During the year of 1973, my parents and sister had taken a trip to Milwaukee and visited Wisconsin Dells.  There was a place called Story Book Land with several nursery book characters like Humpty Dumpty, Snow White, and so on.  Some of the characters roamed around the park, similar to Disney World.  One of the characters, An angel, came and asked my sister, Sheila, for a wish.  She wished to have a brother, and the angel granted her wish (me!).  So, my parents decided to bring another child in the family.  That was when I was born on 1974 in Quincy, Illinois.

I came into this world about 3 weeks ahead of schedule.  Even though I was very small and premature, they did not have to put me in an incubator.  During the first 2 years, my parents didn’t have any idea about my hearing loss.  Everything seemed normal.  At 2 years of age, I wasn’t talking clearly and my parents didn’t understand the words I was saying.  I was very active and I would sometimes talk too much.  They started to get a little concerned even though people were saying some boys are slow and shouldn’t they worry too much.  Even so, my parents decided to take me to Children’s Hospital to find out whether the doctors can give any answers.  After testing me for several hours, they said there was nothing wrong and I was just a little hyper active.

My parents decided to send me to elementary school which had a program for very young children with development needs.  It was like a day care program, but with more emphasis on developing the skills for a toddler.  The teachers adored me since I was so cute (It’s true!).  I was very anxious everyday going to school and started to learn more words.  Again, my parents did not understand clearly.  For example, I used to say “Uppa” and I was trying to say School Bus (S and L have high frequency components that I was not able to hear completely).  I often said “Eyya” and they figured out I was trying to say Sheila, my sister’s name.

The next year, my family and I went to India.  My uncle (mom’s side of the family) found a good ENT specialist.  They took me to the doctor to make sure there was nothing wrong with my ears.  The doctor talked with me for about one half hour, asking me some questions and observing me.  He was pretty sure I had some sort of hearing loss and recommended that I see an audiologist when I returned to USA.

The audiologist determined I had mild to moderate hearing loss.  I was not able to hear the high frequency components of the words, but I could hear the low frequency very well. They found out my hearing can be easily corrected by wearing hearing aids and getting special training.

Fortunately, Lowell Elementary School in Waukesha had a special program for deaf and hard of hearing children.  They enrolled me in the program right away.  I lost the first four years of childhood without hearing all the words and the experience.  So, I had to catch up a lot.  The teachers were excellent.  It was very hard during the first several years having special training and speech therapy.  I had to wear a box with a transmitter and receiver so that the teachers could communicate with me easily.  My parents were heart broken to see me wear a hearing aid box and walk around the school.  I’ve been told it didn’t bother me, and I was simply very happy to hear well and understood everything.

By the time I graduated from Elementary school, the teachers integrated me with regular students.  I didn’t need any additional special training.  For me, it took more work than others to study and get good grades. 

That concludes my journey to the discovery of my hearing loss.

People may be wondering why I chose this title for my Website (www.IAmHearingImpaired.com).  First of all, there are millions of people who have some level of hearing loss.  It could be mild, severe, or profound.  I hear many say different words to describe their hearing loss.  Some would consider themselves deaf, hard of hearing (HOH), hearing disability, deaf culture, or simply hearing impaired.  Each word conveys a certain meaning.  I guess people with a hearing loss would choose the word to describe them for what they feel comfortable with.

I chose the title “Hearing Impaired” because that is how I described myself since childhood.  My parents and teachers would bring up the phrase saying, “Senthil has taken hearing impaired classes in Elementary school.”  I remember there was one student who could not talk clearly and relied on sign language entirely to communicate.  There was another student who has only mild hearing loss, and he heard most of the sounds wearing the hearing aids.  That was the same for me, and we did not have to communicate to others using sign language.

In other words, I think the word “impaired” applies to people having any level of hearing loss whether it’s weakened or damaged.  I want the site to sound personal and not some organization for a specific group.  My goal is to have everyone in the hearing loss community to come together to share information and personal experiences.