Thursday, July 12, 2012

There's a banana in my ear

I've been having some issues with my hearing in my left ear. Can't say as I'm entirely surprised. I was a musician for a long time, and I recall the Army bringing in some sort of OSHA folks to test the acoustics in our practice room and telling us we all needed to wear hearing protection. Well that just wasn't going to happen--you have to be able to hear the other musicians when you rehearse. And I've been to more than a couple of concerts where I spent all my time in the mosh pit. Plus my grandmother lost a lot of hearing, although no one really knows why.

So lately I've been more aware of people with hearing issues, I've noticed hearing aids a lot more and I've seen more articles about hearing loss. Tuesday I ran across this article and was completely surprised to learn that hearing aids aren't usually covered under insurance. What is up with that??

I guess I'll find out more after I see my new doctor next month. With any luck, my issue isn't permanent or serious. But if it is, it looks like any solution will be out of pocket. That just doesn't seem right.

3 comments:

Magpie said...

and while we're at it, why aren't eye glasses and dental work covered by insurance? are not our ears and eyes and mouths part of our bodies?

the good thing is that hearing aids are MUCH better than they used to be. i still remember how my grandfather's would whistle.

edj3 said...

Well I do have dental insurance and vision insurance--they're separate but I have them. I was really surprised by that article about hearing aids though.

Jeanne said...

As the child of a speech and hearing pathologist/audiologist, I had my hearing tested a lot. I have good hearing, but poor discrimination, which means I often pretend/piece together what someone is saying if there's background noise.