Disclaimer-Every hard of hearing person is different. These are just some of my personal experiences.

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Hi. You already know that I have a hearing loss. But what is life like with a hearing loss?

 

This Background page will tell you some of my experiences. When I was younger, teachers did not think about, and in some cases, did not know, the fact that I am hard of hearing. My family and I did not know I was hard of hearing until I was about 7 years old.

 

Hearing aid molds (the piece that fits in your ear) were really large back then, and I just did not want to be bothered wearing hearing aids. The teachers would put me in the back of the room. On my end, I just did not hear them, or if I did it would sound like faded speech or mumbling.

 

They still repeated directions to me, but on their end, they thought I was not paying attention. They would get irritated, and tell me to pay better attention. It was stressful straining to hear, and still have teachers get irritated.

 

I was a popular little kid because I am friendly. It was hard to respond appropriately all the time because I just was not hearing things 100 percent. Even friends got frustrated with me at times.

 

Let’s fast forward to high school. The teachers knew by this time that I was hard of hearing. They put me in the front of the classroom. When I did not hear something, they would repeat the directions for me.

 

As seen on YouTube:

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 The above performance is of my high school band.  I played the cymbals and am standing next to the marimba.