Birding after Sudden Hearing Loss (1 Viewer)

Last week, I was struck out of the blue by "sudden sensorineural hearing loss" in my left ear. It now looks like I will not recover. So, I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that I will no longer be able to hear any bird songs/calls at all above approximately 3,000 hz (this includes the vocal range of most song birds).

I'm finding the whole thing very hard to deal with. I have always considered myself an ear-birder more than an eye-birder or a photographer. I adore listening to birds (and thankfully still can with my one good ear) and I can still ID most birds I hear by vocalization alone. But what is really bothering me at the moment is that with my now unilateral hearing, I am finding it nearly impossible to do what I love to do best of all. Hear something really unusual and tracking it down. I have lost all sense of directionality. The last time I went out, I was testing myself out on the birds I knew well. There's a Tufted Titmouse! Let's find it! Utterly impossible. It wasn't like I wasn't sure which tree it was in. I had no clue if it was North, South, East or West, or if the Titmouse was singing from the middle of a nearby lake. Wait why is that Titmouse out in the middle of the water?!? Anyway ....

So, I'm wondering if anyone here has advice on how I can salvage birding for myself. I want to still be able to go out every day and have fun, not be frustrated about what I'm missing!

I do enjoy the visual beauty of birds. So, there's that. And I enjoy the visual and mental challenges of shorebirding and raptor ID, although I don't think I'm nearly as good at it as I could be. Maybe I could learn a more visual approach?

I think I also have to become a little less competitive in my birding and not be upset as I don't find/see as much as everyone else, or if I don't find the bird first. I know it's stupid to feel like this, but I do sometimes. Maybe I can change eventually.

Ideas? Has anyone else had to deal with something that made them radically change the way they bird?

All might not be quite lost for your directional ability - see this article.

I'd be feeling the same way as you do if I had the same problem - finding birds without directional hearing must be hard!

You're not alone. I have slight hearing loss in both ears diagnosed
when I was a child. I don't think I have ever found a bird's location based on
its call or song. When I first started birdwatching I tried to find the bird and
failed over and over again. I thought it was simply that I needed a lot more practice...
several years later I still can't do it, so I knew at some point it was a limitation and
more practicing wouldn't make it better. I do sometimes know the general direction , but
pinpointing the source is too difficult. One time there was a bird singing right near me.
it sounded soooo close...20 minutes later I still couldn't find the bird. The sound bouncing off of
trees and things makes it even more difficult.


Recently, I tagged along with our county's top birder , a man of 27 yrs old. I'm 48 and wear glasses.
This man saw and heard everything...he was amazing. He would hear the softest notes and would say "do
you hear that?" ... No, I don't.

It has to be tougher for you to lose an ability you once had. For me, I never had it to begin with, but I do
understand the frustration of not being able to find where the call is coming from and some soft calls or high pitch I don't hear at all. However, I've always been more visual and rely on visual ID more.

On top of this , I am a lifelong agoraphobic. I've been to all of the shrinks and have taken meds in the past and
with only mild improvement. So, I have accepted that I have a "disability" and limitations, but I'm so grateful
I can still get out and see interesting and wonderful things...and hear them too.
Everyone has passed me by. I have 147 species on my life list at this point which is very good for me. I'm not competitive at all (I couldn't be even if I wanted to) and any day out is ultimately a good day...it's good to be alive.

I wish I had some satisfying advice for you or something more comforting to say, but maybe knowing you're
not alone in this can somehow help you to accept it to some degree. As I get older I have to accept more limitations. A couple of years ago I started wearing eyeglasses. I always had very good vision , but into my mid 40's I noticed the problems. I hope to stay healthy and have decent energy into old age so that I can continue to get out.

Hang in there and don't give up...best of luck to you.

Melisande,

You might look into this device, the songfinder, which is designed to lower the frequency of high-frequency birdsongs so you can hear them: http://hearbirdsagain.com/

This article may offer hope:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/11/...-my-hearing-has-been-restored-to-near-normal/

Take a look at the before and after hearing test charts. It is an amazing difference.

Here is the link to the company who provided the solution for the writer of this article:
http://www.starkey.com/about-starkey-hearing

bfoutch said:

This article may offer hope:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/11/...-my-hearing-has-been-restored-to-near-normal/

Click to expand...

That is a long article. Any chance of a quick summary, so we can decide whether it is worth our time to read?

Jim,

The summary is the two test charts. If anyone else has a before chart like the author's (in either ear or in both), then I suspect it worthwhile to read the article.

The quick takeaway is that the company used, Starkey Labs, can custom build a hearing aid solution using state-of-the art electronics just for you specific needs. Not cheap, but may be worth it if you suffer profound hearing loss.

