Hearing Aids

Rick has hearing aids! We have known for years that he has needed them. Over 20 years ago he was tested and found that his hearing lose was greatest for the tone of my voice. Haha. However, we have not really followed up on the diagnosis, for many different reasons. But today was the day! We knew this would involve more Chinese than we really had, so were able to contact a friend to go with us. This is not often possible because people work, but this is a wonderful wife of a new ERRC (our sending organization) couple who is Chinese.

When I used social media to ask a Dr. friend to set up an appointment to help Rick get hearing aids, the translation system gave her the impression we were asking for help because Rick had AIDS. She was worried that she would not be able to find a hospital who would take his case!  I straightened that out.

Getting to the hospital was even a problem because we could not get our Didi (Uber) app to accept the spelling of the hospital name, nor even find a taxi cab driver who was familiar enough to take us.  But things moved quickly after the half hour taxi ride to get there. Rick’s hearing was immediately tested. Then we moved on to the person who would fit the aids.

He had Rick put on a pair of glasses which would project a written translation on to the lenses from his spoken Chinese to English! Everyone was very excited about being able to test this apparatus. Many people came to the door of the office and watched and talked. There just are not many foreigners who would frequent this hospital to test out this new device. They took pictures and I am sure Rick will show up in some big presentations at conferences. It worked moderately well, but we were much more dependent upon our friend translating for us.

Rick is thrilled with his hearing aids. He says that he has never heard this well. He was surprised at the sounds in the elevators and subway. He just told me I was talking too loudly. Haha. This sets us back a bit of cash, but about 1/3 the price of what we would pay in the US, so we are pleased.

P.S. Yesterday they turned on the heat in our apartments for the winter, so we are very, very toasty and happy now.