1 in 6 Australians currently have some form of hearing loss.
Are you that 1 in 6?
“I started losing my hearing at age 11 and was completely deaf by 18. It got to the point where I considered suicide because I was 21, couldn’t get a job, and I’d been fired from a job because I wasn’t hearing.
Nobody suggested a cochlear implant at the time. I had hearing aids but I was so embarrassed, I just hid them. It was so isolating not being able to hear speech or pick up a phone. So finally when I was 29, I decided to get a cochlear implant.
It took me seven months to re-learn how to hear, but it was just amazing making my first phone call and hearing the indicator on my car, which I didn’t even realise made a noise. I came to give a talk here at Cochlear about my experiences and they suggested I apply for a job. Now I’ve been here 4 years and I’m so proud of what we do. It’s an Australian invention and we’re the biggest cochlear implant manufacturer in the world.” Kate – Cochlear employee at the Macquarie University Campus.
Today marks the beginning of Hearing Awareness Week. All week we will be highlighting the important work done at Macquarie to improve hearing health and providing information about an area of health that is often overlooked.
