“I was born with a partial hearing loss. Protecting my hearing is a constant challenge, and it’s not something that can really be overcome. Sometimes, not hearing someone is a blissful ignorance, but other times, it may not be so blissful. For example, a very awkward moment happened earlier this week. I was going to pick something up from someone. I’ve been at their place before, so I knew that they had a number of dogs who loved to bark, though they’re super friendly. So, I get there, and the dogs are barking a lot because there’s someone new. I had been working with a lot of wood during the day, so I probably smelled like sawdust. One of the dogs recently had a new litter of puppies, and I had to walk through the litter in order to pick up the stuff. Well, the mama dog jumps the fence, and bites me in the tush, which was an awkward surprise for me. The person I was picking things up from was like, “What just happened?” And I was also confused because I was following them where they had asked me to go. When we talked about it after, I suggested that maybe they had said something that I didn’t grasp while we were walking. But with all the dogs barking at the same time, I was clueless to what they said. The situation was mainly funny, and I think that humor is the best way to deal with situations like these. The dog also mostly bit my wallet in my back pocket, no real harm was done.
I often think that living with a hearing loss has made me more patient and empathetic. While my experience of hearing loss is challenging, other people might experience different challenges in a million and one different ways. I wear hearing aids, but most people don’t notice that. At the same time, I also recognize that anybody I interact with may have something on the back of their minds that I would never know.
This is the only reality I’ve ever known. It is what it is. But hearing is still very important to me. Like, it’s spring right now, so there’s spring peepers all around. Hearing those sounds give me immense joy, and I expect that there will be a time later in life when that will be almost impossible.” – Scott Henkels, Canaan, NH
