Sounds of Life | Pindrop Foundation

Derek Butcher

Mon, 30 May 2016 16:15:00 +1200

I enjoyed perfect hearing until my 50’s. At this time I was subjected to major industrial noise through my work. Even though I was wearing top grade ear protection I still experienced hearing loss and ringing in my ears. Through our regular hearing checks I found my hearing in both...

Christine Candy

Mon, 30 May 2016 16:14:07 +1200

I live in a very small town call Okaihau in the bay of islands, 20 minutes out of KeriKeri. I work on the farm and my passion is my horses. The worst part of not hearing was missing out on a lot of conversation. It was especially embarrassing when I would reply to someone with the wrong...

Apii Joseph

Mon, 30 May 2016 16:12:09 +1200

I started losing my hearing 40 years ago and over the years it got worse, and worse and worse. Eventually my hearing loss was so severe and profound I could no longer hear with the help of hearing aids. Communicating was really difficult and I had to rely on lip reading. This was not...

Michael Allen

Mon, 30 May 2016 16:09:07 +1200

I was born profoundly deaf and wore hearing aids from a very young age. I couldn’t hear much with my hearing aids so I relied on lip reading and my incredibly supportive family to get through those early years. My biggest struggles were in group conversations and following what people were...

Mark

Mon, 30 May 2016 16:07:49 +1200

I lost most of my hearing in a rugby accident at the age of ten and wore a hearing aid. As a boy I was devastated not to play any contact sports and also had difficulty developing friendships, especially as a teenager. Later, however I formed a successful business and became very outgoing...

Viola

Mon, 30 May 2016 16:05:08 +1200

I was born in Germany and lost my hearing in one ear due to chicken pox at 15 months. After immigrating to New Zealand with my family aged 13, my hearing suddenly got worse. The hardest thing was not being able to hear conversations at family gatherings. Talking to 1-2 people at a time was...

Josie Calcott

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:57:28 +1200

I lost my hearing when I was about two years old due to chickenpox. A hearing test revealed my hearing loss was severe to profound. I wore hearing aids from about the age of 3 years old and I learned to cope with my brilliant lip-reading skills as I was 100% dependant on it. In my late 30s,...

Lyn Polwart

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:54:29 +1200

I had been a teacher, but as my hearing loss got steadily worse, I struggled more and more in the classroom. Then 10 years ago, I became severely deaf which robbed me of my career, my position in my family and society. I thought all hope was gone. Likening deafness to a living death is not...

Donna Quinn

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:47:00 +1200

I was born with a congenital progressive hearing loss for which I was fitted with bilateral hearing aids when I was 2 years old. When I reached my early twenties, my hearing progressively got to the point where the hearing aids were of no benefit. I had developed Meniere’s disease, which...

John Reweti Davis

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:44:52 +1200

I am of Ngā Puhi descent, and I received my cochlear implant in 2015. It changed my life. Life was tough before I received my implant because I had isolated myself from my friends and family. I thought I was useless and had cut myself off from everyone. I spent a lot of time in the bush and...

Aynsley Staessens

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:42:20 +1200

Hi, I’m Aynsley, a 32-year-old mum to three children, and together with my husband, we live in the beautiful city of Tauranga. I was born with a genetic severe hearing loss, however it wasn’t until I gave birth to my second daughter in 2011 that my hearing loss really began to...

Mariana Yip

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:23:41 +1200

I was born in New Zealand and my family came from China. So I am Kiwi-banana, (aka Kiwi-Chinese). Losing my hearing at first, I had no memories until I had surgery. After surgery, I suffered a lot and I believed that the hardest thing was to develop language. Speaking and writing...

Lynn Chen

Mon, 30 May 2016 15:20:17 +1200

Howdy Kiwiland! I'm Lynn, aged 23 from Auckland! Since my arrival on this planet, I had been immersed in the world of silence. Looking back, I am extremely appreciative that I had been given the opportunity to be a cochlear implant wearer at the age of 7. Since then, the Cochlear...

Ngaire Mathew

Mon, 30 May 2016 14:47:30 +1200

My progressive hearing loss was already significant as a child. I was determined not to let it stop me fulfilling my ambitions and became a physiotherapist and practiced until my late forties when my deafness forced me to retire. As my hearing became worse I became increasingly...