Guest post written by Cynthia Preston

A few months ago I wouldn’t have been phased by loud music or concerts, which was really convenient for my granddaughter and her band, who I let practice in my garage.

However, now they have to keep it down a little bit more since I got hearing aids. My son had tried to convince me to go and get hearing tests for a few years and I finally gave into all his pushing. But it took going to a battle of the bands competition to cheer on my granddaughter’s band that made me realize just how bad my hearing was.

Not that I would go otherwise, I attended the band competition at a local skateboarding park where her band and about a dozen others competed for a cash prize and a job playing at an upcoming music festival. The sound system didn’t seem to be set up very well and I had a lot of trouble hearing the music and singing. It really upset me that my hearing also made this worse and kept me from enjoying this that was so important to my granddaughter.

Unfortunately they didn’t win the spot at the music festival, but one of the other bands became friends with them and invited them to open up for them at a local music club!