Discovering Sound: Embracing Bone Conduction

An unexpected journey to hearing

You can read this story for free here if you’re not a medium member.

Image created by Author using Microsoft Bing Image Creator Powered by Dall- E 3 (AI)

Discovering Sound: Embracing Bone Conduction

I am losing my hearing in my right ear. I got some unexpected, but exciting news last week during my hearing test.

I’ve been told for years that I will lose the ability to hear in this ear because there is an extension from my brain tumor into the auditory canal. When I lose my hearing, no hearing aids can help because the hearing loss is caused by my tumor and not by normal aging.

This extension couldn’t be reached to zap it with radiation when I had Gamma Knife Surgery on my meningioma in October of 2018. It was too dangerous, and surgery was not an option. The benign growth is between my brain stem and my auditory canal and is called a cerebella pointe angle tumor.

I’ve had it or rather known about it since 2006, so it’s kind of like my shadow, always with me. We are like best friends. We know one another’s moods.

In any case, the doctors have always said that when I lose my hearing, there would be nothing I could do. Right now, my hearing has decreased in my right ear, but it’s not progressing as quickly as they…