SayWhatClub Online Voices December 2009
How Mr. and Mrs. Claus discovered their hearing losses
(Find all the words associated with hearing loss of the 21st century)
Susan Collins
Copyright 2009
Mr. and Mrs. Claus were going to be very busy this year. Their office elf quit back in September and they couldn't find another to take on the job of organising orders. Elf unions at the start of the twenty-first century were demanding a pay rise. So the onerous task of taking orders, arranging packaging, and loading up their sleigh, had fallen on these two kind folk. Not only that but over the past few years they had found that their mail order service fees had increased dramatically because of their webpage advertising their services and payment options using Internet banking. Of course they still had the telephone for late orders just in case their server was down. The phone was also useful for late orders from people who didn't have Internet access and who had missed the last snail mail. Their phone also had an answering machine which they discovered when they saw its red light flashing. Of course these two kind souls did not mind all the extra work because their mission statement was to give each child their ordered present on the eve of December 24.
Mail orders were fine because they had replaced their single lens spectacles earlier in the year. Mrs. Claus needed bifocals whilst Mr. Claus was prescribed multifocals. Both these two old dears found that they had to be patient whilst they adjusted to the changes made with the new glasses. However, they were each very happy with the results and Mrs Claus thought that she may need prescription sunglasses because the snow was so bright.
Phone orders on the other hand were causing lots of problems. When they did hear the phone ringing, neither could hear well enough to be confident that the order they heard was the one required. The problem was even worse when they tried hearing the answering machine messages. Over the years they had relied on their trusty elf to hear the messages and because of this they had not known that their hearing was deteriorating. They heard each other. It was a puzzle, but they soon realized that perhaps their sore throats were due to shouting at each other to be heard.
After some quick thinking they realized that if they were going to make all the children happy they had to act fast to find a remedy. They searched for old Uncle Nick's ear trumpet and then remembered that they had donated it to the local museum where it was displayed as an early example of hearing aid technolgy. Their answer came when they realized that they did have Internet access and could use their favorite search engine. Sitting together they googled "hearing loss", "deaf", "hard of hearing", and, heaven forbid, "elderly hearing loss" and found many sites offering information and advice. From one such site, they chose to join the SayWhatClub. Time was very precious and they needed to act fast. So following on from SWC recommendations they googled "audiologist and found one in the next town. Normally there can be a long wait to see an audiologist but when Mr. and Mrs. Claus explained the situation in their email, they were given an appointment that same day. Mr. and Mrs. Claus took the skyway to visit the kind audiologist who offered to rent them temporary aids.
They were overjoyed when they found that they could hear their phone messages and would be able to fill all their orders on time. However, they knew that as soon as the season was over they would once again visit their doctor and audiologist to discover more about their hearing loss, and how they could best understand how they could help themselves.
Mr. And Mrs. Claus are what we now call Baby Boomers. We will follow their journey through 2010 and learn more about hearing loss issues and how it affects this group of people.