How many of you wear hearing aids or cochlear implants? Do you like the way they look—do you show them off with gusto?
Join me in my new awareness campaign
SHOW ME YOUR EARS
To Promote Deaf and Hearing Loss Community Awareness
The idea is simple:
1) Take a picture of your ears, hearing aids, and/or cochlear implants. Even if you don’t wear anything in your ears, take a picture.
2) Click Here to email your photo to Lipreading Mom. Include the subject line: Show Me Your Ears. Include your first name, name of your hearing aids or cochlear implant product (if applicable), and how long you have worn them.
3) Watch my blog in the coming weeks. Your photo may be featured!
Sounds easy, doesn’t it?
I am also promoting Show Me Your Ears on Facebook and Twitter (#ShowMeYourEars). Please visit my pages, and help spread the word by sharing this page with your friends.
I have blogged extensively about my progressive hearing loss on this site and my initial reluctance to wear hearing aids or show them off to anyone. I was afraid of what people would think about them. Would they think I was unable to communicate with them? Would they ignore me?
I made a decision: I am going to embrace my hearing loss. I’m going to show my hearing aids to the world. And so I do!
Here is a post I wrote a while back about my initial fear of showing my ears….
It took me two years before I’d let this much of myself show.
My bottle blonde hair
and palette of cosmetics
usually help me blend in with the other moms
who drive their children to sporting events
on a warm summer afternoon.
I turn the wheel,
hoping to avoid the stark reflection
that stares back in the rearview mirror.
A profile of me with the low ponytail says it all:
There is something different about me.
I am wearing hearing aids…
You Don’t Have to Have Hearing Loss to Show Me Your Ears!
“Showing you my ears! I have a brother who lost hearing in one of his ears after getting hit in the ear by a playground ball in elementary school. I have to remember that he turns his head to hear others when they speak. I love what you’re doing.” -Elizabeth, open-heart surgery survivor
Read What This Mom Had to Say about Show Me Your Ears
“I am 36 years old with a progressive loss that started at birth but was not diagnosed until age 10. First hearing aids were received at age 10, but refused to wear them throughout high school and college. I embraced implantation because I wanted to hear my children laugh. Implanted with a Nucleus Esprit 3g when I was 25. My son was 2 and daughter 6 months old. I can hear my children laugh, birds sing, rain on the window, and much much more. Whoever knew hearing could sound so beautiful? Be proud and SHOW THOSE EARS!” -Corby
SHOW ME YOUR EARS– THESE FOLKS HAVE!
M. Dank proudly wears this tattoo behind his ear and hearing aid. It is translated: “No man is more deaf than he who doesn’t listen.” So true!
The Phonak Facebook page posted this clever ear photo found on Pinterest. “Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. What do you think of this Steampunk inspired Hearing Aid?” Phonak asked its followers. Lipreading Mom thinks it rocks!
Young Sawyer enjoys dinner while showing off his cool bionic-looking Phonak Versatas and Spidey earmolds. Now that’s what I call eating with style!
David Villegas shared his photo with Lipreading Mom via her Facebook page. Cool!
Pam Herlacher from Oklahoma doesn’t have hearing LOSS at this point; she has hearing recruitment. “This is what my ears look like because of hearing sensitivity,” she writes. “I am blessed by your dedication Miss Shanna! ” Thank you for your support, Pam.
Christina Scardini displays her beauty for #ShowMeYourEars.
Kayla Kidwell has worn hearing aids since she was 8. Lipreading Mom loves her confident smile, don’t you?
Can you spy @WyndhamMisio’s hearing aid in this photo he tweeted for #ShowMeYourEars?
Laura Hartwell wears Starkey Xino Tinnitus hearing aids to
help with progressive sensorineural hearing loss that is mild to
moderately severe. “I’ve had the new hearing aids for about 3 months now
and I can hear birds, music sounds good again, and I can understand what
people are saying again! ” she writes. “I’m so thankful for my lil hearing helpers.”
Amy Gaithersburg just got her new hearing aids. Her Facebook post reads: “The beauty of the sounds arounds us appreciate it while you can hear it! Cause once it’s gone you forget about the sounds you once heard.” Amen to that!
Joyce Edminston with the blog XpressiveHandz writes, “Respect the terms people choose for themselves-whether they choose deaf, Deaf, Hard of Hearing or Hearing Impaired.” We couldn’t agree more, Joyce.
