Leigh Tweedie is founder of Alkera Plus, the company that manufactures my company’s drying jars. In this guest post she tells of her journey back to hearing.

I am writing this as someone who was born hearing then went deaf to the point of profound deafness. I now hear through a cochlear implant and hearing aid. I grew up in a loving family with no family history of deafness so it was a bit unexpected when at the age of 18 I started to go deaf.  This was the beginning of so many changes in my life. Deafness did not happen suddenly for me, however I was fitted with two hearing aids when I was 18 soon after being diagnosed with a ‘sensory neural loss.’  This was about 40 years ago…. yes you’ve worked out how old I am. Hearing aid technology was very basic compared with what we have today with digital hearing aids. The hearing aids either made things louder or softer and often ‘whistled’ with feedback if they were turned up too loud.  Adjustments were simply a matter of fine-tuning by the audiologist with a little screw driver that seemed to do the trick. Life went on but it became increasingly difficult for me to hear. As most people with a hearing impairment will tell you, understanding speech in background noise can become very difficult.  Meeting a friend for coffee in a shop with the older style cappuccino machine was almost out of the question, as were other noisy venues or with a large group.

We have three beautiful daughters and I did miss so many of the baby sounds, the lovely sucking sounds as they breastfed and cuddled up to you. As they grew up, we adjusted as a family to the fact I just couldn’t hear very well, it was not really such a big deal. As my deafness progressed I knew that my speech was becoming different.  It was something to do with the ‘s’ and ‘t’ sounds especially, also the way I projected my voice from the throat.  Often people would ask me where I came from as it sounded a bit like an accent but it came as a crunch for me when someone asked me if I had a new set of teeth! Even though my hearing aids were regularly upgraded to more powerful ones, it reached the point that life in a hearing world was becoming very difficult for me.  I have always been a good talker but I became quite withdrawn in a crowd in case I said something that was nothing to do with the conversation. Missing the punch line of jokes was frustrating and I didn’t want to laugh if I didn’t get it. I found I got very tired by the end of the day as lip-reading and observing body language and other visual clues to communicate takes a lot of effort.

My family and close friends were wonderful. It was just the way I was and we all adapted as life went on.  I was a graduate in Applied Science, I had a career in Food Research and then as an Industrial Microbiologist.  I also had a background in University lecturing. I accepted my increasing deafness but life was definitely becoming very different for me.

Some time ago and during ‘Hearing Awareness Week’ people from the Cochlear Implant Clinic (Vic Eye & Ear Hospital) were offering hearing tests so I gave it a go. This was the start of my journey to have a cochlear implant, one of the best decisions I have made in my life. The rest is history.  I clearly remember the day I was ‘switched on’ the day the speech processor was fitted. I made sure I had a handkerchief, as chances were it would be very emotional. The first sound that came to me was my own laugh then my husband talking also my case manager’s voice. It was quite amazing and overwhelming how could it be anything but! When we left the hospital there were lots of autumn leaves on the footpath, it was a happy moment to hear the sounds as I shuffled through them. The car indicator switch was such a clear, clicky sound, something I didn’t realise I had missed.  The lights on the dashboard had always told me when the indicator was on. I heard the e-tag beep for the first time as we drove home on the freeway.

After having the implant, I was then able to hear and appreciate so many sounds that I had forgotten. The sounds of gravel under my shoes, the rustle of newspapers, birdcalls, running water and so many more sounds. I was astonished how much noise I made when going to the toilet!  I had never known reversing trucks made a warning sound.  There were so many beeps in our lives that were not there 30 years ago – mobile phones, microwave ovens, low battery warning on smoke alarms; so many sounds in our daily lives that were new to me. We have a cuckoo clock in our family room and used to put my hand on the wall to feel the vibrations when I was winding it. This told me how many times the cuckoo came out and was easier than looking directly upwards. Very soon after having the cochlear implant, I heard the tick of this clock from the front door something I found quite astonishing. My speech gradually improved with time as I heard my voice properly again. This happened without any speech therapy, although this was suggested. Something I found hard to adjust to was looking directly at people’s eyes again. I had been so used to looking at lips to see what they were saying it became hard for me to have eye contact. I now feel comfortable with this but I had to work at it.

I had always enjoyed music when I was younger and disappointingly, I was unable to hear music when I had the cochlear implant.  Music sounded like ‘white noise’ to me, rather like having the radio on between stations. I continued to play CD’s while driving in the car, playing them over and over hoping I might be able to hear music again. This happened about six months after surgery and remarkably everything came together at once and the music was very clear to me.  The CD was Time to Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman, a beautiful piece to hear again. This was explained to me as the brain’s neuroplasticity or ability to re-organise neural pathways to compensate for injury.  

I realise how lucky I am to hear so well again and I can now appreciate the ‘sounds of life.’ It is not just the big changes in hearing and understanding speech, I have found it has helped me to appreciate the sounds of life that I had just taken for granted until they weren’t there. I can only say my life has been enriched by going deaf and with the medical breakthroughs such as cochlear implants.

I have now established a business Alkera Plus that manufactures ‘Sound-n-Dry’ a hearing aid storage kit. We are proud to have Blamey Saunders hears as a key customer. My husband and I also run a retail and wholesale business Accent Framing that includes an art gallery. I really enjoy the customer contact, something I could never have done 15 years ago … or even thought of doing then.

It is also great to come home, take off my ‘ears’ and have a bit of peace.

Leigh Tweedie