Approximately 36 million adults in the United States have hearing loss, According to the National Institutes of HealthThis month, Kelly sat down with The Washington Post to answer questions through Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids.The questions and answers below have been edited for clarity.
Q: When and how did you first discover that you were losing your hearing?
Kelly: For years I felt like everyone was mumbling all the time. I couldn’t catch the lyrics. But I regularly pass hearing tests. …and then one day, I was doing a book tour for my first book, and I didn’t get to hear any questions from the audience. Shortly thereafter, I scheduled a complete audiologist’s work-up.
One test required you to repeat words that were spoken to you. Turns out I missed 70% of what he said when I couldn’t see the doctor’s lips moving. That was 10 years ago. I got hearing aids soon after.
i am grateful to them. I especially appreciate Bluetooth technology, which allows me to deliver calls directly to my ears. But it’s not the same as wearing glasses. They are obnoxious and I still struggle to understand every word. So we are always a little behind. That’s the English for me now, and my hearing loss continues.
Just last week, I was in a hot yoga class, but I wasn’t wearing hearing aids because the moisture from sweating can damage hearing aids. But I didn’t understand if they were speaking English. This was my first time. I thought, “Okay, it’s going to keep evolving, and I’ll have to figure it out.”
“I still struggle to understand every word.
— Mary Louise Kelly
Q: You write in your book that you believe your hearing loss is genetic — your father was nearly deaf — but could something else have caused it?
Kelly: I can’t say for sure. I spent a lot of time in war zones and helicopters, went to concerts and probably played my Walkman too loud. They wouldn’t let me take antibiotics because it could damage me. I always wondered: Did I do some damage? My doctor says maybe. It’s really hard to know.
Q: What strategies work best for you both inside and outside of work?
Kelly: I can now feel free to ask people to repeat themselves or speak louder when I’m interviewing them in person. At restaurants, always ask for a seat facing a wall or in a corner.
I haven’t explored the whole world of phone apps yet. Point the phone at the person speaking and the word will appear on the screen. If your hearing continues to get worse, you might consider it.
The NPR Studios are soundproofed, so there is no problem when the ship is docked. I wear good headphones that can be cranked up loud without any distracting background noise.
It’s even more difficult when interviewing from home or on the road, as you have to make the call through the head office. This required more work from everyone else. I obviously feel bad about it. So far there have always been workarounds. Still, I thought a lot about how long I could do this. I’m good at my job, but I don’t want to be a burden. The only way I know is to be honest and ask if there’s anything else I can try.
“I wish I could have [hearing aids] Faster because I missed a lot.
— Mary Louise Kelly
Q: It’s impressive that you are so open about this.
Kelly: I’m happy to talk about things like this because hearing aids have some prejudices that glasses don’t. I know him every 40, 50, or 60 years old fishes out reading glasses and walks around, but hearing aids aren’t the same. When I was first told to get them, I felt stigmatized — I thought, ‘I’m not old!
With more and more people wearing AirPods all the time and hearing aids getting smaller, hearing aids will no longer be the giant brace your grandmother wore, but who cares? Why not get them? mosquito? I missed a lot, so I should have gotten it sooner.
Q: The most heartbreaking part for me in your book was when you wrote about the morning when you couldn’t hear your teenage son…
Kelly: I wear hearing aids all day long, but I often don’t have them in when I first go downstairs in the morning to make coffee. I look up and see James and his lips moving. He’s been talking to me, but I don’t know how long he’s been talking. Is he sharing deep, deep thoughts or asking if there’s a toast? Don’t worry, I’ll ask my dad,” I ask again, but I’m fed up.
A moment was lost. I can’t understand the most basic story my son is trying to tell me. My job is to get people to tell their stories. It must be incredibly frustrating for him, and it’s frustrating for me too.
Q: You titled your chapter on hearing loss “Making Silence Play”. What do you mean?
Kelly: Conducting an interview requires technique, skill and grace. One of the things I’ve learned is to sometimes stay silent and leave the question alone. Especially on live radio, it’s very annoying when you ask the next question and you can’t answer it right away because you’re thinking about it. The instinct is to rush to fill the space. But when left alone, it’s amazing how that answer turns out to be the most interesting part of the entire interview.
Similarly, with teenagers, I think the urge, or at least my urge, is always rushing to fill time or fill space. …Now more and more my instinct is to sit with them and listen to them and not be intimidating, listen to what is on their mind and accept it without having to solve the problem. people.
Q: Given the genetic influence on your hearing loss, I’m sure you’re keeping a close eye on your child’s hearing.
Kelly: I am very wary of any signs that have been there for me. If it’s loud enough for me, it’s probably too loud.
The number one thing we can control is that we are constantly walking around listening to things on our phones. Because when you turn up the volume you hear an echo. Could you turn the volume down more than necessary? And I thought many times that this would be good advice for all of us every day.