Q, age 3, shows off her pink Phonak hearing aids and her girly-girl style. Love that sweet smile, too!
Here’s Q wearing some more pretty ear bling!
Cal, age 4, wears bilateral AB cochlear implants. Doesn’t he look handsome?
Little Zoey proves you are never too young to proudly prose for Show Me Your Ears. Her dad, Kyle, shared this photo via Facebook…and he is so thrilled to share his little girl off to the world. So are we!
Luke shared his ear photo via Twitter. All you have to do is tweet your photo with this message: “Here’s my ear pic for #ShowMeYourEars @LipreadingMom.com.” Will you?
Elizabeth Simmons, age 19, has worn Phonak hearing aids for 17 years. Love that smile!
Kevin received his ReSound hearing aid as a gift from a family member. He is one happy camper now!
Sarah Ann proudly wears her silver hearing aids after having worn blue, green, and purple aids over the years. “Time to match my hair!” she jokes.
Rachel, who is 32, lost 70% hearing in both ears and has worn Audina hearing aids for a month. She writes, “Thank you for steering me in the direction of @LipreadingMom. I’ve been alone in my struggle. It’s nice too see there’s a network.”
Hiren Madan, from Delhi,India, has worn hearing aids for 19 years. In the photo, he shows off his Widex Clear330 hearing aids. Hiren writes, “I love your blog and it is great place to unite people like us on one platform.”
A day early for my April bling. I can already tell I'm going to have to come home after Easter services and exchange for a smaller butterfly! All this hair and 'wings' and wind do not work well!"” width=”551″ height=”734″ class=”size-full wp-image-2540″ /> Denise writes, “A day early for my April bling. I can already tell I’m going to have to come home after Easter services and exchange for a smaller butterfly! All this hair and ‘wings’ and wind do not work well!”
Can you see Victor’s Starkey hearing aid?
Michaela shows off her bone-anchored hearing aids (BAHAs) worn on a headband.
Six-year-old Harry has worn hearing aids since he was four months old. We love his glow-in-the-dark ear molds…and his Lego creation!
Elizabeth got married, Show Me Your Ears style!
My, what lovely hearing aids Elizabeth the bride has…
Elizabeth shows off her new ‘ear.’
Who says you can’t have fun with your hearing aids, like Dan does here?
Three-year-old Madeleine was diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural moderate-to-severe hearing loss and has worn hearing aids since the age of six months. Here she is enjoying a snack and her favorite TV show “Art & Paint.”
This baby girl is ‘Pretty in Pink’…hearing aids, that is.
“As promised, here is the photo of my hearing aid,” writes the blogger known as justthehalfdeafgirl. “I made a crocheted cover for it, which is slipped over it in the photo. I clip it to my shirt. The cover makes it look larger than it is, and it doesn’t help that my ears are tiny! (Yes, I did paint polka-dots on my tube.)”
This 29-year-old father of two was recently implanted with an Advanced Bionics Neptune Cochlear Implant. Awesome!
Thomsen has worn hearing aids since he was age three. Read his cool blog interview with Lipreading Mom!
Tara Chevrestt is an author, editor, and former aviation mechanic. She has worn hearing aids since the age of 11. “My recent pair I’ve had less than a year,” Tara says. “I can connect them to the television and that is just awesome. I can hear things I haven’t heard before.” Follow Tara’s blog to learn more about her memoir, Hear Through My Ears.
Look at this 10-month-old cutie pie’s headband hearing aids and adorable smile!
Ten-year-old Matthew rocks his cool Phonak hearing aids for Show Me Your Ears!
Way to Show Us Your Ear, Ashley. Love the hand-written caption!
“This is my electronic hearing collection,” writes Dave. “Two hearing aids (the left aid transmits from deaf ear over to my right Aid), one remote Mic, one TV Bluetooth, and one around my neck program with volume and Bluetooth.”
Young Jaxson with his cochlear implant and football!
Eric writes, “I just watched your youtube video. Great job. I am glad you are becoming more and more comfortable with the hearing aids. As you know, I was always concerned what my work would think mostly and tried to get ones that blended in. Hard to do being bald, but I tried. I have to say, I love the bright blue hearing aids! I just got a new one in December and decided that I didn’t care anymore what people thought. I got a blue one also and plan on getting another blue one for the other ear next.” Way to go, Eric!
