Personal Narrative: My Experience With Hearing Loss
On April 15th, I simulated a bilateral hearing loss for an entire day. Throughout the day, my awareness of the daily struggles of an individual with a hearing loss increased. I had various feelings towards this experience. There were many moments when communication was an issue. I was obligated to use different strategies to cope with the communication issues that I encountered during this experience. To put myself in the shoes of a person with a hearing loss allowed for an eye-opening experience that I will never forget.
My day began by putting one earplug in each ear. Typically, I like to watch television on Saturday mornings. However, this morning was different from my usual Saturday morning. When I turned on the television, I felt as if …show more content…
everything sounded muffled. During a Grey’s Anatomy re-run, Patrick Dempsey’s voice was not clear enough for me to understand. I was frustrated by the fact that I had to continuously raise the volume on the television during the show. Once I finally reached a volume that was suitable for me to hear the show, my sister came into the room asking why I had the television on so loud. After explaining the assignment to her, she understood my reasoning as to why the television was so loud. Following this, I went to the grocery store with my mother.
We decided that if we split up the grocery list, the shopping would go faster. She told me the five items that I needed to find. When she was saying the names of the five items, I noticed that I had trouble understanding her not only because she is soft-spoken, but because of the background noise in the store. At first, I attempted to lip read, but this proved to be unsuccessful. Then, I asked my mother to repeat herself a little louder a few times but this was not successful either. Since louder repetitions were not helpful, I had my mother text me the names of the items that she needed me to find. This was a successful option for me because I was able to find the items efficiently. This was an eye-opening experience for me because this was an errand that we ran typically without any trouble. I was getting frustrated with the fact that I could not understand what my mother was saying. In addition, the combination of background noise and trying to understand my mother was very overwhelming for me. I felt that there was too much happening at once and I could not bring myself to focus on only my mother’s voice. I felt myself becoming very tense and stressed. My mother noticed the frustration on my face but did not react negatively; she was extremely patient with me. I believe that this is due to the fact that my mother has experience with a hearing-impaired individual- my sister, who is hard of
hearing. On the way home from the grocery store, my mother and I were having a conversation in the car. Although I was not aware of it at the time, my mother had told me that I was speaking louder than usual. I can imagine that I was speaking louder in order to hear myself better. Due to the radio playing in the car, I noticed that I was asking “what” quite often when my mother was speaking as well. When I felt that I was asking her to repeat herself too much, I shut the radio off to reduce the background noise. Even though my mother was not bothered by being asked to repeat herself louder, I felt as if I was being somewhat annoying. Later that day, I went to the gym to play basketball with a group of friends. My friends and I usually play a game of four versus four. Due to the way my day was going, before the game even began, I was nervous about what was going to happen. I also felt extremely self-conscious. I did not have trouble understanding which team I would be on because the team captain pointed to me and then pointed to the side I had to go on. When the game started, my friend began to call out a play, but I could not hear what she was saying so I did not do what I was supposed to. There were many instances when too many competing noises, such as the sounds of the other people in the gym, made it extremely difficult for me to follow what my teammate was saying. After this happened a couple of times, one of my teammates pulled me aside and asked me if I wanted the team to lose because I was not playing like I usually do. I felt the stares of my friends because they did not understand why I was not comprehending what they were saying. This made me feel very uneasy. I felt as if my role on the team became twice as hard as usual because not only did I have to work hard to help my team, but I also had to work hard to listen to what my teammates were saying which was something I never even had to think about doing. In order to fix this problem, I knew I had to find a way for my teammates and I to communicate more effectively. During a time-out, I asked my teammates if they would hold up signs with their hands to indicate which play they wanted to run so that I would know what to do even if I could not hear them well enough. As the game went on, this proved to be a successful strategy. As the day ended, I reflected on all that had happened. I thought about all that I had learned through my experiences. Even though I have a sister with a hearing loss, I have never and will never been able to completely understand what she goes through on a daily basis. This assignment, however, provided me with experiences that were pretty close to what my sister as well as other individuals with a hearing loss encounter daily. I realized how challenging their lives can be. During my experience, exhaustion set in from the effort it took to have simple conversations with my friends and family. I found myself having to keep thinking of strategies for efficient communication which I thought was tiring.
This experience taught me the value of patience. It may be more difficult for an individual to hear and comprehend what is being said, but that does not mean that he or she is inferior in comparison to anyone else. As a future clinician, I will be patient with the clients who have a hearing loss. It is important to be patient with these clients, treat them with respect, and provide them with the accommodations that they require. By listening to their personal thoughts and experiences, I will be better equipped to assist them in achieving their goals. Therefore, I will be able to determine appropriate treatment strategies for each individual.
