Dave and Liz See Testimonial

Dave See (age 55, Truck driver/Grader Operator, South East Queensland)

My wife, Liz, first came across Sound Therapy at a Mind, Body, Spirit Festival she went to in Brisbane 6 or 7 years ago and told me about it when she got home. We both thought that it may be a bit of a help to me as I was fairly hard of hearing and slowly getting worse.

The fellas at work used to refer to me as “the deaf old Buggar” because they would have to get my whole attention before telling me anything. When the boss gave me my work for the shift, he would write it down on a piece of paper knowing that there was always a big possibility that I would go off not fully understanding what I had to do and would invariably phone him from down the road to ask again what silo I had to fill or load out of etc. I used to drive a B-Double bulk cement tanker locally in south east Queensland as well as interstate.

I could actually hear but could not understand and without realizing I would always ask for it to be repeated 3 or 4 times which would frustrate the heck out of the person as well as myself. Often I would just pretend that I didn’t hear them at all. I didn’t realize how much I was missing until I spoke to someone else who was suffering the same problem. On telling my wife about this she said “now you finally understand what I have been saying about having to repeat myself all the time” (or something like that but with a few stronger words included)
We said the usual thing like “We should get that Sound Therapy thing and give it a go. It can’t do any harm”. Then something would turn up that we needed to spend the money on more than Sound Therapy. So we went on just talking and procrastinating about buying it for years.

I came home from one trip away and Liz had the basic music kit sitting on the kitchen bench when I walked in. I had a shower, put my gear away and started listening to it straight away. I was doing interstate runs at the time (January 2004) and would listen to the tapes for anything up to 10 hours a day. I did the “blokey thing” and put it into the walkman and just listened. I didn’t read any instructions (most of you could relate to that). So off I go listening to this music with it turned up fairly loud so I could hear it. It sounded a bit scratchy and distorted but my wife said it was supposed to do me good so I reckoned that I could handle it.

I’ve got to turn it down each time to answer the phone or the UHF radio then I forget to turn it up again until I feel it change sides or turn off and this is while I still have the earphones hanging around my neck. This goes on for about 3 months then one day I decide to read the book “Sound Therapy’. (It’s like reading the operators manual when all also fails ‘another blokey thing’ and discovering the best way to use something). So I turned the volume down to a level that I knew was working but couldn’t actually hear it and left it at that for the duration of the tape. I found that by the end of the second tape I could actually hear it and talk on the UHF radio and answer the phone without touching the walkman. I found that it was fairly pleasant (even for an old truckie who prefers Neil Diamond ) and non intrusive.

To let you know what I have gained I need to tell you where I started from. My Tinnitus was like standing in the scrub in the summertime with the trees full of cicadas at high volume. Almost identical noise and it goes on for 24 hours a day. Since Sound Therapy the tinnitus has faded and my hearing has improved to an extent that even my wife has noticed how I now understand her on the first or second try . The words ‘fifteen’ and ‘sixteen’ or ‘fifty’ and ‘sixty’ still sound like the same word to me.

I did have my hearing checked some years ago. He told me what level it was and that I should get fitted up with hearing aids but I couldn’t hear him properly and I said “OK…thank you very much” and left. Looking back I’m sure some people thought I had the onset of ‘debenture’ which my wife explained was ‘dementia’ (well it sounds the same to me). If people were behind a glass screen like in the bank or a ticket office I couldn’t understand a word they said to me. When buying something from a shop I was convinced that the girls behind the counter must have done a course on ‘how to speak quietly’ because I was darned if I could hear them either. But now I can manage most of the time. I’m not completely there yet but I am getting closer all the time.

Now for the best thing that has happened to me in 28 years. I can tell other blokes about this easily enough but it’s a bit difficult to put into words so you understand and I don’t offend any readers. In 1976, I think it was, I was operating a bull dozer in a mine and was suffering a severe case of haemorrhoids . I was in severe discomfort. So much so that I had to operate the dozer while standing on the footrests and pressed against the back of the seat to keep the weight off my backside. Anyone who suffers this condition will understand what I mean. At the end of the shift I rang and booked to see a doctor and he put me straight in to hospital as I had both internal and external and they were big and sore. I spent about 4 days in hospital before the actual operation and then another 5 days recovering. (I’m sure they are much gentler and kinder these days than they were then) It’s also very embarrassing during the healing process. I never really got to a normal state after that. What I mean is that I would often pass a lot of blood and it was quite common for me to sit on the toilet for 20 to 30 minutes at a time and then have difficulty cleaning up with the toilet tissues afterwards. So I got into the habit of going straight into the shower from the toilet. To me this was the normal thing. I hated going to the toilet but I knew that I couldn’t put it off or it would be even worse.

About 10 days after starting on Sound Therapy (this was still in the early days….volume too loud!) I went to the toilet and just did the job…all over in about 1 minute. I couldn’t believe it!
I thought I must be coming down with diarrhoea . But the next day it was the same and every day ever since. A simple thing that many people take for granted. It really is such a pleasure when it works right all the time.

Thanks to Sound Therapy I now enjoy a better way of life and it’s still getting better. There is a saying “you get what you pay for” well I believe that you get much more than what you pay for with Sound Therapy. Do yourself a favor…start on the program but read the book straight away so you understand about how to get the best out of your investment.