My+hearing+loss

Write about your hearing loss here: //Scroll down the newest is at the bottom.//
I hope putting this here is ok. I’m new to hearing loss and I’m having some problems adapting. I’m 16 and was diagnosed with a moderate sensorineural hearing loss in may. No one knows the cause of my hearing loss three years ago I had normal hearing. Losing my hearing was a awful shock as I’ve never had any problems with ear infections or anything. I’m struggling to adapt and I never realized how much I depended on being able to hear everything!Shortly after I found out I had a hearing loss I was given hearing aids. This helped my hearing greatly but I find wearing hearing aids very uncomfortable and hate the feeling of having my ears ‘plugged up’. Everything sounds weird and.However, the main problem I have is the attitude my friends have towards my hearing loss. They are embarrassed that I have lost some hearing. They don’t like me wearing hearing aids and they have taken every opportunity to tease me and make me feel completely worthless simply because I’ve lost some of my hearing. I’ve tried not using hearing aids this year but now that I can’t hear very much I’m really struggling at school. I really don’t know what to do and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Shawn

Shawn, I don't think you have very good friends. Would real friends want you to struggle so much?

It's human nature that people will reject you. "Their way" is always the way it should be with everyone. It's called prejudice. This isn't my way of judging your friends, it's the way it is. They will never see the "other side" which is your new side so therefore they don't understand it and it stems from innate behavior. I think hearing loss will make you stronger because you are able to break the barrier of prejudice, you NOW understand what the "other side" is. People will always judge you and you have to be strong enough to ignore it. They will make you feel stupid but I always think when they give me dirty looks, that they are the ones with the problem. Even my best friends will always think I am a little lower on the social chain. And another thing that really bothers me is how people will not make eye contact with you in a conversation with more than one person. Like I don't exist. Normally I get up and walk away because it's not fair and irrelevant for me to stay in it. But when it comes to work meetings, I can't just get up and walk away because it's not professional or leave my group of friends while they are talking because "it's rude" but in the long run, it's beneficial to them, not to me but I try to "be nice." So yes, it's extremely frustrating but what I've done is explain my needs to almost everyone I know. It's time-consuming yes, embarrassing, VERY, but I have no choice because if I don't explain it, I ended up being judged as "ignorant", and "only wants to listen to what she wants to listen to." Again it's human nature, and we weren't born to be compassionate. We must be taught compassion and empathy to suppress most of our born sinful nature.

Shawn I have kind of the same life too wearing my hearing aids make me kind of embarrised too because I think im the only person that wears hearing aids. My name is caleb.

Calab, I have the same feeling that I'm the only one who wears hearing aids but I have met a lot of people. Some were young, some were old. One was very young, I thought she was 18. It is fun to meet other people who have hearing aids because they make you feel like you have new friends. My name is Wolfer and I'm struggling through hearing loss.

= Put messages **__beside__** your name or the name of the person you want to talk to: =

// You can add your name if you are new. //
And Alvin, do you like those colors because I know I do!? Wolfer || I have 2 lizards. || First gross. Second its good to know there are people like you. My hearing loss is caused by my three bones in my ear -- the hammer, the anvil, the stirrup -- they were too big. So they block some sounds. Wolfer || wolfer, yeah it realy is cool when you meet kids and adults with hearing aids like when i was in the bathroom i saw the janitor with hearing aids so iknew i wasnt the only person with hearing aids. || Caleb, are you still around? I want to find out if you ever saw another person with hearing aids. I see a lot (6 or 7) of students with hearing aids. MagicKid || hearing loss, and I didn't know that you can get something like a pet with a hearing loss. I didn't know that Ryan has a different kind of hearing loss, like hearing in one ear and not hearing anything in the other. Woofer ||  ||   ||
 * == Alvin == || My name is Alvin. I am 8 years old. On 2010 I got my first hearing aids. I wear them at my school, nobody is laughing. I told my teacher I got my new hearing aids and I had to put the hearing aids on at my school. I can hear more better. My color hearing aid is blue and white. And I got pet lizards. || Alvin, I can hear in one ear. I don't have a hearing aid because I can not hear anyone in my other ear. I can hear a very loud noise maybe. I have to sit near the wall so I can hear the teacher. I have a dog. How many lizards do you have? Ryan
 * == Caleb == || Calab,
 * == Wofer == || Ok, ok, enough with the pets. Let's change the subject back to
 * == Ryan == || I can hear in one ear. I don't have a hearing aid because I can not hear anyone in my other ear. I can hear a very loud noise maybe. ||  ||   ||
 * == MagicKid == || Hi, I have one hearing aid. My other one is broken. I don't like just one. It sounds funny. MagicKid ||  ||   ||
 * == RCMS == || I'm a 13 year old student at RCMS and I wear a cochlear implant and a FM to boost my hearing. At 3 years old, I lost my hearing for unknown reasons. After a year I got sent to a hospital to have a cochlear implant surgey. Sometimes the older version of the cochlear made me feel weird because I got to hold the cochlear in a pouch on my back. Now I have new version thats goes behind my ear with a newer FM. I couldn't imagine being in high school and suddeny being deaf. If my old friends started teasing me, I would make new friends. I like school and make good grades and yet I have a hearing loss. || Hi, 13 year old student, even though you have a cochlear implant, I have some hearing aids and I've been made fun of too. It is fun to have some friends who understand you when you have hearing loss because they won't make fun of you. They won't tell the teacher to present about hearing aids to the class. Though I have hearing loss I keep on getting A's and I am really happy about that. So just because friends will make fun of you they don't understand that you are very special in one way and it is nice to actually be different. ||  ||
 * == Sarah == || My name is Sarah. I hearing loss too. I wear hearing aids, Do you wear hearing aids? I have a microphone that my teacher speaks in so that I can hear her. My dad and my sister have hearing loss too. Does your dad and sister have hearing loss too? My sister has a microphone just like I do. I am 7 years old and that's about my hearing loss. || Sarah, my father does not have a hearing loss but my grandmother does. I am 8 years old. I don't have a microphone. That sounds neat. Does your teacher look like a singer with it? MagicKid ||  ||
 * **LRHS** || I am 18 and I am a senior in high school. I have a mixed hearing loss and i wear hearing aids. My friends thought it's cool that I have hearing aids. || I have a sensorneural hearing loss. No one can see my hearing aids because I have long hair. I'm in 9th grade. ||  ||
 * == Arinna == || I am in 6th grade at Reedy Creek Middle School. I have a hearing aid with an fm system in my right ear. Students at my school do not make fun of me. Math is my favorite subject at school. ||  ||   ||