My day began by putting one earplug in each ear. Typically, I like to watch television on Saturday mornings. However, this morning was different from my usual Saturday morning. When I turned on the television, I felt as if …show more content…
everything sounded muffled. During a Grey’s Anatomy re-run, Patrick Dempsey’s voice was not clear enough for me to understand. I was frustrated by the fact that I had to continuously raise the volume on the television during the show. Once I finally reached a volume that was suitable for me to hear the show, my sister came into the room asking why I had the television on so loud. After explaining the assignment to her, she understood my reasoning as to why the television was so loud. Following this, I went to the grocery store with my mother.
We decided that if we split up the grocery list, the shopping would go faster. She told me the five items that I needed to find. When she was saying the names of the five items, I noticed that I had trouble understanding her not only because she is soft-spoken, but because of the background noise in the store. At first, I attempted to lip read, but this proved to be unsuccessful. Then, I asked my mother to repeat herself a little louder a few times but this was not successful either. Since louder repetitions were not helpful, I had my mother text me the names of the items that she needed me to find. This was a successful option for me because I was able to find the items efficiently. This was an eye-opening experience for me because this was an errand that we ran typically without any trouble. I was getting frustrated with the fact that I could not understand what my mother was saying. In addition, the combination of background noise and trying to understand my mother was very overwhelming for me. I felt that there was too much happening at once and I could not bring myself to focus on only my mother’s voice. I felt myself becoming very tense and stressed. My mother noticed the frustration on my face but did not react negatively; she was extremely patient with me. I believe that this is due to the fact that my mother has experience with a hearing-impaired individual- my sister, who is hard of
hearing. On the way home from the grocery store, my mother and I were having a conversation in the car. Although I was not aware of it at the time, my mother had told me that I was speaking louder than usual. I can imagine that I was speaking louder in order to hear myself better. Due to the radio playing in the car, I noticed that I was asking “what” quite often when my mother was speaking as well. When I felt that I was asking her to repeat herself too much, I shut the radio off to reduce the background noise. Even though my mother was not bothered by being asked to repeat herself louder, I felt as if I was being somewhat annoying. Later that day, I went to the gym to play basketball with a group of friends. My friends and I usually play a game of four versus four. Due to the way my day was going, before the game even began, I was nervous about what was going to happen. I also felt extremely self-conscious. I did not have trouble understanding which team I would be on because the team captain pointed to me and then pointed to the side I had to go on. When the game started, my friend began to call out a play, but I could not hear what she was saying so I did not do what I was supposed to. There were many instances when too many competing noises, such as the sounds of the other people in the gym, made it extremely difficult for me to follow what my teammate was saying. After this happened a couple of times, one of my teammates pulled me aside and asked me if I wanted the team to lose because I was not playing like I usually do. I felt the stares of my friends because they did not understand why I was not comprehending what they were saying. This made me feel very uneasy. I felt as if my role on the team became twice as hard as usual because not only did I have to work hard to help my team, but I also had to work hard to listen to what my teammates were saying which was something I never even had to think about doing. In order to fix this problem, I knew I had to find a way for my teammates and I to communicate more effectively. During a time-out, I asked my teammates if they would hold up signs with their hands to indicate which play they wanted to run so that I would know what to do even if I could not hear them well enough. As the game went on, this proved to be a successful strategy. As the day ended, I reflected on all that had happened. I thought about all that I had learned through my experiences. Even though I have a sister with a hearing loss, I have never and will never been able to completely understand what she goes through on a daily basis. This assignment, however, provided me with experiences that were pretty close to what my sister as well as other individuals with a hearing loss encounter daily. I realized how challenging their lives can be. During my experience, exhaustion set in from the effort it took to have simple conversations with my friends and family. I found myself having to keep thinking of strategies for efficient communication which I thought was tiring.
This experience taught me the value of patience. It may be more difficult for an individual to hear and comprehend what is being said, but that does not mean that he or she is inferior in comparison to anyone else. As a future clinician, I will be patient with the clients who have a hearing loss. It is important to be patient with these clients, treat them with respect, and provide them with the accommodations that they require. By listening to their personal thoughts and experiences, I will be better equipped to assist them in achieving their goals. Therefore, I will be able to determine appropriate treatment strategies for each individual.