“I am a mom of three,” Nicole says. “My children were the ones who pointed out that I needed to get my hearing re-checked. Thank you so much for your awareness campaign!”
Nicole, a mom of three, shows off her “ears!”
Eric writes, “I am not a user of hearing aids but an audiologist. I came across your site through Facebook and I think it is great! Here is a picture of
my ear with Visible Speech hardware attached!” Check out Eric’s book, The Truth About Hearing Aids.
Dan wears a soccer ball Tube Rider on a red glitter silicone shell earmold, along with a Ferrari Red ReSound Verso 988 hearing aid. “And yes,” he notes, “those are grey hairs.”
“My name is Julie and I was born with Cerebral Palsy (CP) which has resulted in mild walking difficulties, and manual dexterity. I also have a speech and hearing impairment. “
Chris has been deaf since birth and is autistic. His mom, Noreen, writes, “He started out with hearing aids at 7 weeks old, then bilateral Freedom (cochlear implant) processors around 18 months old. He made the Freedoms “disappear” last year (age 6), and while we were waiting for his upgrades to the Nucleus 5, he made his own processors from paper!”
Makena the American Girl doll and her best human friend have a lot in common. They like the colors purple and pink… and they both love to Show Me Their Ears.
This sweet girl hopes to purchase an American Girl hearing aid for her doll, Kit, soon. They both love to Show Me Their Ears!
Sarah sent me her ear photo via Twitter. I think this is one of my favorite tweets ever. Don’t you agree?
Rocky says, “My hearing aids are named Jim in the left and Dave in the right. I’ve had them for about 10 years but needed them since I lost a very large part of my hearing in the army as a tank mechanic in the 1970s.” We salute you, Rocky!
Karen, who has a mild hearing loss, has worn Phonak Audeo Yes V hearing aids for about three years. Lookin’ good!
This nice man came up to me at church on Sunday and said, “I like Show Me Your Ears. Wanna see mine?” He pulled out his hearing aids for all to see… Merry Christmas!
Can’t you just feel the Christmas love from Tommy’s smile and hands?
My friend, Melany, and I performed a sign language rendition of “O Holy Night” the Sunday before Christmas at church. Here she is, waiting to go on stage.
Stevie from the UK really blinged up her hearing aids for the holidays.
Proudly wearing a cochlear implant, Chris Kurz is the technology innovations coordinator at sComm, developer of the UbiDuo device for the Deaf and hard of hearing. Lipreading Mom is honored to use the UbiDuo at home and will blog about her experiences soon.
Marilyn shows off her Oticon Agil Pro hearing aids at her daughter’s wedding. She has worn them since 2004.
“This is Alex, my nephew, and my son Kevin,” writes reader Alan Tisch. “Due to cytomegalovirus (CMV), Alex was born deaf. It wasn’t until after his 1st birthday that doctors were able to identify the severity of his hearing loss and suggest cochlear implants. Alex’s speech has developed rapidly due to the therapies he is provided in conjunction with the implants.As you can tell from this picture, the cousins are as close as can be. The implants have never registered as anything but normal for Alex’s cousins and family. Alex is incredibly smart, he is extremely tech savvy, even at three years old. In fact, Alex has educated our entire family with the use of sign (language) and the tools he learns through speech therapy techniques.”
Niall, 7, has been wearing hearing aids since the age of 16 months old. His ear molds feature a Batman design. Cute Snowman, too!
Joanie was implanted with a Cochlear Nucleus 5 two years ago and wears a Phonak Naida hearing aid in her other ear. She has worn hearing aids all her life.
Bosley is the 7-year-old hearing dog of Rev. Catherine O’Connor from Ontario, Canada. Read Bosley’s story here.
Dean from Lancaster, UK, was newly diagnosed with hearing loss and received his hearing aids just three months ago. Follow his blog Halfwayhere.co.uk/.
Zoey, a service dog, and her human friend, Leann, show off a fluffy ear.
Charlotte from the UK has worn her hearing aids for 19 years. As a toddler, her parents learned she was deaf.
Sam (in blue swim cap) wears his cochlear implants at the swim start in a triathlon.
At the wedding of Todd and Abbie Hlavacek (couple at left), friends with cochlear implants from Advanced Bionics joined together in showing off their bionic ears. Todd received his implants in January 2010 and January 2012, Abbie in August 2007, Gregg Hlavacek (center), Jennifer Thorpe (second from right) in November 2007, and audiologist Tina Childress in August 2000 and December 2005. Way to SHOW ME YOUR EARS, friends!
