Dependence

Today I once again remembered how dependent I am on my hearing aid, woke up and put it on as I always do but it didn't seem to be working properly, changed the battery in case the one in it was dead or a dud but no difference either. Thankfully we keep several spare hearing aids (although only one of them is the same as the one I usually wear with the other two being old models) but the fact is if this had happened when I wasn't at home then I would've been up the creek without a paddle. Thankfully my hearing aids have usually worked well considering that they are pretty old and if a problem has occurred it hasn't been whilst on holiday or anything *touch wood*.

A more "frequent" problem is when the battery goes, this is an unusual thing to happen because I usually change the battery twice a week so if it dies it usually means it is a dud. It is a rather surreal experience when the battery dies it is almost as if someone is slowly turning down the volume of everything around you. The problem is that I usually don't carry batteries with me as it almost never happens and if I was in town or somewhere I could probably just go to Boots and buy a pack if I needed to. I would be more worried if I was ever some place where I couldn't get a replacement when I need it, whilst I can hear some things without it I definitely could not go through a normal day properly without it.

It also makes me thankful that I live in this modern age where hearing aids are available and allow people like me to hear relatively normally, I would hate to think how it was for people in the old days when there were no such things or if there were they were not readily accessible. And never mind the old days even in this day and age I am sure there are many people who don't have access to basic medical care never mind hearing aids and that thought saddens me.