Transcript
Interviewee #1
It was probably seven, maybe eight, years ago when I realized that it was beginning to decline. And I couldn’t hear.
Interviewee #2
I started getting some severe ringing in both ears and went to the doctor for it. She sent me down for a hearing test, which in turn, they found out that I had moderate to severe hearing loss.
Interviewee #3
Well, I just came back from Afghanistan. I just got off a plane. Maybe it’s the rattling. It’ll get better. So I went back to my civilian job. And I went to the VA and I had a hearing test, and it wasn’t any better. And that’s when I knew. Actually I felt old.
Interviewee #1
And I think between cost and vanity, you have a tendency to sort of hold off doing anything. And just sort of muscle your way through each day.
Interviewee #4
I’m a mom. I have one son. He just currently turned seven months old, and he cries. And I couldn’t hear him from the other room. My husband would always be like, “Do you hear that? Do you hear that? He’s in there making noise.” I didn’t hear anything.
Interviewee #1
But when it came to conversations, face-to-face, sometimes in small gatherings, when I couldn’t hear family or coworkers, it was apparent it was time to make the move.
Interviewee #4
And so that’s when it really became apparent that I need to fix my hearing. I need to hear things. What if he needs help? What if he’s choking and I can’t hear that, and it’s just me and him? So that’s what really encouraged me to fix my hearing issues.
Interviewee #5
Went in and had an eval and was told I had an asymmetric hearing loss in my left ear. And most likely it was due to a virus that I had contracted that had to have been treated within a day or so, otherwise then the loss was permanent. And then it got to the point where the hearing loss progressed to my right ear.
Interviewee #4
I got an MRI. And after that was done, then that’s when they found out I had a genetic hearing loss, along with everything else that’s going on.
Interviewee #3
There’s people that have endured far greater losses than I have. So basically it was, “Get over yourself.” Continue the hearing protection to preserve what I have, but basically, “Get over it.”
Interviewee #6
When you first realize you have hearing loss, that’s when you need to go in, get it checked, and find out where you’re at … and what you gotta do to prevent it, and get the right training. That’s your first step. You ignore it from there ... second step, you’re going to have two hearing aids in your ears just like me.