China has worn an in the canal hearing aid since the sixth grade and received her second hearing aid as an adult.
“I wish I could attach the wonderful jewelry and decorations that others have on their hearing aids, but there is nowhere to attach them! Despite the fact that I have short hair and often point out my hearing aids to people, they seldom see them. Next time I purchase hearing aids, I’ll get them in a sparkly, bright color.” -Lindsey
“My son, Gavin. wears his first hearing aides, received on Valentine’s Day 2012. He was born severely hard of hearing in both ears. Even the doctors don’t know why. He’s a smart little man, and I wouldn’t change a thing about him!” -Gavin’s Mom, Erica
“Hearing Loss Association of America-Washington State (HLA-WA) was having the summer board meeting in the newly looped auditorium of the Bellevue Arts Museum. This gentleman was simply visiting the museum when he followed the HLA-WA way finding signs over to our meeting. You can see my hearing aid and you can see he is wearing the headphones of his pocket talker OVER his ears and with his hearing aids! He was very determined to communicate; put the microphone right up to each speaker’s mouth!” -Cheri
Ruth proudly wears her hearing aids, which are 16 years old. She has been deaf all 26 years of her life.
My friend, Sherry, lives with a profound hearing loss and Meniere’s Disease, a balance and hearing disorder. Lipreading Mom is honored to call her a friend!
Jeff, who has a sudden and profound hearing loss, received his hearing aids today. Thank you, Jeff, for SHOWING ME YOUR EARS!
Can you see Leslie’s tiny behind the ear hearing aid?
“I was born with hearing loss. Within the last few years it has progressively gotten worse, to the point even with my hearing aid, I hear NOTHING. I decided it was finally time to get a cochlear implant, and I am pleased with it. Going for my next one in December. But my ears… are still my eyes.” -Ash
Ash’s cochlear implant
Ash’s cochlear implant (right) and hearing aid
Kathy adorns her cochlear implant with the first decorative charm ever made for a CI by 13-year-old Hayleigh of Hayleigh’s Cherished Charms Simply beautiful!
Vivie received her cochlear implant in May 2008. She is also a cancer survivor.
The beautiful Jamie writes: “I’ve been told I should have cochlear implants in both ears, but at the moment have no hearing aids at all due to financing (my last pair of hearing aids ‘died’). Up until the last six months, I wore hearing aids since 1997, though I could have used them in the 1980s (I denied my hearing loss to myself and others until I was 18). The last six months without hearing aids at all, I’ve been learning to get by on lip reading, writing, and miming like a fool! Thanks for the great blogs! You bring me up when I’m down.” Thank you, Jamie, for SHOWING YOUR (BEAUTIFUL) EARS!
Hearing aids are worn by Jennifer Morris’ two gorgeous daughters. Thank you girls for SHOWING ME YOUR EARS!
Monica Hood is founder of Deaf-Insight.com, a site that celebrates the Deaf culture. Lipreading Mom is honored to blog every Saturday for Deaf Insight. Thanks, Monica, for SHOWING YOUR EARS!
JJ the Mime, who is Deaf, has performed pantomime all over the world. Lipreading Mom has the pleasure of knowing JJ and saw him perform recently at the Deaf Culture Center in Kansas. Check out his site www.jjmime.com.
Drew Valerie Bagtas, age 7, received her cochlear implant in July 2012. Doesn’t she look adorable?
“My older son Isaac just finished a lesson in preschool about ears and made these wonderful ears sported by his little brother, Lucas. It says ‘I hear with my ears’”. -Isaac’s Mom
“This is a photo from my senior year of high school (1993). I remember being mortified when the photos came back and I realized that I had forgotten to remove my hearing aid for my senior photos. Now I am older and much more comfortable with who I am.” -Bonnie Jean
“I’m Melissa., age 22, and from England, United Kingdom. I have had my cochlear implant for 12 years. I was diagnosed as severely to profoundly deaf at 9 months old due to prematurity and ototoxic medication.”
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Elizabeth
Corby
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This is a beautiful project!
This truly was a great idea Shanna! I love how proud you all are!
Monica – Thank you! I look forward to seeing your ear photo soon!
Thank you, Christina! Please send me your ear photo, and I’ll be happy to post it.
