Does anyone else feel that their hearing loss affected their personality?
I feel like I would be a lot different without my hearing loss. If I could hear, I would be more outgoing. Instead, I prefer to hang out in small groups and come across as quiet in large groups simply because I'm trying to hear all the conversations. Lately, I've been doing a lot of self-reflection and realized my hearing loss has had an huge impact on my personality and passions. Another example is how I'm such a homebody and enjoy being in quiet places. I would never be able to live in a city or be surrounded by people all the time. I also looove reading and I credit that to the fact I've grown up reading captions on the TV. As a result my reading speed is immaculate haha.
Ironically, I find myself to be a better listener than talker because I've been self conscious of my speech or saying the wrong thing. I've taken many speech classes growing up and almost no one can detect my "deaf accent" until I tell them I'm deaf. It's actually funny because a lot of people think I have an accent because I'm from Boston, hahaha.
Professionally, I'm an interior designer for an architectural firm in Boston. I'm passionate about interior spaces and how they're designed aesthetically and spatially. Growing up, I've always been very observant of my surroundings due to my hearing loss. I love designing spaces and feel that I have an eye for it because of my heightened sense of sight.
Does anyone else feel their hearing loss has played a big factor in shaping them into the person they are today?
My initial thought is that not having hearing loss could have made my interpersonal communication easier. This might have potentially resulted in a different social life and could have possibly led to a deeper connection with the music of my time, from the Beatles to Leonard Cohen and beyond. Music might have played a more prominent role in my daily life.