Hi I'm Fiona and uhhh I've been hearing impaired for most of my life! I have a hearing aid (and technically a cochlear implant but it's currently broken) if you wanna ask me abt that? Apologies if I don't have a good answer for something 😔
This will probably come off as weird and I do apologise for that, but is there anything that you’ve come to enjoy or like about being hearing impaired?
I have a few questions, of course you don't have to answer any of them if they make you uncomfortable 
1. Is there a specific/known cause for your hearing impairment?/What is the cause, if so?
2. Are there any really annoying/obnoxious questions or comments you get from people? (Like the hearing impaired equivalent of "um actually you didn't SEE the movie because you're blind!" or "how do you do*insert thing you can do perfectly fine here*?")
3. Anything people can do to just... make your life easier, that they often either don't think of or just aren't considerate enough to do? And as your friend, is there anything I'm doing wrong or could do better? I mean I know we mostly just text anyway but still-
1. Is there a specific/known cause for your hearing impairment?/What is the cause, if so?
2. Are there any really annoying/obnoxious questions or comments you get from people? (Like the hearing impaired equivalent of "um actually you didn't SEE the movie because you're blind!" or "how do you do*insert thing you can do perfectly fine here*?")
3. Anything people can do to just... make your life easier, that they often either don't think of or just aren't considerate enough to do? And as your friend, is there anything I'm doing wrong or could do better? I mean I know we mostly just text anyway but still-
SaharaSunset wrote:
This will probably come off as weird and I do apologise for that, but is there anything that you’ve come to enjoy or like about being hearing impaired?
I don't think it's weird! I sorta do? I learned how to read really quickly when I was a kid and that came in handy when I had to start using captions for everything, if that counts.
CrypticStardust wrote:
I have a few questions, of course you don't have to answer any of them if they make you uncomfortable
1. Is there a specific/known cause for your hearing impairment?/What is the cause, if so?
2. Are there any really annoying/obnoxious questions or comments you get from people? (Like the hearing impaired equivalent of "um actually you didn't SEE the movie because you're blind!" or "how do you do*insert thing you can do perfectly fine here*?")
3. Anything people can do to just... make your life easier, that they often either don't think of or just aren't considerate enough to do? And as your friend, is there anything I'm doing wrong or could do better? I mean I know we mostly just text anyway but still-
1. Is there a specific/known cause for your hearing impairment?/What is the cause, if so?
2. Are there any really annoying/obnoxious questions or comments you get from people? (Like the hearing impaired equivalent of "um actually you didn't SEE the movie because you're blind!" or "how do you do*insert thing you can do perfectly fine here*?")
3. Anything people can do to just... make your life easier, that they often either don't think of or just aren't considerate enough to do? And as your friend, is there anything I'm doing wrong or could do better? I mean I know we mostly just text anyway but still-
1) As far as I can recall it just sorta gradually started going when I was younger, we think I might've gotten swimmer's ear which could contribute to it but as far as a confirmed cause it still remains a mystery lol
2) Really my main issue is I get a lot of people who think I'm ignoring them on purpose, or they get mad that I ask them to repeat themselves because they think I'm not paying attention. In fact I'm trying very hard to do so, I'll be staring right at them and trying extra hard to read their lips, but sometimes people just have a tone or their voice is in the lower register and then I end up giving up on the conversation. I'm trying to do better about asking people to write questions down or whatever still ^^'
3) People have a hard time raising their voice without yelling, and as someone who kinda shuts down when people yell at me it's really hard to tell people to be mindful about coming off as mad. And again, writing things down or texting me is a great way to get a message across when talking won't cut it. Especially in my workplace that's super loud.
(3.5 you're doing great ily /p)
silvermoondarkening wrote:
CrypticStardust wrote:
I have a few questions, of course you don't have to answer any of them if they make you uncomfortable
1. Is there a specific/known cause for your hearing impairment?/What is the cause, if so?
2. Are there any really annoying/obnoxious questions or comments you get from people? (Like the hearing impaired equivalent of "um actually you didn't SEE the movie because you're blind!" or "how do you do*insert thing you can do perfectly fine here*?")
