LambdaLynx"When I get my hearing aids, will I be able to hear you?"
Six years old. First grade. Teacher across the room. That question was the first time I truly understood I had a hearing loss. Not because someone told me. Because I figured it out myself.
Most people use the word "profound" casually. In audiology, it's the most severe category: you can't hear most sounds without amplification, and even with aids, significant gaps remain.
I didn't understand what that actually meant until well into adulthood.
https://lambdalynx.dev/profound-hearing-loss-classification/
At four, I was dressed in a sombrero and serape, holding a maraca, and had no idea what anyone was singing.
Even today, with modern hearing aids, I cannot hear lyrics in music. What looked like a distracted kid was the earliest sign of permanent hearing loss.
That preschool moment wasn't a phase. It was the beginning.