I don’t know why I have hearing loss. I do have theories though. For more than forty years, I thought my hearing was very good and never had reason to question it. I studied languages and am fluent in Spanish and German, so I have experience with sounds in different languages. Then in the mid-1990s, after my children were born and when I wanted to volunteer in my child’s school classroom, my hearing changed. An audiologist confirmed that I had a slight loss in the high frequencies, so I knew I wasn’t imagining things. At the same time, in order to volunteer in the school, I had to take a TB test, where they prick your skin and wait a week to see if there’s a rash. I flunked the TB test, and although I had no symptoms, I was treated with a drug called INH for six months to get rid of the TB germs. I don’t know if taking that drug had anything to do with my hearing loss.
Only some years later, in the early 2000s, when I was teaching English as a Second Language at our local community college, did I realize that my hearing loss was affecting the quality of my life and that it needed attention for me to function in the classroom. From that point on, over the years, I wore a series of hearing aids until 2020 when I had my first cochlear implant. The second implant followed in 2023.
Today I’m functioning well with my hearing loss. I still need to pay attention to my communication skills, use my remote microphone in trying situations, and use the T-coil in my implants in looped and FM venues. I carry a personal FM receiver with a neckloop just in case a venue has assistive listening I can connect to. Through my association with HLAA, the quality of my life has improved. I have friends in-person and virtually, and realize I am not alone with my hearing loss. Every day I have the opportunity in so many ways to fulfill the HLAA mission to open up the world of communication for people with hearing loss through information, education, support and advocacy.
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