How CROS Hearing Aids Can Benefit You

About nine years ago, I had a bad sinus infection and the ENT I worked with called in a Z-Pak for me.

My left ear felt congested, but I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. I was actually scared myself to get a hearing test done because I had feared I lost some of my hearing.

Slowly over the next nine years since that day I have lost about 60% of my hearing in my left ear. Every couple months I’ll do another hearing test or I’ll have a student of mine do a hearing test on me and it continues to get worse.

The worst part about losing my hearing on my left side is that my word recognition which is the ability to hear speech clearly has deteriorated to about 50% on that left side. That means that even if I wear a Hearing Aid to get the sound louder, I cannot improve how fuzzy it sounds on that side.

I began to notice losing hearing, because that left ear was the ear I used for the phone all the time. Speaking to my husband multiple times a day I kept yelling at him that his phone was not working and sounded distorted. One day I said to myself maybe it’s not his phone maybe it’s my ear and took the phone and moved it to the right ear and discovered that I had hearing loss.

Ugh,  So now I am a 40 year old Audiologist with hearing loss.  What are MY options? Wearing a hearing Aid on that left side for me only made the distorted sounds louder.

CROS hearing aid.

Cue in the CROS (contralateral routing of sound) hearing aid.  The patient (me) wears two hearing aids, but the poor ear has only a microphone and no receiver.  This microphone picks up the sound from one side and routs it over to the other.

This is a great option for patients with a dead ear or one ear with no usable hearing. Many times when I’m sitting at a basketball game on the bleachers watching my kids play and someone is sitting on my left side (bad ear),  I cannot hear a word they’re saying , because my good ear is not towards them. This CROS hearing aid will allow the sound transmission to the other side so you can carry on a conversation without turning your head.

Why did I loose my hearing?? No clue!  I did go for an MRI and I did have blood work, all normal!  We don’t know why I’m losing my hearing!  I also have roaring tinnitus 24 hours a day on that left side that gets louder and louder as my hearing gets worse. It has definitely given me empathy for a person with a unilateral hearing loss and tinnitus. I do know that I have to ignore my tinnitus, otherwise it’ll drive me crazy.

Prior to me losing my hearing I used to tell people with unilateral hearing losses that they were just fine. The good year will pick up for everything and now I know that’s not true at all. Although my brain has adjusted for this hearing loss, it’s still impossible for me to hear in noisy places like a wedding, a noisy bar or a restaurant with poor acoustics.  I sometimes don’t even want to go out because it’s too hard for me to hear people in these environments. At least the CROS option is definitely a help. I recommended more now than ever because I know how helpful it’s been for me to wear it. And the best part is it’s like wearing Bluetooth headphones that I can stream my phone directly to.  If you are in the same situation as me with the unilateral hearing loss, contact us to check out some CROS Hearing Aid options.  We have a 45 day return policy, if you don’t like it, you can return it for a minimal restocking fee!

Call us at 516-224-7588 if you would like to try a CROS hearing aid.