Deaf Awareness Week: 5 Surprising Facts About Life With Single-Sided Deafness
This week is Deaf Awareness Week!
Deaf Awareness Week is an opportunity to highlight how hearing loss affects daily life and to share ways others can offer meaningful support. Being deaf brings unique challenges—practical, emotional, and social—that not everyone will experience or fully understand.
This Deaf Awareness Week, I’m bringing attention to Single-Sided Deafness (SSD), a type of unilateral hearing loss, where a person has no or limited access to sound in one ear.
The life-changing impact of hearing loss
Was your hearing loss life-changing? Mine certainly was, and it's not surprising really. Our hearing plays a big part in the way we interact with the world. Before my hearing loss, I relied on my hearing, without realising its value.
My crystal clear bilateral hearing enabled me to detect and locate the smallest of utterances in my classroom. Conversation came easily, without struggle or strain. Overlapping voices or background music didn’t bother me and didn't impact my ability to socialise.