What a fun post, Shanna, and a reminder of Creator God and the amazing ears He designed!
Thank you, RJ. All ears are beautiful!
Wonderful post and glad is so popular. I have mentioned about this and your campaign on my blog. So to many more.
Thank you for spreading the word, Liz! Please share your blog link with us.
Your welcome. Here it is.
http://lizsdeafblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lipreading-mom-new-campaign-show-me.html
Thanks, Liz!
Brilliant.
Thank you, Ian!
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Psalm 139:14a
God makes us all unique and special. Wow!
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Beautiful ears will send my daughter’s also
Thank you, Annabel!
What a wonderful site. I would love to become more invovled in advocacy for hearing aid and cochlear implant pride. I work in special education at the high school level, so I’m well aware of the stigma associated with hearing aids and other assistive devices. Let me know how I can help you in this endeavour.
Show those ears!
Corby
I love your ears! Thank you for sending me your photo, Corby!
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This is a great site. Thank you Shannon for doing this. I had a terrible time being self conscious of my hearing aids growing up.
Joe King
Thank you, Joe. Wear your ears with CONFIDENCE.
Great pics. Just sat here with Kiersta and talked about all the wonderful ears together. LOL- we just went over ears of corn in av therapy this week.
Alex and Kiersta – BIG hugs to both of you!
Shanna
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http://10marifet.org/imaj/betula/ear-ring.jpg
http://www.thefashionpolice.net/2011/09/ear-fashion-calourette-ear-ring.html/calourette-ear-ring
Thought you might get a kick out of these. ^.^
Cool ears…thanks for sharing.
Hehe
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I love all of them. These are really cool. Thank you for posting mine though I have a really boring color. Trust me that will change soon.
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I can’t afford new ones..my old one broke…
Michelle – There are several programs out there to help with hearing aid financial assistance, such as Starkey Hearing Foundation, State Vocational Rehabilitation Department, Sertoma, and Kiwanis. Google “hearing aid financial assistance” to find out more. Don’t give up until you get those hearing aids provided for you!
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My mom took a picture of my ears for this and I was so excited to see my picture on this page. I told her she couldn’t take the picture until I was sure ears would look fine so she couldn’t take the picture until homecoming night:) I am in high school and I never really had a problem with showing my ears (which is what my dad calls our hearing aids anyways) and I cannot wait until I get my next aids because I am planning on having them be Neon green:) I also asked for hearing aid charms for Christmas so I am anticipant of being able to show those off as well:) I loved seeing everyone’s aids and CIs and y’all gave me some great ideas for molds. Keep on proudly showing those ears!
Megan – Thank you for proudly SHOWING ME YOUR EARS!
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When I get my hearing aid this school year (At long last! I am seventeen and failed my first hearing test in kindergarten.) I will most definitely send a picture!
@JusttheHalfDeafGirl – Thanks for commenting. Yes, please send me your photo!
Thanks for posting my ear! it is not easy taking a photo with a phone when you are alone! What is visible behind my ear is my glasses. The hearing aid is invisible. The wire is pretty shiny, though!
Karen – Thanks for proudly posing for SHOW ME YOUR EARS!
Having just got cochlear implant May of 2012 it occured to me in November that I shouldn’t be ashamed and hide it as I had grown my hair to cover it and didn’t like that. So now I am back to my short hair and it was in great part to reading posts from others who had felt the same way and decided these were nothing to be ashamed of and to show them off… thanks for this opportunity
Fiona – That is wonderful of you! I admire your courage and enthusiasm.
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I need to add some bling on my beige boring BTE HA.
Thanks for sharing you made my day. Will post one soon…
You are very welcome, Jennifer!
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How do you leave a picture here? I have a few of my sons to share.
Chrissy – You can email them to sgrovesuss(at)msn(dot)com, subject line: Show Me Your Ears. Thanks so much!
A very very good idea
HA companies creates “invisible” HA. A great nonsense!!!
If you stand by your hearing impairment, you must not hide your HAs.
You can be beautiful and self-conscious in spite of wearing HAs
A nonsense indeed. HA companies are run by blinkered non-deaf who are driven by media hype that hearing loss and HAs should be invisible. Wrong! Shanna is leading the way, we must get behind her.
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Did I forget to send you a photo of my ears?? How do I send it to you?
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Great blog, I just stared blogging, hoping to be as good as you one day!
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