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Two Babas in my kitchen! Turn down my hearing aids, and put on an apron, cause it’s about to get crazy in here!

Posted by Living Sounds

Odd title for a blog, isn’t it? That’s because it’s actually a post I put on Facebook a little while ago. My Ukrainian mother-in-law and her mother came over to spend the day with my 8-month-old twin boys and myself. The afternoon was of course filled with great food and a lot of noise!

What is amazing to me is that I posted on Facebook that I had hearing aids. I actually drew attention to the fact that I had hearing aids. This may not seem like a big deal, but to me, it’s a huge deal.

I’ll tell you a secret; not long ago, I would have never ever done anything that would draw attention to the fact that I wear hearing aids. I was ashamed of my hearing loss and had been for years. I felt it was a slight on me – something wrong with me that should be covered up or glossed over. Never thought I’d be so up front and open about it. And yet, there it is: exposed to the world and my friends forever, most whom probably never knew I even had hearing aids.

What changed? Well, confidence for one. This is the confidence that I had in my hearing ability while wearing my hearing aids. To be able to hear, follow and participate in the conversation in a noisy place with my friends, family, co-workers and clients and have confidence in my response because I can hear is a great feeling. That is such a simple thing, and I think the hearing world takes it for granted.

It didn’t happen overnight; I had to, in my own way, go through my own “12 Steps”, so to speak. This included a long time spent in denial, anger and grief before getting anywhere close to acceptance. I am no longer afraid or ashamed to admit it and talk about it. Plus, my current hearing aids from Starkey are really very pretty (hot pink!), and my techie friends are all impressed with the TV and cell phone streaming I can do with them. So actually, my hearing aids “are cool”, a quote from my 10-year-old nephew!

While I’ll admit, there are situations where my hearing aids are not perfect; I can pretty much handle anything my large noisy family can throw at me with comfort and confidence. Plus, I can always mute my hearing aids without anyone knowing (lol).

Now if you are wondering about wearing hearing aids and having twin babies, well, that will be in my next blog!

Jackie Brosius BC-HIS, RHAP
Board Certified in Hearing Instrument Sciences
Registered Hearing Aid Practitioner

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