A little history

I realized I needed to back track a little. I got my hearing tested in April and again in August. I had suspected further hearing loss, but was stunned to discover just how bad it was.  I have reached the point where I depend totally on visual cues as well as sound from my hearing aids in order to understand speech coherently. I test within the physical limits of the audiometer.

In August, when I had my hearing tested at the hospital where I am having the surgery, I was absolutely stunned to discover that I did not understand speech at all without any visual cues. When using a telephone, I use CapTel.  I depend totally on my CapTel phone to clue me in.  I only have one dedicated line - so if someone calls me, I wait until that caller leaves a message on the answering machine.  If they don't, I don't return the call. I have discovered that usually it is a wrong number or a solicitation from a business.  The only reason I have a landline phone at all is in case of an emergency. I was surprised to discover that some of these voice over internet phone services or what we call VOIP - don't always instantly connect with a 911 Center. 
Most of my family and friends know to either text me or e-mail me. The tinnitus is really bad. It is constant - I have had it since I was a teenager.  I have long since learned to tune it out.

I was so amused the other day to read of teenagers texting instead of using a voice phone. The adults have to text their kids in order to contact them. My blackberry, which was configured for deaf users, is my lifeline. So is the computer. I even have  a laptop in case the main computer crashes.  I have one of those all in one computers. I like it a lot.

I guess I am in vogue now - all I do IS text. One thing I DON'T do is text and drive. WAY too dangerous. The blackberry stays in my purse when I am driving. If I know that someone is going to text me at a certain time about something important, I will pull into a parking lot or somewhere safe when I can answer.  I hope that over time, I will be able to use a cell phone and/or talk into a landline phone without captions or volume control.

When I am at a doctor's office or doing business with someone, I have to explain to them that I do not have a cell phone and am too deaf to use one, but that they can leave a voice message on my land line phone.  All I have to do is call CAPTEL and they will listen to the voice message and caption it for me. The landline phone is for the convenience of hearing people anyway. If I could be 100% assured of reaching 911 with my wireless blackberry in a true emergency, I'd get rid of the landline phone in a heartbeat.  That idiot landline phone bill costs more a month than my wireless blackberry bill!  I'm tempted.  I'd save $1,188.00 a year just by eliminating that phone.