#please...?

Anything- thoughts, questions, I don't know. M-maybe even stuff with my Fire knight Bertrand too of maybe anyone's interested in him, or him and Messmer interacting or just anything I just...

I literally just came here AGAIN to request this. Like please we exist...it's not something only old people struggle with.

Hearing impairment types in case you're not aware of:

Scale of gravity: light, moderate, severe and profound (there's cofosis)

Hearing loss/deafness can be bilateral or unilateral (both ears or just one)

Partial, mixed, total, light

Neurossensorial hearing loss/deafness: caused by injuries to the inner ear and/or auditory nerve.

Conductive hearing loss: external or internal ear problem.

Mixed hearing loss: combined with neurossensorial and conductive impairment.

Alteration of central auditory function: Impediment of the perception of sound patterns. The causes may not be related to the ears.

SCALE: light → person struggles with hearing sounds under 30 decibels.

Moderate → person can't hear sounds under 50 decibels.

Severe → person can't hear sounds under 80 decibels.

Profound → Person can't either hear any sound or can't hear sounds under 95 decibels.

"but nana, how can I know when a person might have to use sign language or hearing aids?"

It'll depend on the case. From moderate to profound, the person might have to resort to sign language or aids.

In moderate cases the person might need the hearing aids and can mix oral language with sign language.

From severe to profound, hearing aids, cochlear implant, surgery and sign language/gestures are required in most cases.

Some hearing impairments can be temporary, like conductive ones (due to wax buildup, for example) but others such as neurossensorial or the ones that are caused by any eardrum perforation, are permanent and can hardly be reversed. They're gradual, progressive, irreversible, permanent and the chances of fully losing your hearing are high.

"so if my character is losing their hearing gradually, how does it work?"

If there's any medical treatment/monitoring, they'll have to go through it. At least in my country, there's exams you need to do quite often to check how it's going, further concerns, regulation of the hearing aids volume (if the person needs or wears a pair). A person who's gradually losing their hearing might be or get depressed, isolate and struggle emotionally. This loss is not "oh my God...oh no, it's going so fast!!" In all cases. In some, it's slower and the treatment can help slowing or "stopping" the loss. If your character was born deaf, then I'm not sure I can help because I do not have experience with it, but otherwise, I do.

I'll research more on the other conditions besides mine so I can keep begging here on Tumblr thank you. "But x thing you said is wrong-" I'll correct myself when I get more information, but about my condition, I do have more knowledge.

Thank you for reading my Ted talk.