Hello! This week is International Week of the Deaf
and I'm going to be making 3 videos which are just about my deafness
The first one is:
And you can find that in the card above, or down bellow in the description
The second one is this video
And the 3rd video is
One of my most common comments
'If you are deaf, why do you wear hearing aids?'
I'm sorry but that to me is genuinely hilarious in its irony, oh...
As I explained in my video on Monday which was all about I can and cannot hear
My hearing aids do help me, the genuenly do
They help me by cutting out the noise from.. within the human voice range
And then also amplifying the ones that are within the voice range
So it helps me in that I am able to distinguish a voice from within a world of noise
and differenciate a voice from say, a big truck that is driving past
It doesn't necessarily mean that I understand all of the words
Just listening with my hearing aids I will understand every third word I'm gonna say
So it would be kind of: word that I miss here
Word I hear
No clue
Word that I vaguely get
Word I do get
What the hell was that
I miss every third word because part of my nerve condition
It takes the nerves to my ear a lot longer to heal
and then for the sound to be able to travel again
So again, without my hearing aids it's one flat sound
With my hearing aid is there suddenly differentiation
Oh my god, is that it? Is that the end of the video? It's really simple... that was too simple
So, hearing aids!
I first got hearing aids when I went to university and realised that I couldn't hear
I've been going deaf for an incredibly long time and I hadn't realised what it was
I was having hearing difficulties when I was a small child, there were operations that were intended to fix them
And they did for a bit
I burst my ear drums a lot, I have really scared ear drums,
Another thing that makes it very difficult for sound to properly be carried
But I didn't actually have hearing aids neither did my father
Who really needed them, yeah, hi daddy if you are watching
He didn't want people to think that he was old
But, if your teenage daughter has hearing aids that's ok
Because it's a family thing, so it's fine...
But we have very different hearing aids, mine are not the prettiest we are gonna say, they are not...
They are proudly from the NHS who I thank so much
This is a mold, this is my actual ear shape
Okay, mold ear shape
Goes in there, and then as you tuck it behind your ear close it
That turns it on
So the back bit as you have noticed is quite large, you probably seen much smaller hearing aids
Specially in older people
Which I always thing is a bit strange because surely, with no offence, they are more likely to drop stuff
or have difficulties seeing a small hearing aid
For me is very helpful to have larger ones, I have the mould because my hearing loss is such that
they are very loud, they are very loud
If your mould is smaller and not as fitted it means the sound can scape out of the outside
that feedbacks into the hearing aids and it creates a loop where whistles or screams
If you have someone in your life who wears hearing aids and they are screaming it's because sound
its looping around and I cant actually hear the sound
But apparently it's terrible, and it ruins romantic situations
FYI
Also, fun things about my hearing aids:
They have a little
See if you can see it there
They have a tiny hole
Can you see the tiny hole?
They have a tiny little hole there, like a tunnel that goes all the way through
and taht is how air got into my head because
I got his new ones and they used to have a quite hard ear piece which was painful and because they were
hard sound got around which moves as you move your mouth
However the squishy ones are so good at their job and they really do fill up the space
That there was no air getting to my ear, in the ear
and I was getting terrible headaches beause there was like an ear bubble
an air bubble stuck in my ear, and I kid you now oh my god
Ear and air mixed up... oh dear...
Oh dear, we'll get there...
Hearing aids do actually come in a whole range of different colours
You can get gold ones, blue ones, red ones, flashy sparkly silver ones...
And also you can get some supposedly match the colour of your hair, but it doesn't...
That was a lie , I tried those, they weren't good
So yes, hearing aids yes, they come in all different colours however I a stickler for color matching
and I worry that if they were a set colour that they would not go with every outfit that I wear
and I wear a lot of colours as you can see on my instagram
Yes I wear a range of colours and I like things that match so I want my
If they were gold but Iwas wearing an outfit that involved silver nekclace
They would not go
Lots of people are a little worried when they know they are going to get hearing aids
about it pushing their ears forward
Now, I would say that probably if you can see there's a little tip at the top of my ears now
They do a little tip
and yes that's caused by my hearing aids but its not so terrible that they cant actually move the angle of your ear
This isnt gonna happen, this wont happen, it's ok don't worry
I know that some people specially girls, not that Iwant to you know gender specific
But girls wear their hair down over their hearing aids to hide them
But to me i find that more of a dificulty or a problem because it just ruffles, the hair ruffles
Mine have little microphones
on either side actually
But that means that if you have hair its going to *imitates noise*
and who needs taht?
no one
There are some really beautiful hairstyles that you can have like this one here
Even if you are wearing hearing aids and actually make hearing aids a feature
I find
I prefer wearing mi hearing aids like this
out and proud!
Because it helps me and it helps other people so they will come up to me
They'll see the hearing aids or if they dont and i start talking and I cant understand them I can just go
and they can see your hearing aids and go like oh right ok
And then they won't talk so quickly and then they will uncover their mouths, and be a little clearer
It would help you understand what's going on, it helps you to help them to help you
You know, I really love actually seeing on instagram how different people wear their hearing aids
Some people really jazz them up and add colours and stickers on them and I think that is really cool
Other questions people have about hearing aids are...
Are they painful?
And the answer is yes, there is no really a way around that yes they are, they are very painful actually
They are painful on the inside because they strech your ears out,
A bit like you got something in your ear, it's very annoying
They are painful if you lie down or rest your head but also want to keep your hearing aids in
I tend to be lying in bed one hearing aid in, and be lying on this side
and then roll over and switch hearing aids but that can be a problem, it can ruin your romantic situations
They are also quite painful because of the noise, it's just so loud
and it really wears on you, specially since when I take them out there is a kind of *imitates noise*
That was meant to be my hearing, sorry
Without hearing aids everything is a bit muffled, everything is a bit monotone and everything is a bit quiet
It's nice and relaxing
When you put them in you are confronted with noise and eugh...
So then I take them out, that kind of thing
Also painful, masive trucks
If a massive track goes by you and it plays the horn oh...
that is very painful...
Very windy days, that is also quite painful
With hearing aids it's advisable taht you get this tube changed as son as it gets hard
Your audiologist will give you a whole range of these, and they kind of want you to learn to do it yourself
But, I don't
Also, the easiest way to clean them here is to get a pin
Sewing needle it's quite good but try to get one that is not too sharp cause you dont want to ruin it
Or create a hole, that is always a problem, i did do that once
So generally use a slightly rounded needle, thing needles, an embroidery needle is the best for clearing out your ear wax
eugh...
I tend to just wear one hearing aid, because I find with 2 of them in it feels like my head is a giant air bubble
So i prefer to just wear one and switch between them
But mainly this one because my parting is on this side
and also I am just more deaf in this ear
One thing that I would really like to get across about deafness, deaf people in general
Is that hearing and listening are two very different things
I might not be able to hear what someone is saying but I am listening
I am paying attention and I am processing what they are saying and
I am giving them the time and that's listening
My dear wife actually said in her wedding speech about how I'm the first one who's ever truly listened to her
And what does they say? Deaf people we listen to you
Also we make really good partners, date us!
I hope you've found this video very helpful, please you can check out my channel for other videos taht are quite similar
About disabilities, and also some hair stuff
that involves hearing aids
Please leave me a comment with any tips that you have about hearing aids care