Balance

My brother-in-law finds my deafness hilarious. Really, he finds that my entire family is rather freakishly hilarious. Last weekend he amused himself with an app that plays out sound at different frequencies from the bottom to the top of the spectrum. Off and on he would turn the program on to watch my (or occasionally his wife) drop whatever we had in hand to hold our ears and yell at him to turn the app off.

Over the years, I've gone deaf. Kind of. Last time I had my hearing checked, the doctor told me that due to my attention to detail, diction and enunciation, I was above the threshold of needing a hearing aid, however, I have around a 20% loss in normal levels of sound.

However, I can hear dog whistles. Growing up, my sisters and I would scream and throw tantrums when our mother would take us to Sears or the Post Office, as she seemed to think we just had an aversion to those very specific places of business rather than to the reason behind our complaints. In reality, both locations had computer equipment that sent out a high pitched noise that drove us nuts. It was like a pre-Mosquito alarm system.

So today, I read an article that says hearing loss may be an early indicator of dementia. Then I read another that alcohol may deter dementia.

What I am understanding from all of this is simple. If I drink, my likelihood of dementia goes down; however, being in the normal loud places that decreases ability to sound/increases deafness increases the likelihood.

If I just equal the two, I should be safe, right?