Glasses, Hearing Aids, Add a Mask and … “Oh My”

At least I’ll see and hear the lions, tigers, and bears approaching

I do not recall when I first noticed I was not seeing properly or when I received my first pair of glasses. I just knew that things far away were not what they should be, and were out of focus. Glasses were always something you had to look after and know where they were always. Lose them and you missed out on many things in life.

In the early years of my life, some considered people with glasses different, although I’m not sure how. It didn’t bother me, as I was focused on making sure I graduated, and I did not consider what others thought.

Lasik surgery changed everything in my life — no more dependency on glasses to see close to twenty-twenty. After the surgery, I no longer needed “glasses required” on my driver’s license.

However, even with Lasik surgery, as we age, we still need reading glasses for both reading and close viewing. I spent more money on testing the drug store readers by trying different strengths before realizing I needed a prescription to see what I was reading correctly because of a stigma. When I got the prescription pair, it was wonderful. I have several pairs of prescription reading, one daily use, a spare pair at home, and one in the car.

I wear sunglasses that are not prescription. I purchased a 6 pack of safety sunglasses at one of the big box hardware stores. They are safety grade and cost-effective. I have a pair in the garage for when I go outside, another pair in each car, and another inside the front and back door.

There are those times when I have both sunglasses and readers clipped on my shirt.

Hearing Aids

Some of us discover that we don’t hear sound like we used to — that we are asking “what?” way too frequently. Soon after I had a hearing test at Costco, I purchased a pair of hearing aids, and I could hear again.

However, every year, my hearing aids need to be retested and adjusted. Over the years, hearing aid technology has improved so much that it makes sense to replace the hearing aids units. Bluetooth is one upgrade I will consider in the future. Connect your phone to your hearing aids and you can listen to music, hear and talk on calls.

With the combination of over-the-ear hearing aids and glasses (either reading or sunglasses), there are those times when the glasses rearrange the hearing aids, and you must reposition them.

Masks

With the addition of mask-wearing during the pandemic, for those people who have either hearing aids or glasses, or both, it can be a challenge to manage them — they can get tangled up quickly.

That being said, I’m grateful for all three, as they have improved the quality of my life.

Thank you for reading. What has your experience been?