Dealing With Hearing Issues

Lack of public awareness of hearing loss in India--Shriya's story

As high schoolers, many may have friends or classmates suffering from hearing issues, ranging in type and severity. While they try their best to look "just like normal high schoolers," they face many more challenges in daily life.

Shriya Malu is a senior at Mountain View High School in California. She moved from India to the US six years ago as a sixth grader. She was diagnosed with hearing issues then and has faced many difficulties in life since then. "The problems for me are keeping up with conversations, not hearing clearly when people whisper, when their speech is not articulate, when I am in the back of the room in class, etc.," she confessed.

According to Shriya's mother, "...doctors [and resources] for ears were very scarce, and the most difficult thing was [looking] for insurance that covered hearing aids. It is tough to find the right hearing aid and the right doctor for her; the resources are not as available as they might be for glasses. In addition, getting an appointment for an audiologist took forever." They also told us about how she found out about her hearing problems. 

Her dad said, "My daughter had her first normal hearing test after she moved to America because, during that time, hearing check was uncommon in India. Also, because she only had a minor percentage of hearing loss, she still can hear everything [but] just not loudly."

Although hearing loss seems familiar to us living in the States, not everyone knows its symptoms and treatment. In India, where Shriya grew up, people did not have regular or even health checks, making dealing with her hearing loss difficult and new.

Challenges of dealing with hearing loss in rural Chinese cities--Harry's story

Harry is a seven year old boy living in Shenyang, China. Diagnosed with Microtia at a young age, he couldn’t hear well with one of his ears, and is incredibly sensitive to sounds with the other ear. These symptoms resulted in his maladaptiveness in chaotic environments, causing inconvenience in daily life. According to his mother, he is often confused and feels stressed within the presence of crowds.

Although Harry mostly leads a normal life, his hearing issues do cause him mental inconfidence and self-abasement as he grows up and realizes his unusualness. Through the years, he and his family alike have put in a lot of effort to overcome the pain of “being different.” 

Now, finally meeting the weight and height standards for an ear surgery, Harry is ready to face both the inner-ear functioning operation and treatments for the appearances of the ear. However, Harry’s family is struggling with the high medical bills of the treatments, and the lack of proficient doctors or hospitals in rural cities like Shenyang made the process even harder.

Interviewer: Amelia Guan

Author: Jennifer Liu