I had a hearing test last week..

[AeolianHarp]

And I've got mild hearing loss!!! I noticed that I am often struggling to hear people when they talk quietly on the phone or are standing a few feet away from me, or there's a lot of background noise. I thought little of it for awhile ( thinking it was my absent mindedness or tendency to block out noise due to living on a noisy street) until I was doing some exam invigilating when I noticed I couldn't hear the other invigilators when they whispered some instructions to me, but that they heard each other fine.
I heard an ad on classic fm radio that a chemists was doing free hearing tests, so I booked an appointment. I had a quick test which revealed that it looked like I have some loss, then I had to see a man for a longer test.He confirmed I have loss- mild, so I hear most things fine- especially music thank goodness!!
I have to see him every 2 years. He said it is some kind of nerve damage but doesn't know the cause, and if my hearing loss will get greater.

[Harvey]

I have high frequency loss in my left ear since decades ago. Probably from too loud of pop music in the car or from driving on the highway with the window open (pretty noisy). I still hear pretty well, but have trouble understanding someone if there is background noise or they are talking from a different room.

[AeolianHarp]

Your hearing loss sounds like mine Harvey. I was told my left ear was worse than the right. Mine isn't caused by loud pop music though!I don't listen to it these days anyway. I have hardly been to any pop concerts either. They are not good on the ears. Classical concerts don't hurt!
I've got mild tinnitus also- it isn't that annoying as it sounds like the sea, and is only noticeable when there is little noise (mainly at night). At first I thought everyone heard a kind of shushing sound in their ears when it's quiet ( I read online that people can hear the sound of their own blood moving, and I thought that's what it is...). I think it has been coming on me slowly.
I feel I still hear as good as before - it's just quiet voices and the phone ( when it is a bad line or on the mobile outside). I'm not too bothered about it at present- and it gets me out of having to work long term in customer services on the phone- that I've struggled with when I've done temping in call centres.

[Hollywood]

I have about a 35% hearing loss in both ears, according to a test I had years ago in the 1970s. I was fitted with hearing aids which I only wore when I attended a classical music concert. But the problems with those old style hearing aids is that it amplified every sound, especially background noise like the clinking of silverware on plates at a restaurant (which drove me crazy). This is why I stopped wearing them.

My hearing loss involves more problems with understanding speech than with volume. Talking on the telephone I need to put it either on speaker phone or have the volume on full blast. This usually drives my husband crazy since he can also hear the person I am talking to on the phone. I can't tell you how many times I have misunderstood what someone was talking about because of this. The ENT doctor back in the 1970s told me that this hearing loss was inherited but I started having hearing problems after a car accident I was in where my head slammed against the door and I was knocked unconscious for about a minute or two. I feel that perhaps the auto accident had more of an impact on my hearing than it being inherited (since only my fraternal grandmother was the only relative of mine that wore a hearing aid). But I bet that if that old ENT doctor is still alive, he would probably ask me "And which medical school did you graduate from?" Actuall,y I wonder where he studied medicine...

[AeolianHarp]

Of course the car accident caused it Hollywood! Obvious really isn't it. You probably have some nerve damage.

Doctors eh? They always have to be right...

[Hollywood]

Doctors eh? They always have to be right...

Exactly! I had two other dealings with doctors that made me think twice about getting a second opinion when in doubt.

When I was in the Air Force I woke up one morning with a huge hard lump on my upper left arm which I automatically thought could be some kind of spider bite, but the doctor on base had no idea what it was. Then I ended up with what was obviously an allergic reaction to the sulfa based medication I was taking (at that time I was allergic to penicillin). That doctor, who was also the head of the ER, told me to continue to take the medication and that the swelling would go away. WTF!!!

[AeolianHarp]

Then I ended up with what was obviously an allergic reaction to the sulfa based medication I was taking (at that time I was allergic to penicillin). That doctor, who was also the head of the ER, told me to continue to take the medication and that the swelling would go away. WTF!!!

Yeahhhh..my Dad was given a disgusting synthetic opiate on a drip after a recent operation, told to press it as much as he wanted, was violently sick for hours, and told by the "nurse" to keep pressing it!! WTF?!
He was ill for 2 days solid after that ( so 3 days in total), then they took him down for all sorts of tests on his internal organs, and had to pump his stomach out, but still didn't admit that the opiate was the cause!!!