Remembering Body-Worn Hearing Aids
Today, body aids are a distant memory. Only deaf people born before the '70s can remember those bra-like white harnesses and the big, bulky, radio-like hearing aids that sat in the harness pockets. (Today's cochlear implant speech processors are worn much the same way, but the manufacturers, mindful of the body aid experience, have developed behind-the-ear style speech processors).
Limited to Body-Worn Hearing Aids
Even after behind-the-ear (BTE) aids became available and I started pestering my family to get them for me, I continued to wear powerful body aids. Didn't have a choice - my hearing loss was too severe to benefit from BTEs at the time.
As the years went by, I endured the body aids. I was forever being asked, "Is that a radio?" It WAS very much like a radio - in fact, my grandfather used to borrow my hearing aid batteries to use in his radio! In school, I was embarrassed and self-conscious of the bulge on my chest that showed through my clothing.
Physical Discomfort from Body-Worn Hearing Aids
It also hurt to be hugged when wearing the body aids. Those things would press against my chest, painfully. And the cords! The long cords were easily seen snaking their way out of my clothing up my neck to my ear. Every time the cord got caught on something, the ear mold would get pulled out of my ear.
Freedom from Body-Worn Hearing Aids
How did I finally stop wearing body aids? I was about 11 years old and in gymnastics class in my hearing (public) school. I wanted to go on the parallel bars. The teacher told me, "You can't go on the parallel bars. We are afraid you will break your hearing aids." I was forced to sit on the sidelines the entire class while the other girls exercised and learned the parallel bars. The humiliation was more than I could take.
That night I announced to my family, "I am on strike. I refuse to wear these body aids anymore." And I didn't, even if it meant being totally deaf. My family rushed to the audiologist and got me my first set of BTEs. Fortunately, by then the technology had improved enough that I was able to hear with the BTEs.
Ironically, I do not wear hearing aids anymore. I stopped wearing them when I found I could no longer benefit from the aids I had. Because insurance will not pay for new hearing aids (most insurers won't pay), I decided not to get new ones. What was the point? My hearing just kept getting worse and I couldn't afford to keep upgrading.
Growing Up Deaf Serial
