For many years I managed to hear well with one ear. I had battled with Meniere’s Disease, resulting in moderate to severe hearing loss on the left side. I was coping just fine until the day my body decided to let me down. I developed a Cholesteatoma in my “good” ear. The operation to remove the growth was very successful but my hearing was reduced significantly enough to need to now need a hearing aid.

Post operatively I tried an NHS aid in my Meniere’s nerve damaged ear but the attempt left me feeling very vulnerable and a little scared, as my hearing was very distorted. Eventually my other ear recovered from the operation and I was ready to try a hearing aid on the other side, which worked well enough to enable me to return to work.

I can now hear in both ears!

However, last week my hearing was revolutionised! Selma Becker at Help in Hearing has now fitted me with a pair of Oticon OPN Bluetooth hearing aids. A little disconcerting at first because I can now hear in both ears, particularly my own voice which I thought would never be possible. I met with friends over the weekend at a noisy coffee shop and I could actually hear what they were saying. I am now able to differentiate speech from the rest of the hubbub around me. I could even hear my daughter whispering to me in the cinema.

Oticon OPN hearing aids connect to mobile phone

My Oticon OPN hearing aids connect direct to my mobile phone and the clarity of “in-the-ear” (ITE) hearing is amazing. Alongside the obvious benefits of being able to hear more clearly, another advantage is the reduction of loud noise. Meniere’s has left me with a condition called Hyperacusis which is an intolerance to loud noise, even at most people’s “normal” thresholds. I dread the smoke alarm, zebra crossing, refuse collection – the ubiquity of the modern beep – it hurts my head so much!

My new hearing aid has an output limiter which controls uncomfortable loudness threshold levels. It knows not to amplify sound above that threshold so that I don’t perceive it to be “loud” even if it isn’t. How clever is that? It really works, as I discovered when I burnt the toast this morning. We saw a musical at the theatre recently and I sat rather too near the front – who would have thought that it would be my husband instead of me, who came away with sore ears!

Oticon OPN – where to find out more

Visit our Oticon Opn hearing aids page to find out more about these hearing aids, including the new ConnectClip, which connects to your smartphone, the Opn rechargeable hearing aid and connecting to Internet devices with your Opns.

Read a blog article about the Oticon OPN – a remarkable new hearing instrument.

If you’d like to make an appointment to discuss the Oticon OPN, please get in touch.