By Asher Bunkin
My name is Asher and I am 11 and live in New York City. I have bilateral, mild-moderate sensorineural hearing loss.
When I was around 4 ½ years old I had an ear infection and had a lot of trouble hearing. My mom took me to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) doctor who treated the ear infection and suggested seeing an audiologist to test my hearing.
Once my ear infection cleared up, the ENT sent me to an audiologist to check my hearing. The audiologist confirmed I had underlying hearing loss and then I got my first pair of hearing aids. Even though we have some family history of hearing loss, no one realized I had hearing loss before that ear infection.
Asher Bunkin’s advice: Don’t let people bring you down for wearing hearing aids. Instead, teach them about using them and about hearing loss and how it doesn’t stop me from doing anything at all.
After I was diagnosed, I was fitted with hearing aids and they help me hear. If I miss things during conversations, I sometimes change the topic so I can continue to participate in a group discussion. I need to focus on the big picture of a conversation to make sense of what is going on in case I miss words here and there. I also try to read lips and stay close to the person who is speaking.
I have trouble hearing people when they are whispering or if I am too far away from the person speaking. I rely on friends to help me if I need something repeated. When people are talking quickly or while wearing masks, it is not easy to hear.
For example, when I am swimming I cannot wear my hearing aids and as a result cannot hear what is going on around me. Sometimes I run into trouble if my hearing aids shut off during the day—when the rechargeable batteries die. Otherwise, my hearing loss doesn’t stop me from doing anything at all.
I would tell someone with a new diagnosis to persevere, know that you can get used to it, and think about the positives and not the negatives. It’s important that you don’t let people bring you down for wearing hearing aids. Take the opportunity to explain about hearing loss and using hearing aids. Let them know more about it!
I heard about Hearing Health Foundation from my mother because I was in school with the younger daughter of HHF’s former CEO, Nadine Dehgan. Now my mother does work for SoundPrint, the decibel measuring app, which is how we reconnected with HHF. Our family thinks it is important to educate as many people as possible about the research HHF does for hearing health and to protect your hearing.
Asher Bunkin lives in New York City with his family, including mom Sharon Bunkin, who is SoundPrint’s director of marketing. HHF recently partnered with SoundPrint on their Find Your Quiet Place Challenge.
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