Does Poor Hearing Cause You Embarrassment?

I have made no secret of the fact that I am hard of hearing. I have owned two sets of hearing aids, and neither of them was sufficient to give me excellent hearing. I suppose none of them are perfect.....but I'd sure like to have a set of aids that approached perfection!

Nearly every day, someone says something to me that I misinterpret. Most do not cause problems, but some are so odd as to cause me to get red faced. This morning, someone called and said (or so I thought)....."Jim told L--- that you have leaky bowels."  I nearly died and said "well,  I have IBS."  She answered...."No, a leaky valve."  

Can you imagine? I wanted to curl up and die right there.

Not only did I misinterpret her speech, I made Jim  out to be a liar when I said "It is not leaky; the leak is minuscule. The doc says there is no change from the test I had a year ago. So "leaky" was not on my radar, but he is right, at least in part.

Last week at Scrabble, something funny happened that was similar to the old story "Who's On First." 

A woman had told me if I wanted stemless wine glasses I should buy them at The Dollar Store, since the quality was as good as you could buy anywhere else, but for only $1 each. She asked me "Did you go to The Dollar Store for glasses and I said "Yes, I bought 4 for $4. 

Another woman said I got 3 pairs for $12. We were trying to figure out who got the best deal. Let's see.....6 glasses for $12.  Judy got the better deal! That started a conversation no one would believe, even if I could remember exactly how it went.  Eventually it came out that she had purchased reading glasses.  We all laughed at the mistake, which was not based on mishearing, but misunderstanding. 

I have an appointment to get my hearing checked again, to see if my hearing aids need to be adjusted - and to what extent. I hope that helps a great deal - as I don't want to have to buy new ones for double the money I paid before. Getting older is a pain in the butt.