I was diagnosed in my late 20s, and my boys have lived their entire lives with a mother who hears differently than them. There’s never been a big conversation or explanation, and they’ve never had to adapt to anything new. It is what it is. We’ve had conversations about the genetic risk. My mother, her sisters, my grandmother, and my great aunts all have hearing loss. So my sons are tested once a year to make sure I didn’t pass it on. Day to day, though, it’s our reality, and my boys don’t know an alternative.
Hearing the Passion
For Alex, each new language is a hidden art with its secrets and beauty waiting to be discovered. Alex was in elementary school when he developed an interest in foreign television cartoons, including programs from Italy and Japan. His discovery of their cultures soon evolved into a fascination with their languages.
Valleys and Peaks on My Hearing Loss Journey
My hearing loss journey has been gradual—like driving slowly up into high mountains on a twisty road, adjusting to changes in altitude at each major peak. I have been hard of hearing since my 20s, with hearing loss accelerating in my 30s to 50s, and now stable with small age-related changes each year.
Action on Captions
I’m a longtime radio broadcaster and after 25 years on the air, I owned an advertising agency where all the work was creating radio and TV ads and video scripts all day, every day. I’ve spent nearly my entire adult life in a studio, wearing headphones.
An Unexpected Side Effect
At age 30 in the spring of 1960, I was diagnosed with otosclerosis and underwent stapedectomy surgery for my left ear. Due to a “sneeze” a few days after, the pin flew off the mount and ruptured the inner ear. I was left with no hearing in the left ear. The right ear with a simple hearing aid was fine. I was told a hearing aid will always benefit me due to the very slow progression of otosclerosis.
Processing Auditory Processing
In January 2018, working as a digital producer, I was running a test setup in the auditorium of a London art gallery. Due to faulty audio equipment, a large set of wall speakers blew right behind where I was standing, exposing me to an incredibly high-level sound blast.
More Than Winning
With the help of my employer, OneLife Fitness, I scheduled the challenge for my 55th birthday at the gym. I chose to pair the event with a fundraiser for HHF on Facebook, where I was able to not only raise funds, but bring more awareness into the community about the good work of HHF.
No Excuses
Around the age of 3 and a half, my parents started noticing that I was always turning my right ear to the person speaking. Something wasn’t right. I was not reacting to sounds the way the typical hearing child should. My parents took me to my pediatrician who referred us to an audiologist. On September 28, 2000, at age 4, I was diagnosed with bilateral moderate-severe sensorineural hearing loss and immediately fitted with hearing aids.
Meet Braden Baker: How One Kid Raised Thousands for People in Need of Hearing Aids
It all started with Braden’s dog, Chewy, who chewed up a then 10-year-old Braden’s expensive hearing aids one warm, June night in 2017—for the second time. Born with a bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, Braden, a now 13-year-old Fort Worth, Texas native, has worn hearing aids since he was seven months old. It turns out, Chewy has expensive taste as custom hearing aids can run from $1,000 to a whopping $6,000 dollars per pair.
Listening to The Story
I have some significant memories from childhood that have remained with me and influenced who I am today. One of my most special memories is of practicing speech and auditory therapy with my younger brother, Alex. Alex was born with hearing loss, so my mom and dad intervened early to ensure his future success with not only hearing, but also speech.