Real Patients: Protection Going Forward

Transcript

Interviewee #1

My long-term strategy for dealing with my hearing loss would be to be aware of my surroundings, and not put myself in a situation where it’s too loud. And because I wear hearing aids now, I understand what is too loud. I understand that the radio being over 12 is too loud. If it’s not good for my child, it’s not good for me to hear.

Interviewee #2

To protect your ears, just in the everyday events — moving the yard, trimming the bushes, working in the garage.

Interviewee #3

And I’m using my skill saws, my table saws, my routers, and all of that. I do it when they’re not home because I don’t want to expose my daughter to that at all, yet. I want her to have a chance to have better hearing than I had … a better chance in life.

Interviewee #4

Well, probably the situation that I encounter that is the noisiest is like when I cut the grass or something. So I have the earphones that I wear. And I also wear the ear plugs inside the earphones, so that I’m not hearing quite as much noise.

Interviewee #1

So while I mow my lawn, I have to wear ear protection because I can lose what I have.

Interviewee #2

I want to protect certainly what I have left, as a hunter … a pheasant hunter and so on. And even going to the shooting range, I wear both the small plug in things and over-the-ear cup … headset.

Interviewee #3

If I’m working on a car, I’m working on a truck, or I’m even at the range, I use ear plugs and ear muffs.

Interviewee #5

I have my volumes set to a certain level that they can’t go over for like my iPod and stuff. So that just makes it easy where I can’t turn it on and get blasted.

Interviewee #1

I can’t be going out to scenes, concerts, things like that. When people go out to concerts, they need to wear hearing protection. They don’t realize that.

Interviewee #5

Technology advancement in the last 10 years has been significant. So most of the hearing sets that we wear to do our jobs, they automatically turn off. You can hear like we’re talking right now. But as soon as the decibel level goes over a certain amount, it automatically provides hearing protection to you.

Interviewee #3

I am protecting what I have left because it’s all I’ve got left. And I want to hear my daughter grow up. I want to hear my daughter graduate. I don’t want to just sit. I want to hear the emotion.