69-year-old learns to cope after sudden hearing loss
The phone ringing. The baby crying. Hearing the world around us is an ability many people take for granted. But not Lin Adams, age 69.
The retired Summerlin resident moved to Las Vegas from Modesto, Calif., two years ago to be near family. Last year, she woke up one morning to realize she was totally deaf.
She went to a UMC Quick Care facility and was told it was an ear infection. When the antibiotics prescribed didn't work, she ended up at the Nevada Ear + Sinus Institute, 3692 E. Sunset Road, got cortisone shots, which had no effect.
The following interview was done via typing questions and answers.
"My first thought was that my hearing aid battery wasn't working," she said. "But when I tried several new batteries, I began to try to do things to make noise and realized I could hear absolutely nothing."
Adams has a 42-year-old son, Keith, who was born profoundly deaf, likely caused by her Rh blood factor, doctors said. Because of him, the whole family learned sign language long ago. His condition also led Adams to become a special education teacher and an educational administrator.
When her deaf son was young, they sat on the floor together and she interpreted TV shows for him. When closed captioning and phone texting came along, she said, those technologies "opened up a whole world for the deaf. It would be better if captioning was on everything on TV, but usually it is only on pre-scripted shows. For instance, when newscasters are ad-libbing, it is not captioned. It is also sometimes difficult to figure out who is saying the captioned words because you can't 'hear' whether it is a male or female talking."
She said movies also are difficult to interpret, as people talk off screen. The movie score, dramatic for most people, is lost on the deaf.
Adams still drives. She said it can be lonely without the radio or a CD playing.
"I miss being able to hear the doorbell and alarm clock, too," she said.
If she's humming a song, her daughter-in-law, Dina Adams, sometimes will signal that she's being too loud.
"The only problem she had was, she had started substitute teaching, and principals were kind of hesitant to put her in the classroom," Dina said, "because what if there was an emergency and she can't hear the announcements, and the younger kids can't really communicate with her that well. So I asked my principal if we could try her out."
On occasion, Lin Adams will substitute for the school district, but only for older children. If she can't fully lip-read a student, they communicate with notes. Younger children are too difficult to lip-read and can't write yet.
She is good at lip-reading, but that ability is compromised should the speaker be chewing gum or have a mustache that covers the upper lip.
What's it like to deal with shop clerks or ordering at restaurants and such?
"I've found most people try to accommodate," Lin Adams said. "Writing notes is the most useful. There have been a few folks who do the "harrump" and are clearly agitated that they need to write. It is often confusing to others because I can talk. Therefore, they think I can hear and don't want to write notes. They just want to yell, thinking if they are loud enough, I can hear them. Nope, still deaf."
It startles her when someone suddenly appears beside her because she didn't hear them approach. Probably the most frustrating, she said, is not being able to use the telephone. She has a machine that translates what people say, but it is not always accurate and she has to ask the callers to repeat themselves. At home, she has burned a few meals because she couldn't hear the buzzer.
Being deaf can lead to being unaware of the situation.
"One day I was at my niece's house when her husband came in," she said. "I thought they had gone out to dinner, so I asked what he was doing there. He gave me a funny look, and said, 'You can't hear that?' Evidently the house alarm was going full blast, and I didn't have a clue. ... Yesterday was an experience. We went to brunch, and lights began flashing. Everyone began holding their ears. I asked what was happening. 'Oh yeah, you can't hear the alarm.' Waitress said false alarm. The chef making the omelette was trying to ask me something. I couldn't understand him, and he couldn't write as he was behind the counter cooking. I had to go back to the table and get my daughter to interpret. He was asking if I wanted cheese."
As inconvenient as it is sometimes, being deaf also can be dangerous.
"In the kitchen, I almost stepped on a broken glass," Adams said. "I didn't hear it crash when I accidentally knocked it off the counter. ... Last Easter, I was in ICU. I found I had a staph infection cluster on my heart valves. My son was out of state but returned to be with me and to interpret while five doctors were running tests trying to find what was wrong with me. Without my son interpreting, it would have been a terrifying experience not knowing what was happening to me."
Overall, she said, she gets along fine and has taken her new, silent world in stride.
"I know some people who are devastated when they suddenly lose their hearing and many go into deep depression because of the lack of communication," she said. "But like I said, my immediate family knows sign language, so that has been a blessing for me."
— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.
