How's my hearing?

"How's your hearing doing?"
I get the question a lot from people. I usually respond with a "Huh? What did you say?" which makes us all laugh....sometimes.
In case some of you don't know, back in September 2010, I suddenly began to loose my hearing. At first, it was just in my left ear. But then, as my left ear hearing grew worse, my right ear hearing quickly began to follow suite. By December 2010, I was 80% deaf. What makes it weird is that no one knows the cause or why it happened... that is, 3 doctors don't know the cause or reason.
So, jumping back to now: I haven't been to a hearing doctor since December 2010, but I am pretty sure all of my hearing in my left ear is gone and my right ear hearing is somewhere in the middle.
I have coped very well with losing my ability to hear. I can still hear some sounds, like nice, strong human voices, and I seem to do well at word recognition. I don't do well, however, in large groups or parties any more, I can only carry on a conversation if it is one-on-one, and if someone turns their back to me while talking, I usually get hopelessly lost.
Most of my family, children included, have learned to LOOK AT ME while talking so that I can read their lips. I lip read quite well, and as long as a person is where I can read their lips, I can carry on a conversation pretty well.
I am ashamed to admit that my family and I haven't been doing much sign language....like, at all. I know ASL, though I am slow, but I just don't like taking the time to remember the signs for words and use it with/teach it to my family. I know, I know: stupid excuse. But it's the only one I got! Don't worry though. It will change....someday.
One of the main challenges for me since loosing my hearing has been music: I LOVE to sing. I always have, ever since I was a wee little person. Keeping my pretty singing voice has been a challenge, and making sure I hit all the right notes has been even more of a challenge. But, with the help of my sister, Kris, and her great musical abilities, I am keeping my singing voice fairly well intact.
However, Kris says that I yell at her a lot more now than I used to.... hmmm... oh well. I thought she would be used to it by now. (Sarcasm)
Since loosing my hearing, I have become more sensitive to vibration and energy output. I can feel when people, especially children, are near because of their energy output. I can tell that a tractor or a truck has started outside, because I can feel the vibration in the floor (at least I can in our old farm house. Not so much in other houses.). I can also sense when someone is talking to me, or that there is music playing, because of soft vibrations that literally tickle my ears.
Since loosing my hearing, I can tune the world out more easily, and I have learned how to focus more intently on one sound or another. My time alone, praying, thinking, and meditating on God's word, is not as easily interrupted by the sounds of the world around me.
However....and that is a big however.... my thoughts and imagination have become much louder now that I am not listening to the world around me. So now when I have quiet time, instead of struggling to tune out the sounds of the world, I have to fight my thoughts and my active imagination: those "little voices in my head" that create short stories, poems, and novels.

The next question that people frequently ask me is "Can anything be done about it?"
Well.... as far as fixing it, no. According to the doctors that I've seen, the answer is no. They don't know what caused my hearing loss, therefore they don't think it can be fixed. However, a hearing aid for my working ear would *supposedly* help me. I'm skeptic, but friends and family are all insistent that a hearing aid would drastically improve many things for me. I guess if it improved my hearing, even if just a little bit, that would be a plus. But, until I can make some money, I'll just do without.

That is the update on my hearing. I have covered everything I can think of on the topic, but I am certain I missed some. So, if you have a question about my hearing (or anything related) that I didn't cover, or you would like some more info on Hearing Loss, just ask in the comments! I will gladly reply with an answer. ☺