Though Coronavirus has made life more difficult
for hard of hearing people, like myself, it has certainly increased awareness for the deaf and
hard of hearing. Welcome to my channel today. If you're new, my name is Emily, I created Definite
Hearing as a way to increase awareness for the deaf and hard of hearing, I hope you'll stick
around to the end of this video because if you do, I'm going to share how Coronavirus helped
me build this channel, in today's video I'm going to talk about how Coronavirus, though it's
been hard for us hard of hearing people, it has certainly increased awareness and helped hearing
people realize what we as hard of hearing people struggle with on a daily basis to communicate
and understand what's going on around us. Alright, so at the beginning of the pandemic,
masks were mandated across the world and with masks, hearing people and hard of hearing
people alike really struggled to communicate but specifically hearing people started to
realize like, “Wow, is this what hearing is like for hard of hearing people on a daily basis,
life is difficult when you cannot communicate.” And that is true. And so through the course
of Coronavirus more accessible masks were constructed, the most notable mask is probably the
ClearMask. ClearMask was actually created in 2017, but it wasn't until April 6, 2020 that the FDA
officially cleared ClearMask as the first fully transparent surgical masks that could be used in
hospital facilities, surgical centers, clinics, schools, retail spaces and so much more. This
FDA clearance, and ClearMask's product in general, have given rise to so many other wonderful
clear masks that have made it easier for hard of hearing people, and the deaf community, to
communicate,one of my favorite clear masks that was inspired by Coronavirus is the Bendshape
Mask. If you haven't heard of it, or tried it, I highly recommend it. Not only that, I created
a “How to make your own clear mask video”, and it got over 60,000 views when it was featured in The
New York Post. People wanted to know about clear masks, people wanted to create a more accessible
environment for those around them. All right, so next is the period of spring to summer 2020. This
is what I am going to term or coined this term as the rise of the “gray area”. So hearing loss is
essentially a spectrum, there's the hearing world, and the deaf community that only uses sign to
communicate and abstains from hearing devices, but in between there are so many people like
myself and like you, if you have hearing loss in this spectrum that, you know, maybe we're a
child of hearing parents like myself and wears hearing aids, and just loves them and uses
speech and doesn't know ASL or someone who is late deafened and uses ASL and hearing devices,
someone who maybe is a child of deaf adults but is still hearing like we're all on this different
spectrum and it was through Coronavirus that this rise of the gray area, and hard
of hearing influencers, like myself, jumped online, and we all started connecting
with each other and talking about our struggle. Granted, this community was still present, but
we have never come together like we have through Coronavirus. Some of my favorite influencers that
I met over this time include Dr. Michelle Hu, or @mamahuhears on Instagram, @HardofHearingmama, Her
name is Janna, also on Instagram, @JessHsquared, and @somedeafguy_, Justin Loncar. There have
been so many other people and influencers that I could not tell you all of them, but it
has been absolutely incredible to see this rise, and this unification of the hard of hearing
community. I hope that you have felt that connection. And hey, if you're new to my channel
if you've been here for a while. Be sure to subscribe and become a part of this community that
is constantly becoming stronger every single day. Alright so next awareness for the hard of hearing
community also increased on October 14 2020, when the New York Post featured an article about a
New Jersey man who, unfortunately got COVID, early 2020 In March, his name is Michael Goldsmith,
unfortunately Michael came down with COVID in March of 2020 and a side effect of it was that
he lost his hearing, he became a candidate for a cochlear implant and had the surgery in September
of 2020, he now has a cochlear implant and that report had just exposed that hey Coronavirus
can have these unfortunate side effects, But look at how Michael is aiding that, you know how
he's taking care of it with hearing loss there are so many different ways to aid your loss, and
I am the certainly team "aid your loss". Because, like, as hard of hearing people we live in a
predominantly hearing world, And in order to be able to communicate effectively and at large with
everyone aiding your loss, and being able to speak and communicate and understand what you're hearing
is absolutely critical. So that was awesome. And the last event I want to highlight that has
certainly brought some exposure to the hard of hearing world is season 25 of the bachelors
specifically speaking of Abigail Heringer Abigail Heringer was a contestant on The Bachelor. She
vied for Matt James's heart, and unfortunately she was not the one who pig, he definitely missed
out, but she deserved someone better. Clearly, Anyway side route, she is amazing, and she has a
cochlear implant she was implanted very young and so it was her sister, and it was so cool for me
to hear Abigail's story and to be like, No way, like my sister and I both have hearing losses. My
sister has a cochlear implant, I don't, but like, it was so cool to learn about another pair
of sisters and make that connection and hear more about her story, but Abigail
Heringer definitely opened the door to this hard of hearing world and this gray
area, she even calls it the gray area too, but just opening the store and saying like
hey FYI, like if you don't have hearing, there are options. Options are always available
