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Genetic Hearing Loss and My First Hearing Aid

My first hearing aid was a big, behind-the-ear model for just my left ear that I got in third grade after failing the hearing screening in 1973. My hearing loss seemed to be genetic, as my mother had already experienced a degree of it herself. I wore it for a while until my teacher started drawing attention and embarrassing me in front of the class. He’d say, “Take your

hearing aid off for recess, Mandi,” and it felt like everyone was staring at me. I took it off and never wore it again in school.

I didn’t approach my hearing disability until 1985 when I was a sophomore at West Chester University in Pennsylvania pursuing a liberal arts degree. My hearing loss had become an

obstacle to my studies and social life by then. I wanted to take control of the problem, so I got tested by an audiologist for the second time in my life the summer before my junior year. The audiologist was surprised I had made it so far without addressing my hearing loss. I received an in-the-ear model only for my left ear in the summer of 1984. This time, I never took it off.

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Four years later, in 1988, we qualified for a program within the vocational rehab division of NJ to receive in-the-ear aids for working people between the ages of 18 and 65. The aids were equipped with a telephone coil (also known as a T-coil) that allowed you to hear better on the phone by blocking out background noise. Knowing I could benefit from a second hearing aid, I called my mother to discuss it.

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Together, we received our new hearing aids. This was my mother’s first pair at age 48 and the first time I had one for each ear. Having two hearing aids allowed for better discrimination of background noise and increased directionality of where the sound was coming from. It changed both our lives, and I remember I could finally hear birds, trucks, and, most importantly, people. Interest in Audiology Services.

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A few years after college, I met someone in downtown Philadelphia who noticed I wore hearing aids. He confided in me that his son was showing signs of hearing loss and was unsure what to do. I raved about how my hearing aids had changed my life and that the sooner he could get them for his son, the bigger positive difference it could make.

Later that year, he showed up when I worked at The Office Center of Sears without knowing I worked there. He recognized me and introduced me to his wife. They both thanked me profusely because hearing aids had made a world of difference for their son, just as they had for me. After they left, I turned to my coworker and, out loud, declared: “I am in the wrong business.” It was then that my career in audiology started.

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I began researching the hearing aid instrument specialist profession after marrying my husband, Larry, and moving to Colorado. This is when I enrolled at Metropolitan State University of Denver. And signed up for undergraduate Audiology courses. I enjoyed classes so much, especially with help from my first audiology professor, Dr. Jean Lundy, that I decided to look into Audiology Master’s degree.