When the doctor confirmed I had a hearing loss, I felt like a failure. Years later, my older sister pointed out our mother felt the same way. “How did I miss that?” my mother had wailed.
Music Is My Passion. So Is Protecting My Hearing.
Music is my passion, and honestly, losing the ability to listen to it would feel like losing my whole heart. Protecting my hearing is such a small habit for something that pays off for the rest of your life.
Just Part of Who I Am
My advice for anyone starting this journey is to make sure that you know your limits so you don’t get into a situation that you can’t handle. Plus, make sure the people you’re interacting with know what you’re going through so they can help.
From Shock to Sound: Our Family’s Cochlear Implant Journey
When Lucile was little a lot of parents would say to us, “Oh, she has such good manners. She looks you right in the eye.” They didn’t realize she was just very much focused on their faces and lips as they were talking!
Lasting Impacts From Active Duty
Veterans, when compared to the general public, have had more occupational exposure to loud noises, such as gunfire and explosions.
5 Things Hearing Care Providers Wish You Knew
Over the years, I had a lot of conversations with patients sitting across from me—sometimes at a desk, sometimes just chatting while they waited. And no matter who they were, many of them were feeling the same things: frustrated, unsure, and sometimes a little overwhelmed.
‘Why Can’t They?’
This path in parenting the hard of hearing—let’s face it—can be exhausting. If you walked alone, and because this disability is so often invisible, your village might not be on your front porch. You have to go hunting for it.
Listening to Quiet Voices
Exposure, Empathy, and the Power of Story
For Deaf and hard of hearing children, books and stories are vital spaces where they can see themselves, feel understood, find community and belonging, and lay the foundation for confidence and identity development that will set them up for success throughout their lives.
‘It’s Like I’m EQ-ing My Own Brain’
This is a story of resilience, dark humor, and the technical challenge of mixing audio when your brain processes sound through a handful of electrodes instead of thousands of hair cells.