Hearing aids are tools, and in a lot of circumstances they are incredibly helpful. I could make a long list about the pros of hearing aids and will do so soon. However, in just as many circumstances they are consistently utterly frustrating, limited, over-stated in what they claim to do, and mis-lead many people (especially the hearing) into thinking what they actually do. Hearing aids are not magic solutions that take away someone’s hearing loss, regardless of the degree of loss. Each case is very different. There’s not a general one size fits all “hearing loss” and or “general hearing aid” that works for anyone and everyone. Perhaps for those in denial, ah, maybe you have speculated this, and I truly understand. I was there for many years. I used the hearing aid trick as a solution for being in denial about being deaf. I used to tell myself, OK, if I’m wearing hearing aids then I’m not deaf, I’m “hearing impaired” (which is really a horrible term I’m so happy not to use again). This is not the case. First and foremost, with-out hearing aids I don’t hear any sound at all. I can feel vibrations, but no sound. With the exception of, if you place your mouth on my ear directly and speak really loudly into it, I can “feel” the vibration of the sounds and connect it to the movement of the mouth. Sometimes I can decipher those words. The reality is, I’m deaf, and with the use of hearing aid technology I become hard of hearing when I am wearing them. I use the term hard of hearing because I’m still missing over 50% of all sounds and auditory communication (which is actually always electronic and synthetic). With hearing aids, I am not hearing things the same way that a person with normal hearing hears. I’m not sure that I can even describe how I hear with hearing aids on a level of sound quality and texture but I’m going to try. I have memories of hearing analog music from the late 1970’s. PS – I have a degenerative nerve loss so my hearing has deteriorated consistently over time. I believe I recall how that kind of music sounded back then through an analog radio at the time. It had a hollow kind of sound to it. Hearing aids seem to have perpetuated this kind of sound. So, its perpetually 1970’s radio when I’m wearing aids..
2018, Digital Illustrations, Digital Art, Animated GIFs & Video. A continued series of manipulated electronic images and re-compositions. The many fragments and variations of each piece are visual representations for the missing of sounds, words and overall communication gaps I experience. They are intended to be both subtle, confusing and difficult to follow. A representation of the daily life I experience between the world of the hearing and the non.
Please check out my New Online Exhibition –> Communicating my Deaf & Hard of Hearing Self – Part 1
