Hello and welcome. My name is Jean-Pierre, better known now by my friends as JP. I was born and educated in northern France. I went to University in Lille and after an internship in London in the early 1980’s, my English Wife and I moved to Paris for 4 years. After that I worked most of my life in London for a range of financial institutions, travelling across Europe some of the time.
For the last 40 or so years, I have lived in Kent and am now a proud grandfather. Retired for 6 years, I love reading, cycling, walking, taking photos, studying Spanish and cooking. I like to support children and wildlife charities. I am fortunate to have a great number of lovely friends with whom I like to spend time and there are not enough hours in the day for projects in hand.
Ten years ago I started to notice a loss of hearing in both ears but at the time, I paid little attention to it. However, over the years it got worst and today I would not cope well without my hearing aids. I prefer to see my friends face-to-face as we can understand each other better but I am also okay using online audio and video communication tools such as Zoom. My hearing aids are now Bluetooth enabled and what a massive difference this makes!
My hearing loss is probably of genetic origin from my father’s side, except this happened to me at a much younger age. My audiograms show a sensorineural loss moving from moderate loss in lower frequencies to severe in the high frequencies in both ears.
The ENT specialist explained that having sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) meant that there is damage either to the tiny hair cells in my inner ears or to the nerve pathways from my inner ear to the brain. I do not wish my hearing loss to dominate my life and so I am determined to pursue my preferred activities, carefully thinking if I am doing new stuff, especially if others are involved.
I am new to blogging and doing it in English is an extra challenge since my mother tongue is French. My English teacher would have fainted if she had known that. I was bad at writing in French and terrible at English, so please bear with my limited style.
The reality is that I am finding writing a blog a fascinating way to learn. My aim is that I would like to see this blog used as a forum to educate and empower individuals to never give up. To achieve this I will share my experience with the reader and collect stories from friends. These will add colour and diversity to this blog.
The rationale for creating this blog?
Here are some of my reasons
- To explain what hearing loss feels like i.e a form of advocacy.
- To learn from each other, through dialogue.
- To better understand issues such as cognitive impairment, and risk of isolation.
- To look at and discuss new technology.
- To share ideas on how to better cope mentally and physically (mindfulness, walking etc.)
- To explore creative ideas – painting, writing, photography etc…
- To have fun doing it
Conversation with the cynical myself
Many questions crossed my mind while creating this blog. My cynical side plays here the role of the devil’s advocate.
Hi JP, why are you bothering to write all these stories, it is happening to a lot of older folks.
Well, unless one speaks up about this invisible disability, no one cares. The implications of hearing loss are significant both at work and at home. Our hearing is essential for maintaining relationships and connections with friends and family. Without good hearing, you can’t fully participate in team and community activities, and experience life events. The hearing gives us this wonderful ability to engage, listen, laugh, and enjoy many of the things that help shape our quality of life.
My loss of hearing is not so bad that it hinders my ability to experience many of life’s cherished moments, such as hearing a loved one’s voice or laughter, but it impacts my ability to participate in meaningful conversations with family and friends. It stops me from hearing the sounds of nature or listening to my favourite music or sports on TV. If I am not careful this can lead to feelings of social isolation, depression, and chronic disease. So, I thought I needed to react and think about all this and, so far, I feel rather reassured with what I have found.
Very capable organisations speak already on behalf of hard-of-hearing people so what are you adding?
True, The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) is a large national charity that does a magnificent job of helping people with hearing loss or tinnitus. There are many others and I welcome it. I like the idea of sharing my own experience so others can benefit from it.
Equally, while doing my research, I have been surprised by the paucity of blogs written by hard-of-hearing folks like me. There are millions of us but few will actually write about it. The invisible disability is even more invisible than I expected it to be. Which, in effect, is great as there is so much more to do.
