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Tuesday 27th 35F. Up at 7.40 after waking at 4 and 6am. I woke feeling as if every muscle in my body was tense and had been overworked.
I was so tired after the party that I was shaking behind the wheel all the way home. I was sensible though and kept my speed right down on the all but empty roads. I hadn't driven much in the dark recently. Nor had I imbibed so much as a drop of alcohol.
The intense concentration required to listen to single voices in such a din really took it out of me. There were thirteen of us around the dining table in a room just able to house us all. Not to mention how little I have been exposed to such noisy groups for many years. The racket in the dining room at the museum now seems relatively restrained. Where I haven't had the advantage of wearing my hearing aids yet. The museum volunteers are taking a break over the holidays.
I do understand that there is a steep learning curve in the use of hearing aids. The wearer's brain has to learn to hear and decipher the sounds it now hears. After decades of poor hearing in my case.
It was only polite for me to show rapt attention to somebody speaking directly to me. Even if I could hear only one in five words clearly. Then having to simultaneously translate what I had heard into something meaningful. To which I could then respond intelligently in the same language.
Certain voices were pitched in the deep troughs of my still poor, hearing's frequency response. Despite the hearing aids being [allegedly] set up to exactly match my hearing loss.
None of this was remotely the fault of those present. They were all wonderful people and fascinating characters in their own right. All had succeeded in life and were warm, confident and comfortable in their familiar surroundings. I am deeply grateful that my hosts had invited me to share their annual, family Christmas, get-together.
My hostess had a genius for distributing ornaments and pictures to achieve visual perfection. It was quite magical how she had filled all of the spaces available. I was so inspired I shall attempt the clumsy man's version of the same. There is a strange feeling of fate surrounding my visit. As if I needed to see her accomplishments to further my own projects at home. Just as the brick wall at the cooking class was identical to my own. My English friend's decor held further clue as to how I might proceed. His knowledge of building work, phones and computers has been immensely helpful.
I must say that I was very disappointed with the hearing aids' inability to cut through the background noise. Even more so when I removed them after the batteries went flat. The aids are fine for amplifying individual's voice against normal, background noise. Almost any microphone, amp and headphone set-up could do the same job. I had been using clever boxes to do much the same thing for years. In my audio set up at home. However, the higher the background noise levels became, the worse the aids performed. This was not my "reasonable expectation" given the very high price tag.
There is this slight sense of paranoia that I will be advised to "upgrade." To obtain the aid performance I really need. What if the frequency response had not been perfectly set to match my hearing needs? Then I would inevitably become a candidate. For the salesperson's professional advice. We shall see tomorrow. When I have an after lunch appointment for an initial follow up of my progress.
Allowing the batteries to go flat was complete idiocy on my part. I has considered changing them before leaving but hadn't had this problem before. Previously I had changed the batteries only once after a few days. Now I shall have to take the task far more seriously. It takes only moments and the batteries are free. The hearing aids are tiny and all but invisible in use but frighteningly expensive.
Perhaps "The App" would give me the control I [might] need over level, balance and frequency response. Who knows? Even the best App might require I whip out my still unfamiliar, mobile phone [and put on my reading glasses] and start tapping away at the screen. Which is hardly appropriate behaviour in any social situation!
8.50 Brighter today. With lots of pink and grey banded clouds against pale turquoise. Cooler too. So I should have lit the stove by now. Instead of waffling on. I also lost several hours of heat output yesterday evening. To help to keep the house topped up with warmth.
9.10 Stove lit. Time for a walk to unwind.
10.20 I reached the road before returning for my gloves. It was just a little too cold on my hands in the light breeze. The low sun burst through briefly on the horizon. A solitary Whooper swan, two large birds of prey and assorted gulls provided the ornithological entertainment for today. Traffic was light. Stove going well. Morning coffee over. Time to go shopping or there will be no lunch.
14.40 Returning from the observatory. More time wasted on imaging clouds instead of the sun.
15.00 I have been listening to various voices on YouTube. There is clear
distortion when wearing the hearings aids. Removal of the right side aid
only [my far better hearing ear] removes the distortion. Not a good result! The left aid was left in place and working normally. I was careful to avoid increased levels with the right hearing aid in place and without.
Dinner was chicken and brown mushrooms with chips.
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