By: Mia Kologranic
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| Shay Brown, a current student at Georgia Southern, explains her first trip to the hospital to get her ear tubes removed at 6 years old. Shay struggles from hearing loss and as of May this year, she has to wear a hearing aid in both ears. |
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| Shay explains further that she went to the hospital because she struggled with constant ear infections which lead to the removal surgery. The constant ear infections were a cause of her old babysitter blowing cigarette smoke directly into her ears when she was only a few months old. |
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| To go about her day and be able to have conversations, Shay opens the box her hearing aids came in so she can begin to prep them for use. “It gets annoying sometimes because it prolongs my routine to get ready in the mornings,” said Brown. |
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| She looks for all the supplies needed to get her hearing aids cleaned. Brown stressed how important it is to clean them often so they don’t get damaged and can continue to work properly. |
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| Shay starts to carefully and meticulously clean her aids one by one. “They are so small and can be really hard to clean,” said Brown. “You have to be careful because you can’t apply too much pressure.” |
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| She takes a looped wire tool from her kit to scrape out any debris from the headphone portion of her aid. This is the piece that will actually go into her ear canal and help her hear more clearly. |
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| Shay makes a few final cleaning motions before her aids are ready for use. This cautious process of cleaning is one of the few effective ways of making sure the aids hold up for a long while. |
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| The clean, ready to use aids rest on top of the box they came in. Shay chose behind the ear style aids because they are less noticeable and provide more comfort. Comfort was an important factor because she wears them all day. |
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| Shay places one aid in, making sure it’s adjusted correctly and fits well. The aids need to be secured tightly so they don’t fall out during her daily activities. |
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| She puts the second aid in and adjusts that one as well. Brown is still adjusting to wearing an aid in her left ear because up until recently, she only wore the one in her right ear. |
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| The aid sits almost completely out of sight upon her ear. “Growing up, I always felt like people were staring at my hearing aids and it was the first thing people noticed,” said Brown. “I’m glad to have these smaller ones because it’s not the first topic of conversation anymore.” |
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| Now that the hearing aids are in, Shay Brown must connect them to an app on her phone. This app allows the aids to pair to her phone through bluetooth connection. |
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| The app shows her what the volume is set at. Because this app is connected to her phone, she can hear her phone calls, facetimes, music, and any other sound that can be played from her phone in her hearing aids. |
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| Shay double checks her volume settings, noise filters, and all other settings one last time before she’s ready to go about her day. It’s a long process for her to be able to use her sense of hearing but she is very thankful she still gets to hear things. |
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| Because technology can be unpredictable, Shay has an emergency kit prepared at all times. Her kit includes extra batteries, wires, and some more cleaning tools. |
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| After the long process of preparing her hearing aids, Shay finally sits down to enjoy a movie. Even though the hearing aids work very well, she still watches with captions to ensure she doesn’t miss anything. Her professors even include captions during power-point or video lectures so she can always know what’s going on. |
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| Shay facetimes a friend of hers to catch up and talk. Facetime is a huge form of mediated communication for her because it allows her family and friends to be able to sign to her as well as allows Shay to read other’s lips so she can understand them clearly. |
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| Shay is mid-sign while on her facetime call. “I appreciate all my friends and family who have gone the extra mile to learn ASL to help our communication go more smoothly,” said Brown. “I know people get frustrated with me because sometimes I make them repeat themselves or something, but the ASL really helps to avoid that problem.” |
