Local audiology

I should probably preface this post by pointing out that I'm not the gentlest person when it comes to my hearing aids. I killed my old pair in two ways - I took the left one out to put my stethoscope in (back in the days when my hearing loss was milder) and it pinged across the floor and got stepped on. The other one, I put the battery in the wrong way round, didn't notice, tried to force it closed anyway, and ended up having to prise it open with the post of an earring every time I needed to change the battery. I think my audiologist despairs of me, just a little bit, although I think secretly he may enjoy the challenge...

Anyway, this time, I've snapped the earmoulds. Both of them. The left one is only partially cracked - it's still in one piece, it just pinches a little. The other is cracked through, and I can't seem to get both bits in my ear properly, so I'm whistling; it doesn't bother me much, although I suspect that the sounds I'm picking up aren't quite as clear; it's more of an annoyance to the people around me, really.

I was rapidly getting fed up with this, so I thought that rather than waiting until I'm back at uni, I'd contact a branch closer to home, so I phoned a more local office, where the same audiologist as I normally see, works. I looked up their contact details: phone number only. No email, no fax, no Minicom, and it's a service for deaf people. Hey ho, thought I, they'll just have to put up with me asking for endless repetitions.

I muddled through the first few minutes of the conversation, until she took my date of birth. "We don't treat people under 40." I asked her what deaf under-40s were meant to do, and she said they didn't have any on their books, and hung up on me: it's no wonder there aren't any on their books, if that's how they talk to us! Besides, this is the same audiologist as I've been seeing for the last three years, just at a different office, and I know he sees us young'uns.

I think a written complaint is in order, and I think I'll wait until I get back to uni to get those new earmoulds...