Having the surgery was the best thing I've ever done in my life. Having two implants is light years away from just one. Sound quality is so much better, sounds are fuller, clearer, louder and more natural.
My co-worker, "Alyssa," joined the office a few months ago. As far as I can tell, she is significantly hard of hearing but doesn't use any hearing aid. I've tried to train myself to speak loudly and clearly with her (I have family who are going deaf, I get it), but she still often misses part of what I say.
When we think about people who are deaf, we often assume stereotypes, such as "disabled" older adults with hearing aids. However, this perception is far from the truth and often leads to poor decisions and broken products. Let's look at when and how deafness emerges, and how to design better experiences for people with hearing loss. Deafness Is A Spectrum Deafness spans a broad continuum, from minor to profound hearing loss.
Whether he knows it or not, 6-foot-5 Zane Daoud of San Marino High is going to be a role model for kids born deaf. He was one of them, 60% deaf since birth. He rebelled against wearing hearing aids. He'd take them off constantly while growing up. By high school, he says he figured out how much they could help him and stopped worrying what people thought. He should be a top basketball player for Rio Hondo League favorite San Marino this season.
They might shout or slow down their words to an exaggerated crawl- veeeerrry slooowly -thinking it helps. But with hearing loss, louder isn't always better, and neither is overly slow speech. Both can distort the shape of words on the lips, making lipreading harder instead of easier. Others forget the basics. They turn away, cover their mouths, or call out from another room, expecting us to catch every word. (Spoiler alert: We won't.)
When I did eventually get the test, I found out what was really happening to me. I learned that a build-up of earwax ( don't use Q-tips!) had immobilized one of my eardrums completely. After the somewhat uncomfortable removal, the test was rerun. I do have some hearing loss, which isn't unusual at 72, but the audiologist feels I'm years away from needing hearing aids.
