Hearing is one of the most important senses we have as humans’ beings

and without being able to hear, life is not simple, nor it is easy. Individuals who

are deaf or hard of hearing are unfortunate to have quality communication with

others. There is a barrier-dividing people who are deaf from hearing people. Just

like hearing people, the deaf like to talk with others; Conversations can be difficult

for them, especially if they are trying to communicate with individuals who are not

familiar with the Deaf community or sigh language. Lack of communication inhibits

the interaction between people, so in order to overcome this barrier, people who

are deaf key in on socialization.

Experiencing what deaf people have to go through every single day in

their lives was not easy to practice. Wearing earplugs for eight hours was a new

experience that I learned a lot from. Having the ear plug in my ear canal created a

conductive hearing loss and it could be either congenital or acquired causes. These

causes can damage the shape of the pinna. The way I started interacting with people

around me was not the same, as well the way they acted towards me. A lot of them

were surprised that I was using my arms to point at things, and also wondering why

I am not responding when they are saying, “ How am I doing today”. Nodding my

head was not the answer they were expecting form me.

Communicating with others was not easy at all, and it took a lot of

hard work to tell people who are not familiar with the deaf community what I’m

trying to say. It definitely did not help me to be more active, it was the complete

opposite where it took me longer to communicate with others and have them

understand what I’m saying. A lot of individuals have never used sign language in

their lifetime, which was one of the barriers I was unable to communicate with

them. Especially when I’m not familiar with it. It’s obvious how people act towards

you when they know you cannot hear them, such as rising their voice in order to

them, or use more of their arm in order to signal something. Having an earplug did

not help me be more productive or have the same engagement with others like I

used to have. For example, going to the gym was an issue because I like to listen to

music the whole time to motivates me, I was unable to do so, as well driving around

I couldn’t hear the music, or in case an ambulance was coming from behind, so it

took me to be more alert around the things that is happening surrounding me.

Attempting to resolve the problem needed me to do some research and find out how

deaf people act when they have a situation similar to mine. For example, most

individuals set their alarm to wake up, unfortunately in the case of deaf people they

are unable to hear the sound when the alarm goes off, so in order to wake up, deaf

people set a vibrating alarm clock by their pillow so they can feel it vibrate in order

to wake up. Another example is when a deaf person alone at home and someone

rings the door bell, they are unable to hear it which makes it difficult for them to

know when someone is at the door, in that case most deaf individuals have a device

that will vibrates when anyone press the door bell which they carry on them all the

time when they are at home alone. Another issue is watching TV where they have to

read the captions in order to understand what is going on. Now a days most movies

and videos have captions so it’s not a big problems for most deaf people but it still

takes away from enjoying the movie.

The way others treated me was not the same when I was able to hear and

communicate with them normally. Most people were considerate of my deafness

and tried to help out as much as they can, the only problem was the communication

was not as easy as I thought it would be. It took a lot longer to understand what they

want, and to me to explain to them what I need. Most were not as encouraged to

have a conversation with me because it wasn’t as easy on them to use sign language

with me, or any other kind of communication ways. The way they looked at me was

not pleasant for the fact I am deaf. A lot of individuals knew how hard it is to live

without being able to listen to nature sounds or any other sounds and it’s clear how

considerate they are, but the fact is a lot of people now a days are too selfish to care

for others which makes it harder to find anyone to trust when you are in a situation

like this.

Wearing earplugs and doing the same activities I usually do on a

regular basis was not simple, in fact it was harder then I thought it would be. A lot

of people music what gets them through the toughest days, and that’s part of my

everyday life, going out for example and seeing all the people dancing and enjoying

the music except for me when I can’t hear anything or understand the words the

artist singing; it’s a tough life; but yet you still see deaf people live their lives

normally and happily just like anyone else that does not have a hearing problems.

Having the ear plugs in I had more motivation to accomplish tasks that I thought I

won’t be able to, it made me think of how fortunate I am to have the ability to

communicate with others and be able to listen to the sound of nature. A lot of others

have it worse then me, so I should not complain when I encounter a problem,

instead I should always thank God for what he has given me. It really does put more

faith in someone’s sole when they experience a problem first hand. It made me view

myself as a responsible person who I should work harder then ever before because

others are not fortunate as me to be able to communicate with others and make

friends as easy as me which is an important part of life. I feel the experience

definitely made me feel positive about myself and have more respect to the deaf

community as well others who are not able to live as normal as everyone else. Not

being able to remove the ear plug I would have spend more time around others who

can relate to my experience because it would have been easier for us to

communicate and relate to each others problems which makes sense why we

always see people who have the same problems always together. Having

individuals who have the same problems as me will always help me get over it, or at

least relate to it and advice me in the right direction.

A lot of the experiences I encountered were at noisy and quiet places such

as at the bars and library. While being out I had the earplugs on for a few hours and

communicating with friends was not simple at all. But while being at the library I

felt that it actually helped me a lot to not listen to the voices around me and it did

not distract me as much. I even know individuals who bring earplugs with them

to the library in order to focus more on what they are doing. The fact that many

individuals lack the usage of sign language as well as me made it almost impossible

to guess what I want, or what they were telling me. Just communicating with others

was not easy, and it made things harder to accomplish. In my opinion, this kind of

experience is a must be done by others just so they can experience and learn the

hard times people who are unfortunate to understand what they have to go through

on a daily basis and become more caring to them and try to help them out. We will

never be able to experience the hardships those unfortunate individuals had to go

through because we only tried it for 8 hours, imagine trying it for the rest of your

life, so it’s important for people who are fortunate enough to have the ability to hear

to learn how to accommodate the deaf community and help them out as much as