Er. Sort of.
My hearing aids haven't worked in years, at least since sometime in college when I finally got over my "they'll laugh at me!" fear. I've kept them all these years, wishing they'd work. Well yesterday I sat down with tiny tiny screwdrivers and went to town a-tinkering. By the time I saw Star Trek last night, I'd finangled the left one to work about 90% of the time, cutting out here and there but at least I could hear out of that ear during the movie (ZomG did it make a difference!). But alas, the right one was dead. I took it apart, cleaned it, tinkered, to no avail.
Today I tried it again, poking, proding, testing, beating against the table, and I noticed while I was wearing it that if I held my finger on the switch, it would work, though a little staticky. After some more focused tinkering, I can successfully say it's mostly working. Yahoo! I can hear out of both ears! The left one hasn't given me any trouble yet today, and right one appears to be less wonky, cutting out only about 30% of the time. You guys, I can hear! I can hear the windchimes on my balcony from the kitchen. I can hear the TV in the living room from the bedroom with the volume set on 11 (normally while I'm watching TV in the living room, 6 feet away, the volume is around 43). I can hear kids playing on the swingset at the other end of the complex.
You have no idea how exciting this is! I'm making an appointment with the new ear doctor in town this week, maybe he can either fix these or point me to some kind of funding/grant place to help pay for new ones. My insurance will cover 50% up to $1500 for hearing aids, which is rougly 1/4th the cost of a new pair. But for now, ye gods, I can hear!
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