I had a hearing test today. A few people have commented on me needing to put my hand behind my ear in cafes with lots of background noise. I also developed ongoing tinnitus recently (as opposed to occasional). So a check up was suggested.

My hearing is (mostly) normal. The exception is higher frequencies, which drop off a bit. A bit more than you'd expect at the ripe young age of 40. So all the softly voiced consonants give me trouble. As I sort-of expected. It's not that I can't hear you, it's just that I can't make out what you're saying sometimes!

I just assumed that my difficulty hearing was because of the problem with working memory - audiologist says it may well be, but also that the problem with working memory may be that my reduced hearing is making my brain work harder. Ooerr, circular arguments. Love those.

Audiologist is also interested in later having me tested for Auditory Processing. That's where they test what happens with your hearing after sound leaves your ears - but it's different from the Evoked Potentials I had done last year.

No need yet for hearing aids, but even though I'm "too young" to have age-related hearing loss, this finding suggest I should have regular annual or bi-annual checkups. I might not have any more hearing loss for a decade or so. I might decline gradually by a percent or so per year. I might lose a chunk of hearing all at once. Who can say?

I also have to go back if I get another bout of temporary deafness in my R ear - which has happened with bad migraine in the past. They will squeeze me in immediately because they'd be just fascinated to find out what's going on with that! Lucky they're just around the corner from the other medical professionals I attend.

The tinnitus is probably hereditary, as my Mum has it. It can be aggravated by aspirin and caffeine. The likelihood is that that recent bout of frequent migraine brought on the latest bout of tinnitus. Yay.

Actually, I don't "suffer" from tinnitus, it's just something that's there from time to time. It's more noticeable in silence, or if I focus in on it - like now, I realise it's jingling away on the edge of my hearing.