My left ear was critically infected when I was born and it set the ball rolling for more ear infections for another 14 years of my life! I faintly remember my frequent trips to the ENT specialist and the earplugs I had to wear in the shower which felt so uncomfortable. The frequent infections that kept happening worsened my sense of hearing and also made my ear sore. I can clearly remember that it was my 15th birthday and I was at the doctor’s office undergoing a check up for yet another ear infection. The doctor warned my parents that I might become permanently deaf if the ear infections don’t stop because they kept coming in the way of my treatment. I was petrified but was determined to overcome my problem. That night I sat up late in my bed and earnestly prayed to God to cure me of this problem and make me hear again. They say that miracles don’t happen but they did in my case and God actually healed my ear. I went to the doctor for a check up the following week and he was surprised to see that my ear was healing quite well from the inside. I am thankful to God for hearing my prayers and aiding in my treatment. I am 16 now and can hear quite well with some help from my hearing aid!

I am 18 years old right now and I was born with weak hearing. This problem became evident to my parents only when I turned two when they figured that my language was unclear and scattered. They became very concerned about this and took me to a pediatrician who could only diagnose my failure to speak as being hyperactive. My parents were adamant for me overcome this problem and so they enrolled me in a day care program to correct my speech problem, which apparently did not work. Two more years went by and I turned five. This is when a family friend suggested my parents to take me to another doctor for a proper check up as the problem was making me look abnormal in front of other kids my age. This particular doctor suspected that I may be having difficulty in hearing and he referred me to an audiologist. I was properly diagnosed and given hearing aids to hear. I was also enrolled in a special program for children having hearing impairments to help me cope. I went in for speech therapy responded well. I was a good student and did reasonably well as compared to other normal kids, even though I had to put in extra hours to understand!

One day as I was stopping by at the coffee kiosk to grab my daily coffee whilst rushing off to work and when I was paying at the counter, I couldn’t hear what the barista was saying. There was a strong ringing sensation in my ear. I tried to ignore it a little but it persisted for the rest of the day. I immediately took an appointment with my GP and after normal routine check up he found that I had a very high blood pressure that was 230/120! I was diagnosed with hypertension and losing my ability to hear was a symptom of it. The doctor immediately admitted me for other check ups and also referred me to a cardiologist. Hypertension has been running in the family and I was cautioned to take good care of my health as this could lead to a life threatening situation apart from deafness. I have now completely changed my lifestyle. I eat healthy, exercise and make sure that my blood pressure is within limits.

My hearing loss is a genetic condition that I have inherited from my paternal side. My situation worsened with many ear infections that added to the damage in my ears. I am 18 years old now and my right ear is completely deaf and I can partially hear from my left ear. I use a hearing aid to overcome my inability to hear. I have learnt to accept myself over the years and I am thankful to God for blessing me with whatever hearing power I have. I have a simple philosophy that I follow: if you want to be heard, then you have to be patient with me, otherwise you are simply not worth listening to! I have mustered a lot of courage and confidence to not bother with people calling me deaf. There are many people in the world who are battling with situations more serious than mine and that is what keeps me going!

I was only a one-year-old toddler when I was diagnosed with a severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, which meant that I was partially deaf in both the ears. I am 21 years old now and I’ve been using hearing aids since childhood. It has been a long struggle to lead a life of normalcy. While most children spend their childhood watching cartoons, I could barely understand them as the sound of the TV was faintly heard in my ears. After coming to know of my condition, my parents enrolled me in a school for the deaf during preschool so that I could learn to cope with the problem. I performed well at school and that is when I was encouraged to join mainstream schooling, however my disability to hear actually disturbed me more at that point when I would have to face normal kids who didn’t wear hearing aids. I felt ashamed when all the kids would eagerly ask me about the thing in my ear and it became hard for me to explain this to someone new every day. This is when my mom stepped in and arranged for someone to talk about hearing impairment to the class. The talk worked well for me and I actually made more friends because of this. I gradually started taking speech therapy sessions to improve my speaking skills as I was born with a cleft palate that made it difficult for me to speak. When I was 17, a doctor prescribed going through tympanoplasty which is a medical procedure that reconstructs the ear drums and now I don’t need to read lips or use a hearing aid to hear!