Using the Phone

I have some really exciting news.  I can hear on the phone with my CI!  I know most normal-hearing people are probably thinking, big whoop-tee-doo (how exactly is that spelled, anyway?), but it is a huge deal in my world.  And I'll tell you why -- I haven't been able to use my left ear to talk on the phone in over 20 years.  That's two decades.  That's the majority of my adult life.  That's, well...you get the picture.

One day I thought I'd see how I'd do on my iPhone so I decided to start by listening to a couple of voice messages.  I was amazed at how loud and clear they sounded.  Then I made a call to a store to see if they had a particular item in stock.  Not once did I have to ask for a repeat or say, "What?".  By the time I finished the call I was so excited I had to share the news so I emailed a couple of people who would understand my enthusiasm.  

I've had a hearing loss for so long that I have become conditioned to being adverse to making or taking calls.  I don't know if I'll ever get over it.  Maybe after lots of practice and some success I'll start to gain more confidence.  I remember even as a kid I didn't really like to spend a lot of time on the phone.  Maybe that was because of the lack of privacy since we were tethered to one spot. Even with the extra-long spiral cord, I had to stretch it to get into the next room. Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that my dad was a realtor, and as such, a tied-up phone line meant the possibility of a lost sale.  After all, this was before answering machines and call waiting.  Ah, the low-tech, or should I say no-tech, years.

Today I had to make another phone call and I felt myself taking deep breaths beforehand.  I made sure I had my hearing aid in my right ear just in case I needed to switch to that ear if I couldn't understand what the person was saying on the other end.  Well, the risk of jumping in with both feet is you will stumble and I did. The phone call started with my implanted ear, but quickly changed to the aided ear after I struggled to get everything the person said at the beginning of the conversation.  I even had a hard time understanding with my aided ear.  It confirmed what I already knew -- aids and CIs were never meant to be hearing miracles.  So I would give myself a B- on today's call (I got bonus credit for effort).  Oh, well.  With a lot of practice I'll get it down.  Now I need to work on the anxiety issues.