>>  Well for me anyway corrective lenses help me a lot
 >> more than a hearing aid
 >> ever did. :)

 >  BM> Now, that I can understand.  You can see an improvement in vision much
 >  BM> more than you can hear an improvement that the audiologist says is
 >  BM> there. To my way of thinking, for a hearing aid to noticeably improve
 >  BM> your comprehension, it would have to do the equivalent of glasses
 >  BM> making a totally colorblind person suddenly able to see green, blue,
 >  BM> purple, orange, etc., instead of shades of gray.

 >  Yep that.. and it's really no good at all if all you
 > get improvement
 > with by a h.a is volume. While we can get away with
 > not being able to
 > discern certain colors, Speech requires tone
 > discrimination.

OK, I gotcha here, now.  Perhaps you mean "frequency."  You need
to be able to hear certain frequencies to be able to differentiate among
the consonants.  If you can't hear those frequencies at all, comprehension,
if any, depends very heavily on context.

 >>  Speaking of color and tone, what do you think of
 >> color tones? You
 >> know those tests they give for color blindness? The
 >> spots with
 >> different colors and you have to discern the number or
 >> letter 'hidden'
 >> in the picture? Well I can do that. But for some
 >> strange reason the
 >> last time I took it I had trouble with some tones..and
 >> so I got this
 >> color blind label even though I can discern tones.
 >> Isn't that weird?

 >  BM> Three comments on this:  First, eat those bright colored veggies.

 >  I DO! :) Good for night vision. Maybe I need more
 > though.
 >  And I take lutein and I think it's helping me be less
 > light sensitive.

 >  BM> Second, if you have cataracts, you might discover with their removal
 >  BM> that some socks you always thought were black are actually a deep,

 >  Not so far...

 >  BM> deep purple.  Even so, I believe color discrimination declines
 >  BM> somewhat with age.  Third, as you get older, your sight gets dimmer.

 > That's sad. No wonder as we age we not only like
 > spicier foods
 > (tastebud decline) we like brighter colors!

 >  BM> I was in a bay, once, waiting while my oil was being changed. The
 >  BM> young man peeked in the window to get my mileage, and recited it. I
 >  BM> couldn't even see the numbers, let alone read them, it was so dark!
 >  BM> What an education! I turned on the parking lights to illiminate the
 >  BM> numbers, and he had read them correctly.

 >  He's straininghis eyes though. And people who watch
 > TV / work the puter
 > in the dark strain their eyes. You need soem lights
 > on.. it diffuses
 > the screen lights...

That's what "they" always say about reading in dim light.  This
guy sure didn't have any problem, though.  He read the numbers off quickly,
as if they were fully illuminated.

 >  ,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 >> not the color discrimination I have a problem with as
 >> much as what the
 >> light level/type is.

 >  BM> You can check that out easily enough.  Use a brighter light; if it
 >  BM> helps, that's at least part of the problem.  An interesting
 >  BM> experiment:  I bought some "blue blocker" Polarized
sunglasses some
 >  BM> years ago.  These glasses made the sky look yellow to brown, and my
 >  BM> blue turn signal in the dash was visible only when I was driving
 >  BM> through shade.  My blue slacks look black, yellow things look yellow,
 >  BM> white things look yellow, etc.  talk about weird.  The sky color is
 >  BM> pretty well normalized, now, but I still have to take the glasses off
 >  BM> to tell whether I'm looking at white or yellow flowers, or to
 >  BM> determine the "real" color of that pretty car.

 > Gray (light black) has one redeeming quality, in sun
 > glasses it doesn't
 > distort colors. :) I did notice with my new polarized
 > clip ons the
 > clouds looked whiter and the sky bluer (darker)...

Take those Polarized clip-ons off and look at the sky through them as you
turn them upside-down.  Then look at the sky in another direction and do
the same. Do this when it's sunny or mostly sunny; you won't see the effect
if the sky is overcast.  Interesting.

 >  .............................

 >>  BM> Maybe.  After surgery, your vision is fuzzy, and nothing
sharpens it
 >>  BM> except eventual healing.

 >>  A scary thing. You've heard of the laser surgery? I
 >> found out it
 >> isn't effective for all vision problems and even then
 >> the effect might
 >> not last and is sometimes effected by humidity. Kinda
 >> risky!

 >  BM> Yes, and I wouldn't even consider it for myself, as I've had eight
 >  BM> conventional surgeries for cataracts, glaucoma, and detachments.

 >  My sister pressed me to at least ask and sure enough
 > I was told I'd
 > be too much a libility.

 > ............

 >> about not having been told the extra expense of the
 >> photochromatic
 >> effect wouldn't last.

 >  BM> Yes, I saw your message on the subject awhile back.  I tried them many
 >  BM> years ago, but didn't like them, as they were too slow to darken and
 >  BM> too slow to lighten.  Maybe they're faster, now.

 >  Yeah mine seemed fast enough but I won't get them
 > again until they
 > can make the process last longer.

 > I've always liked the two tone sunglasses. The kind
 > where the lower
 > 1/4 is lighter than the rest.. makes reading easier
 > out doors and they
 > look good. Haven't seen them around anymore though.

With all the hype about how UV and brightness damage our eyes, I'm not surprised.

 >> all about what
 >> I've already been telling them for years...

 >  BM> Yep.  And depending on the type of disease, it might skip a generation
 >  BM> and show up, if it's going to, in their offspring, instead.

 >  Yep. And another interesting thing about inhereited
 > disease, what is
 > expressed might NOT be the same exact variety. when a
 > woman I reaed of
 > had breast cancer though her mother and grandmother
 > had it, her doctor
 > found her type wasn't the same as theirs. hmm.

And even in some diseases, the same set of symptoms can be manifested (or
not) in an infinite variety of ways.

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