to everyone, just due to differences in hearing or formations of the ear, or whether
it's a conductive or sensorineural law. But, see if it's an option like see if aiding your
loss, whether that's a hearing aid or a cochlear implant is an option. So I absolutely love that. I
was just so grateful for all of these events that have really brought light to the gray area and
aiding your hearing loss. I will say that there are so many other events that also shed light on
the Deaf community specifically speaking to Deaf community and all of these events have been great
and they've definitely shone light and shown that wonderful community, and some of them I just want
to highlight are when "A Quiet Place" was scheduled to be released March 20 of 2020, it was actually
moved to May 28th, so it's coming out "A Quiet Place 2". "Deaf U" was released on October
9. studies were released stating that tinnitus was a side effect of COVID in November of 2020, the White House, officially hired an interpreter for White House briefings and announced that on January 26 of 2021, it took a long time but like they did it and then March 24 was the release
of "Kong and Godzilla". This film featured a two, one Deaf/one heart of hearing actress but Jia,
the character of Jia was played by Kaylee Hottel, she is a Deaf actress, it was her first time
ever being in a movie, and I really appreciated that they hired someone or employed an actress
that was actually Deaf but from what I read, she is from a Deaf family. She is fluent in ASL
and I just really appreciate that they did that, and then Millie Bobby Brown. She plays in that
movie and she's also played in Stranger Things, she is deaf in one ear, she lost her hearing and
then lost it permanently, I'm not sure if it the hearing loss that could be aided I was trying to
research that but couldn't figure that out but if I were her, I would totally grab a hearing
aid for that ear, and last but not least we had the Oscars on April 25 So, Marlee Matlin and
the spotlights of a CODA story and the "Sound of Metal". So, all of these great beings bring
attention to the Deaf culture and the Deaf Community specifically, and so that's exciting as
well Coronavirus has expedited all of these things which is awesome, thank you so much for sticking
around to the end of this video I just want to share how Coronavirus inspired me to get into
really YouTubing so if you look back on my channel you will notice that I started posting videos
about my peanut allergy and my hearing loss, it was like kind of a blended channel, and it was
something that I was kind of doing just leisurely like help parents, and it was really hard to
balance because I was working full time, long story short, speed up to May of 2020, I realized I
was in the travel industry and just realized that unfortunately, I probably wouldn't have a job in
a couple months, so I thought you know what, what a great time to work on this passion project, I
really want to focus on this I want to show people that one, there are other hard of hearing people
out there like them, and to don't be afraid to aid your hearing loss, like, go get it checked out.
Get your hearing taken care of, like it's the one sense that we really have a great solution
for, like, go learn about that solution, implement it, it's amazing! Hearing aids are
incredible. Cochlear implants are incredible. Bone Anchored Hearing aids are incredible. And so
I just really wanted to shed more light on that and so it's essentially that May, I lost my job
like May/June, and just really started working on YouTube and now I have another full time job
and I just do this on the side but it has been so fun to connect with all of those influencers
that I talked about earlier, and then connect with all of you I am so grateful for you! It's
so encouraging to hear all of your stories of how you found my channel or your questions that you
have with life like based on [your] experiences, or hearing your advice like so many of you have been
giving me such encouraging advice that I'm like, okay, the future's bright, and that's great.
And so, though Coronavirus has been really [unfortunate] and stinky and, like, so sad so tragic like we've
lost so many people along the way and it's just been emotional. It's been so it just, wow, what a
year. What a year. And so, though it's been rough. There have been some good things and I wanted to
highlight those in today's video so I hope that you have seen some of that positive light and that
change was specifically with the hard of hearing aspect I know that we've been through so many
other things, especially in America, with civil rights, and working with the police to figure
everything out and just all of these, like, social things that need to change. Anyway, I want to wrap
this back in I hope you enjoyed this video. If you have any questions for me please let me know in
the comments below and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already I want you to be a part
of this community and if you have subscribed. Thank you, thank you so much for being here. Stay
Strong Stay amazing, and have a great day. Bye. I wanted to show you all the
Bendshape Mask. This is my favorite, favorite, favorite clear mask just
because it doesn't fog up, it's a really snug, comfy fit, and just the design is so smart, like
this, these loops go around so they don't have to mess with your hair. So I filmed some pieces
on this a while back when I first got them like before we went to Hawaii, and sadly, my phone
broke and I've lost all that footage so clearly, I should do a video on this. What do you
think? Should I do a video on this, so let me know in the comments below. I'll also include
a link to Bendshape Mask in the comments below. These are reusable up to three times the website
says, I admit I've used them more. I just clean them with cold water and hand wash them and the phone
working super. Anyway, check out Bendshape masks.
