Because noise-canceling earbuds are so comfortable and block everything out, people wear them for three, four, five hours straight without realizing the cumulative effect on their ears.

I made one hat to solve problems, never imagining how many other adults and children would relate. It’s an honor to be able to give something back to the cochlear implant community that understands this journey so well.

These findings suggest that the ability to integrate what is seen with what is heard becomes increasingly important with age, especially for cochlear implant users. 

Then it clicked: No one cared if I wore hearing aids back then, and no one cares now.