My 17 year old son played the drums for over a year, practiced daily and went to loud concerts. Not anymore. He has hair cell damage in one ear. It drives him crazy. He has no hearing loss per say, just a weird buzz, crackle in that ear. He was told that loud noises such as concerts, drums and such can make the tiny hairs in the ear lay down much like grass when you walk on it. If you don't stand or walk on the grass again it will slowly start righting itself and eventually be standing up again. The best way for someone to not "walk on their hair cells" is to stop exposing oneself to loud noises or to wear protective ear plugs. There are all kinds available in drug stores and from ear doctors. There are even special ones that can be custom made for musicians. I took him to an Audiologist who suggested wearing ear plugs every day until the problem corrected itself. After months of no improvement, I took him to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. An MRI of the brain was done on him thinking the problem might be related to a tumor or aneurysm since it was only affecting one ear. Thankfully his brain looks fine. We will now investigate custom ear plugs from an audiologist. I hope this helps your daughters realize the seriousness of loud music, I know my son is pretty bummed by the prospect of having this irritating problem in his ear all the time. By the way, I was a nightclub DJ back in the 70s and 80s. Our legal limit for both records and live bands was 110db. I had a decibel reader and had to keep harping on the lives bands to keep the levels down. They hated me for it and contiued to push the limits all the time. Your only defense it seems is to protect yourself by wearing good ear plugs. Jodi-

One of my Shih Tzus lost her hearing at the age of 11 1/2. Not all of it but quite a bit. I would have to talk to her ear (louder) until the end. She heard loud bangs but a lot of the hearing was gone. I always thought that she lost her hearing at the same time, or around the time when she had a retinal detachment (went blind in 1 eye...). I swore that it all happened during a thunderstorm. She would shake uncontrollably. My holding her didn't help. Valium didn't help. She lived with limited vision in 1 eye, and hearing almost all gone until the ripe age of 18. It seemed that she learned to compensate for the hearing loss and the lack of vision with her smell and maybe a sense of vibration, because she would know when we came home or were around her. It was amazing how she developed an extra sense to know what was going on around her. She never missed a treat ;) I kept the furniture and other things so she didn't have to learn new ways. Although, we moved when she was 16, and she adjusted just fine. The Shih Tzu I have now is 13, and her vision and hearing seem fine. However, I'm not 100% certain that she is purebred. She's a puppy mill dog that looks 95% Shih Tzu.

My grandmother lived with my mother and me from the time I was three or four. By combining households my mother was able to go out to work to support us after my father left. Gram began to lose her hearing in her 60's. Best option for her then was a pair of heavy, ugly glasses with receptors and batteries in the stems that fed into earpiece speakers. These were only helpful to a small degree. There was a lot of exasperated shouting in our homeeven when Gram wore her 'hearing glasses'. One of my ears hears less well that the other, so I've lost my 'radar' -- ability to determine the origin of a sound. Both DH and I have some hearing loss, but mine is increasingly worse. I have more annoying tinnitus; he has none. I'd like to avoid further 'shouting'. (The physical effort of it looks and feels just like anger.) Yayagal, please tell me the details about your hearing aids! Maybe the same maker would have a choice for me.

Can't speak for the VA part, but the HA part I can DH has had them since he was 6. Last pair we bought was 2 years ago..and we got the higher end. He has a severe hearing loss. He gets the digital (only amplifies the tones he can't hear, not all tones), CIC ones. They run about $5K, and are guaranteed for 3 years, we can then extend the warranty for another 2 years I think it is. Now..there is also one out that looks great, and I've known a couple of people out there that LOVE them...they're more like having a little microphone that sits just outside the ear opening (don't know if that area has a name)...so they don't have the "stuffed ear" feeling. DH goes to an audiologist, they do the hearing test for free. His hearing aids are Siemens..and Siemens are a great buy. The behind the ear can cause problems as you hear what's behind you (that's where the microphone is), where the CIC or the other ones (bit larger)...and I think that newer one I just mentioned...you hear what comes into the ear, as you would naturally. They're suppose to last about 5 years, but we try for 10..because they are so expensive and not covered by insurance. They can be covered by money in a cafeteria plan, but HSA's are more complicated. The cost of HA has stayed the same, but the quality goes up..along with the technology. Vickey