#deaf ben

“ As it turns out, Rey is just what Ben needs.”

Setting his phone to the side, he reached for the hem of Hux’s t-shirt, lifting it up and over his head. Hux was narrow-ribbed and skinny compared to Ben’s breadth, but he wasn’t shy about it. He stayed kneeling on the mattress, facing Ben without shame. Gently, Ben put his hands around Hux’s waist, holding him lightly but with intention.

Hux let Ben approach him at his own pace, coming close enough to bump his long nose against Hux’s sternum. When Hux laid his hand at the back of Ben’s head, Ben turned to rest his cheek over Hux’s heart. He stayed there, perfectly still, for a while before he sighed deeply and began to nuzzle his way up to Hux’s shoulder, his neck, under his jaw.

Ben and Armitage have their date at The Millennium

From the very heart-warming fanfic, Allemande, a wonderful collab by the talented @gefionne and @koujaaku. Thank you to both for sharing this lovely story!

So anon I ain't an audiologist but I've certainly been to my fair share so I'll try to explain what I know.

Ben's level of hearing was measured by the doctor (I don't know if he was an audiologist or not), and generally people in that field can tell what a person's expected level of hearing is in the future because of it due to knowing facts about the patient (if your ears got blown off in an accident, for example).

Since Ben's hearing is at such a low level, and Ben is a patient who won't regain that hearing since ears don't work like that, the doctor can draw inferences and suggest different solutions to try and increase Ben's standard of living. When I first got tested as a kid, the audiologist looked at my chart and was like "she should probably get hearing aids" and that was that. So a hearing test isn't a diagnosing tool exactly for what type of hearing loss a person has, but from a doctor's experience they can look at results and realize that a) Ben's hearing effected by meningitis certainly isn't going to get better due to the damage and b) loss this profound in the other ear doesn't bounce back, and therefore he recommended the cochlear implant because he thought Ben should know his options.

HOWEVER. Here's a list of things I found that were inaccurate so far (other HOH/Deaf ppl feel free to add!)

- Ben should have his own audiologist, especially with the level of hearing he had before. He should get check ups annually and have an audiologist to report any issues, especially with his hearing aid, since it is NOT smooth sailing. I do hope they go back there and get a more professional opinion, because I think Jay and Lola didn't know/want to schedule and appointment with Ben's audiologist since they wanted immediate answers, but it should def be done.

- Ben should know what a hearing test is???? Since his hearing has been relatively the same since he was born, he should had them all throughout his childhood and not need it explained to him. Just kinda bugged me. They prob did it for the audience in case they didn't know, but still.

- They ALWAYS bring you into a sound proof room to do a hearing test. Always. Even when I went to a hospital and not to my audiologist, they have one to use to make sure the results are as accurate as possible. I guess the ee crew didn't want to make one but it struck me as so odd that they'd just do it in a middle of a room??? There is no WAY those results are completely accurate