3. Anything people can do to just... make your life easier, that they often either don't think of or just aren't considerate enough to do? And as your friend, is there anything I'm doing wrong or could do better? I mean I know we mostly just text anyway but still-
1. Is there a specific/known cause for your hearing impairment?/What is the cause, if so?
2. Are there any really annoying/obnoxious questions or comments you get from people? (Like the hearing impaired equivalent of "um actually you didn't SEE the movie because you're blind!" or "how do you do*insert thing you can do perfectly fine here*?")
3. Anything people can do to just... make your life easier, that they often either don't think of or just aren't considerate enough to do? And as your friend, is there anything I'm doing wrong or could do better? I mean I know we mostly just text anyway but still-
1) As far as I can recall it just sorta gradually started going when I was younger, we think I might've gotten swimmer's ear which could contribute to it but as far as a confirmed cause it still remains a mystery lol
2) Really my main issue is I get a lot of people who think I'm ignoring them on purpose, or they get mad that I ask them to repeat themselves because they think I'm not paying attention. In fact I'm trying very hard to do so, I'll be staring right at them and trying extra hard to read their lips, but sometimes people just have a tone or their voice is in the lower register and then I end up giving up on the conversation. I'm trying to do better about asking people to write questions down or whatever still ^^'
3) People have a hard time raising their voice without yelling, and as someone who kinda shuts down when people yell at me it's really hard to tell people to be mindful about coming off as mad. And again, writing things down or texting me is a great way to get a message across when talking won't cut it. Especially in my workplace that's super loud.
(3.5 you're doing great ily /p)
Did you learn how to read lips as part of being hearing-impaired? If so, how long did it take you to get the hang of it?
DarkonDreams wrote:
Did you learn how to read lips as part of being hearing-impaired? If so, how long did it take you to get the hang of it?
I did yes! I honestly kinda default to it, if I hear someone talking I immediately look up so I can see if they're talking specifically to me and I can read their lips. So I've probably been able to do it for a while, considering how hard-wired the habit is lol
What's the funniest thing that has happened to you because of your hearing impairment?
Sanne wrote:
What's the funniest thing that has happened to you because of your hearing impairment?
Well sometimes sentences or phrases I mishear are wildly funny compared to the original, at least to me. One time I was being given a bird feeder from my gramma along with a thing called a shepherd's hook to suspend it in the air without it needing to hang from the porch, and I kept mishearing her say 'shepherd's hook' and instead thought she was saying 'sherpa sherp.'
Oh no! Does the broken cochlear implant make life much harder?
Kim wrote:
Oh no! Does the broken cochlear implant make life much harder?
Not much harder? Honestly because I've gone so long without wearing it if I did put it back on, that would be harder. The sound quality was fuzzy and it was really loud to the point of hurting my ears with my own breathing.
The actual piece that attaches to my head wasn't broken just to be clear, my longer battery is. But because it's so loud it's not ideal to wear at my already loud work, and because I only have the shorter battery in a functional state it doesn't stay on for the full eight hours I'd be at work.
Back when I was used to wearing it it honestly didn't really help all that much, just sorta made everything slightly louder. My hearing aid is the one who does all the work around here lol
Oh wow that's really interesting! Thank you for the answer.
what has your experience with being hearing impaired been?
waru wrote:
what has your experience with being hearing impaired been?
I mean ideally I'd like to not be but because I've been this way for so long I'm used to any issues I have! I think one of my persistent peeves with it is if I go from somewhere really loud to somewhere really quiet I still can't hear cuz my own head makes too much noise lol
You are on: Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Being Hearing Impaired
Moderators: Keke, Cass, Claine, Sanne, Ilmarinen, Darth_Angelus