I was born with a bilateral, mild-to-profound, sensorineural loss due to BOR Syndrome, a rare syndrome that can affect your hearing and kidneys; my audiogram looks like a double-black-diamond ski slope.
What I Learned in Drumming Class (From a Friend With Vision Loss)
We both need to use our brain’s processing power more than those with typical hearing or sight. If the lighting is poor or the room is crowded, Dana must be very focused on what she’s doing or else she’ll bump into things. For me, when there’s a lot of ambient noise I too have to be very focused to understand what people are saying.
Sorting the Priorities
The audiologist listened to my shock and confusion, but confirmed that my test printout showed severe hearing loss. She did one other brief test, which showed 95 percent word recognition. I always hear conversations, so how could I have all this hearing loss?
The Surprising Cause of My Tinnitus
This ominous ringing seemed to recede when I was preoccupied with something else, but it returned in force as soon as nothing else was distracting me, and it was always (seemingly) there, not loud enough to interfere with my life really, but distracting and worrisome.
Let’s Remember No One Hears Perfectly
Why can’t all of us with hearing loss accept our hearing challenges without judgment? It’s a physical disability that we have no control over. If we can’t hear, it has nothing to do with our intelligence or any of the negative stereotypes of hearing loss. It’s just hearing loss—a physical condition.
A Wakeup Call
Whether you’re knowledgeable about noise-induced hearing loss or not, you would probably try to avoid things like having a trumpet blasted point-blank into your ear. But that was me, 10 years ago, in a 7th grade band class, crying from the pain in my ear and leaving school early so my mom could whisk me straight to an audiologist.
Harmonically Distorted Power
I played guitar onstage steadily for the better part of 10 years, and every hour I was allowed to spend in front of a crowd was the product of ten times as much time rehearsing. And like my guitar heroes, I wanted, I craved, I “needed” to play through the legendary Marshall amplifier stack: 100 (sometimes for me, 200) watts of harmonically distorted power blasting through 8 speakers in 2 cabinets (4 speakers in each) stacked 6 feet high!
Hear Me Out
That I would have tinnitus or even a hearing loss wasn’t that surprising. I’d spent the better part of my adult life as a music journalist listening to loud music, either via headphones or at clubs and concerts. Back in my 20s my gauge for a satisfying night out was if the bass levels were so intense that my stomach hurt. Not the healthiest of benchmarks.
I’m 24 and Have Hearing and Balance Challenges
During my third year at University of Michigan, where I was studying biochemistry and French, I became aware of an unfamiliar, jarring sensation—extreme dizziness. If I closed my eyes for just a little bit, I’d feel my surroundings spinning. It was around the same time I recognized my difficulties hearing in large lecture halls.
Memories and Music: My Life as a Real-Life ‘CODA’
I cannot tell you how many times in my 32 years people have asked me, “What is it like to have parents who are deaf?” My answer has always been the same, regardless of who is asking or how old I am, “What is it like to have hearing parents?”