Hearing at the Phoenix Suns Game

On Monday I was very excited to be able to go to the Suns - Trailblazers playoff game at US Airways Center in Phoenix with my in-laws. I'm not a huge, hardcore sports fan, but I do enjoy watching football, basketball and baseball games and always support the home team. So, I was excited to get to go to the game (courtesy of my sister- and mother-in-law) as a treat.

I felt a bit of trepidation about the sheer amount of noise in the stadium. I've been to the building before and I've been to sporting events, but especially with my new hearing aids I was a little concerned. Luckily, everything worked out exactly as it did when I had my old aids. Sitting in our seats in the stadium I could certainly hear the noise of the crowd but it didn't hurt at all. People were yelling, screaming, stomping their feet and clapping, but it was all background noise. Of course I couldn't understand a word the announcer or anyone said, but I expected that. Now, when I went into the hallways for concessions or to check out their store in a futile attempt to find a Suns bumper sticker, then I certainly noticed the noise.

It was sort of strange. Sitting in my seat, people around me were using these cool little noisemakers - posters that folded up and could be used either as fans (very welcome in the hot stadium) or to make a noise like clapping if they smacked it against something. That was no biggie, just part of the noise. Yet in the halls when I went out to get some cookies, one guy leaning against the wall messing around with the noisemaker was driving me crazy.

Of course we laid the smackdown on the Trailblazers. The final score was 107-88. And happily, I was able to be there clapping along with everyone else, without turning off my aids.

My sister-in-law, the Suns Gorilla, and me, before the game

We won!