Great to Hear | “It’s like my hearing is almost 3D”

Call this is a technology success story. That’s how Erin Carrigan might say it: technology that moves forward in small steps until that one really big leap.

Erin Carrigan of Buchanan, Michigan works in healthcare and is a student at Indiana University. She is studying psychology and plans to become a physician’s assistant.

Erin was born with moderate hearing loss. She has worn hearing aids since she was two years old and every two to three years she’s had a new pair of hearing aids to get used to. While each set of hearing aids improved, she still held to those habits many with hearing loss create—like facing the person she is talking with so she can also read his or her lips. In fact, Erin remembers working at a lab in Florida and people would say things when she was not looking and get no response. They misinterpreted it as rudeness and complained to her boss.

“People think you’re rude or annoying–it’s almost like you can’t multitask,” said Erin. “If you’re doing dishes and somebody’s standing behind you trying to have a conversation, with a hearing loss, it’s hard to do that because you want to be facing them.”

With every new hearing aid, she was able to hear marginally better. But nothing prepared her for the experience she was about to have – being fit with ReSound LiNX². As she stood in the hallway wearing her new hearing aids, her audiologist was behind her –walking away—and talking. But Erin heard everything. This had never happened before.

“I guess the best way you can describe it is when you see a movie regularly in theaters and then you go and see a movie in 3D,” said Erin. “It’s like my hearing is almost 3D.”
This was a first for Erin—the first of many firsts. After that initial fitting she sat in the car and heard birds from inside the car with the windows up (another first), she actually heard the sound of the engine (another first). At work she heard keystrokes from a few cubicles away (another first), and for the first time, she heard the video that runs in a loop just outside her office (something her coworkers have worked hard to stop hearing).

Erin takes advantage of the Made for iPhone functionality as well. The Live Listen function allows Erin to hear better in her classes at school. Her audiologist recommended giving her phone to her soft-spoken professor to stream her voice directly into her hearing aids.

Erin loves how adaptable the hearing aid is for all the activities she is involved in: volleyball, basketball, lifting, running. In fact, Erin just did her first triathlon.

“The ReSound hearing aids have proven very adaptable to real life situations,” said Erin.