several hearing specialists and have been diagnosed with sensorineural hearing loss as well as central hearing loss in which the brain has trouble separating background noise from speech, which is a common component of SNHL.
From my research I saw that there have been studies that show an increased incidence of hearing loss after Covid infections as well as possible increased incidence of heart blocks and neuropathy.
How has hearing loss affected me? I used to love to listen to music of all types; blues, country, classical, Tejano, etc., but am unable to listen to music now because it sounds garbled or out of key.
I had an extensive music library which I gave away. I no longer play guitar because the notes just don't sound right. I ended up giving my guitars away. Listening to some of my favorite old songs is an exercise in frustration; they sound out of tune!
We used to go to movies on an almost weekly basis. I no longer do that due to difficulty with dialogue. Socializing is very difficult for me now as speech comprehension is very difficult especially with any background noise which is of course common in social situations. I am usually the one sitting and smiling quietly.
If someone asks me a question I have to ask them to repeat it because I usually have no idea what the conversation is about. If I watch a TV program it has to be with subtitles. Even with a pair of bluetooth headphones paired to the tv I have difficulty with comprehension. All this has led to bouts of depression and withdrawal.
I have come to the realization that my hearing loss is permanent and progressive. I recently bought an $8,000 pair of hearing aids equipped with AI but they are only a marginal improvement over my "top of the line" VA hearing aids.
I'm getting used to my way of life and have come to accept the fact that If I live long enough I will probably lose more, possibly all, of my hearing ability. Not really looking forward to that. I spend most of my days reading or exercising now.
Frank Cervantes, M.D., lives in a retirement community in Texas.
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I had been a crewman on a destroyer and as I recall was never offered hearing protection during live firing. Naval guns are big and loud! After Covid I noticed difficulty understanding my patients, even with prescription hearing aids.