The "Lucky" Brain Tumor

In a previous post, https://luckybraintumor.com/2023/12/20/the-perks-of-single-sided-deafness/ , I shared my favorite things about one sided hearing loss. I still maintain that rolling over and sleeping through my kids’ hijinks is a real gift. But there are several situations that can be incredibly frustrating when you only have one working ear. Here are some of my top pet peeves as a person with single sided deafness:

1. When a restaurant has no ingredients listed on the menu, expecting you to ask the server for an ingredients list. I have several members of my family with food allergies/ intolerances and so I need to know what ingredients are in the food they will be served. Restaurants are always very challenging to hear in – trying to catch all the ingredients in a verbal recitation is hard and stressful.
2. Round tables or assigned seating. I always try to sit so that there isn’t someone on my deaf side – with round tables, I always struggle to hear the person on my left.
3. Background Music – especially at places where you want to converse. I don’t need loud music playing in a restaurant. I am there to chat with the people I came with.
4. When someone speaking with a microphone covers their mouth with the microphone. Lip reading is something I use to cue me when it is hard to hear, and hiding your mouth behind a microphone makes it a lot harder to understand.
5. When you ask where someone is, and they reply, “Here.” Without the ability to sound locate, I really need a specific location as a response.
6. Dim lighting. Dim lighting makes visual cues harder to catch and also makes me struggle with my balance.
7. When someone starts into a long story or discussion without first making sure I am paying attention. One of my kids just starts storytelling without checking that I am listening, and often, that means I miss the beginning and therefore can’t figure out what we are talking about. Because I struggle with hearing fatigue, I tend to tune out. I need people to notify me when they are talking to me versus someone else.
8. When people talk to me without looking at me. The most common example I hear people complain about (and experience myself) is when someone has the head in the fridge and is talking to me. I have no idea what is being said if you are not facing me.
9. When hearing surveys ask me to rate the severity of my hearing loss. These surveys or questionnaires often have a multiple choice selection for normal to profound hearing loss, and I never know how to answer when one ear is deaf and one ear is normal.
10. High ceilings and/or lots of hard surfaces. If you have ever been to Chipotle, you can picture my nemesis. The high ceilings and the shiny surfaces mean all the sound bounces like crazy and I can’t understand someone sitting across from me.

I’d love to hear some of your pet peeves of single sided hearing loss.