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…
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
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…
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