Life With A Hearing Loss

My name is Viki and I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I am hard of hearing and both my sons are hard of hearing as well. As you’ve probably guessed, our hearing loss is genetic. It’s been passed down from generation to generation on my biological dad’s side of the family.

Our hearing loss affects both ears and is progressive. It has gone from mild/moderate at birth to severe/profound by adulthood. We may pursue cochlear implants in the future, but it’s a costly procedure that isn’t normally covered by health insurance. So for now, we use digital hearing aids. They are a far cry from achieving normal hearing, but still tremendously helpful and I am grateful for them.

Hearing aids, like cochlear implants, are not normally covered by health insurance, which places a financial burden on families who have multiple people with hearing losses. A few years ago, Colorado came close to passing a law that would have required health insurance to cover hearing aids, but it was vetoed by Bill Owens, our governor at that time. Governor Owens felt it would put an undue hardship on small businesses and insurance companies. Perhaps we’ll have better luck getting a similar bill passed with our new governor, Bill Ritter.

My biggest challenge is the fact that I have a rather shy, introverted personality, therefore, I have a hard time speaking up when I can’t hear. Sometimes I just stand there like a dunce with a blank look on my face. On my better days, I will take a deep breath and say that I’m hard of hearing or I’ll just ask the person to repeat themselves. I need to work harder at speaking up, because it’s my responsibility to advocate for myself. Anyway, I’m working on it. If you have any helpful tips in this area, please send them my way. They will be most appreciated.

I grew up in Minnesota with my mom, stepdad, and 2 siblings, all of whom are hearing. I got my first hearing aids when I was 14. I was embarrassed by my hearing loss and would do anything to try to cover it up, including pretending to hear even when I couldn’t. Let me tell you, that doesn’t work very well. Hearing people catch onto that cover up attempt rather quickly - lol!

It’s been a long journey towards learning how to accept my hearing loss and the limitations that come with it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that God loves me and has a plan for my life.  I’m learning to lean heavily on Him for everything I need to get through this life and to enjoy every moment of it, hearing loss and all.