Bruce

Melisande,
My sympathies are with you - 2 years ago I developed tinnitus in my left ear, which is looking like a permanent feature of my hearing. I had a hearing test, and have about a 60dB hearing threshold at 8kHz - not great, and around the frequency I percieve my tinnitus, like an old valve TV between channels. I too bird 'by ear', and also enjoy listening to music - sometimes it gets me down so much I think I would prefer to be deaf in my left ear. Your post is a helpful reminder of why that wouldn't be a great solution.
I appreciate that a 3kHz threshold is more disabling when it comes to birds - the only thing I would say is you still have your bird call memory and ability. You will retain a superior ability to pick out and identify birds by call over those with greater aural acuity but poorer bird call skills - take me out on your patch and I'd guarantee you'd pick out that tufted titmouse before I would (as an unfamiliar species I've seen once on a visit to the States about 30 years ago). Other than that, I think you've answered your own question - shorebirds and raptors will always be a rewarding challenge and (generally) don't rely quite as much on aural cues for ID.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this thread. And thanks for all the replies.

It turned out that in the days and weeks after my post, my hearing continued to deteriorate, first in the bad ear, then in the good one too! I was just diagnosed with the apparently very rare "autoimmune inner ear disease" and told that I will most likely go completely deaf w/i a matter of months. My Drs and I are trying to kick the disease into remission via immunosuppressant drugs, which so far have made me to sick to bird. But, when I am well enough to bird again, it certainly looks like it will be shorebirds, raptors & gulls for me.

I've lost 50% of my hearing, I didn't realise how important it was in birding until I lost it, it's awful when you just can't hear them any more, at least I can still see them, now that would be devastating if I lost that.

melisande said:

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to this thread. And thanks for all the replies.

It turned out that in the days and weeks after my post, my hearing continued to deteriorate, first in the bad ear, then in the good one too! I was just diagnosed with the apparently very rare "autoimmune inner ear disease" and told that I will most likely go completely deaf w/i a matter of months. My Drs and I are trying to kick the disease into remission via immunosuppressant drugs, which so far have made me to sick to bird. But, when I am well enough to bird again, it certainly looks like it will be shorebirds, raptors & gulls for me.

Click to expand...

I'm so sorry to hear this and I hope the medications help.

I think you can still watch Warblers and all types of birds really. Birding is visual too. When looking for warblers and small birds, I look for movement and when I see something I then put the bino up to my eyes.

I recently had a hearing test. I haven't had one since I was a teen, so it's been a very long time. Well, my hearing has deteriorated and there is a big range of higher pitched sounds I can't hear. So, this doesn't help with birding, but I don't rely on the bird calls nearly as much as I do visual. I'll need hearing aids as I get older and the Dr. said I could even use them now if I wanted to, but I will wait. I can hear regular conversation fine as long as there isn't too much background noise.

I wish you the best. I hope you will still get out and enjoy nature as much as you used to and I hope you begin to feel better soon.

I had a similar sudden traumatic hearing loss in one ear and now I am in fact almost totally hopeless at locating sounds anymore, and I mean for instance a mobile phone in a small room. My hearing is not that great in the other ear either but no ears, one ear or two, the thing to do is to adapt and overcome- because there's nothing else you can do. My eyes are now my birding tools to the exclusion of hearing.

With the loss of hearing in both of my ears over the years [jet planes on the flight line (US Air Force), loud music in various places, loud machinery in the place I worked for 34 years, and Not Wearing Earplugs when I should have], "I am now 75 years old", ... I am often frustrated when out birding with others when they are hearing birds and I am not. But I have become less frustrated now because I have found with my loss of hearing my visual acuity has actually increased. I depend on my eyes much more and many times I actually am able to get on birds much more quickly than other birders around me.

I still enjoy birding very much, even though I sometimes "miss" that far off bird or those birds which vocalize in the higher frequencies.

When we lose in one area, we often gain in another. Just keep birding and enjoy!

Thanks for all the responses.

Yes, it is always a matter of compensating and overcoming. I think I am already getting better at using my eyes. This past weekend another birder found a wintering Lincoln's Sparrow at a local hotspot. He told my husband, myself and about 4 other birders where it had popped up and we were all standing around watching and waiting. Finally, I thought I saw something that looked sparrow-like perched motionless way back in the bushes. I put my bins up and sure enough it was the Lincoln's! For me, someone who has never felt particularly visually observant, it felt like a real victory.

Now I'm going to have to work on ID'ing sparrows and warblers in flight!

My wife compensates for my "deafness" when it comes to birding. She spots birds well before I do as she hears them much sooner than I do (if at all). As a latecomer to birding, I have never been good at locating by hearing, but I can sympathise with those affected, as my hearing used to be perfect till my early 20's. Age and work related hearing loss along with ever stronger glasses seems to be (for many of us) our lot in life. We have to adapt, improvise and overcome or learn to live with it I'm afraid.