The ability to control my audio environment, to pick and choose what I hear when I want to hear it is like magic.
My name’s iLan Blumberg. I’m an architect living in West Auckland in New Zealand. I’m currently working in the film industry. The Lord of the Rings, the TV series– we’re building a lot of sets.
I was having a big tickle session with my son who’s five years old. He shrieked in my ear, a very high-pitched screech.
Soon after that, I went and saw an audiologist who confirmed I did have some damage to one of my eardrums. Tinnitus accompanied the hearing loss. I was told that I would need hearing aids, about $7,500. That to me seemed outrageous.
That led me to do some research. And I found IQbuds. I tore the package open and put them in. And all of a sudden, my audible world just shifted, like seeing a 3D movie for the first time.
It felt like I’d switched over from listening to a four-piece band to a full symphony. It’s improved my confidence because I know that I can go into a conversation not having to say, “Excuse me, what did you say?” I’d just wake up in the middle of the night and start hearing the tinnitus. Now what I do is I just put my buds in, put some background noise on, and fall back to sleep.
I wore them when I went to the Speedway recently. I was sitting right next to the track. I was able to cancel the sound of the cars and still have a conversation with my son, which was amazing.
The freedom it gives me to know that I can go anywhere and adapt my hearing is life-changing. It’s profound.
