Hearing Loss Stories
What’s the right solution for your hearing loss? These fictional stories focus on people with different types of hearing loss, their day-to-day experiences, and how they found the right solution for them. Take a look at the stories, and see which one best matches your own hearing loss background.
Choose a Story
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Daniel had ear surgery for a cholesteatoma
- Has had hearing loss since having middle ear surgery on his right ear
- Can't communicate well with friends
- Doesn't like hearing aids
- Has moderate-to-severe hearing loss
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Elizabeth can’t hear high-frequency sounds
- Has difficulty hearing high-frequency sounds, such as a phone ringing or women’s voices
- Can hear low frequency sounds, such as a car engine or a barking dog
- Doesn’t benefit enough from hearing aids
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Emily was born with hearing loss
- Doesn’t react to parents’ voices and other sounds
- Hearing loss identified by newborn hearing test
- Doesn’t hear with hearing aids
- Has had profound hearing loss since birth
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Jay has permanent hearing loss from an ear infection
- Had glue ear as a child
- This led to permanent conductive hearing loss
- Finds hearing aids heavy and uncomfortable
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John can't even hear loud sounds
- Voices of family and others seem muffled
- Can’t understand speech in noisy places
- Hearing aids no longer help him
- Has severe hearing loss
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Katherine gets chronic ear infections
- Has had hearing loss since she was a child
- Can't wear hearing aids because of ear infections
- Has moderate hearing loss
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Maria can only hear on one side (single-sided deafness)
- Can’t tell where sounds are coming from
- Often doesn’t catch what is said from one side
- Doesn’t understand speech well in noisy places
- Experiences ringing in her ears
- Has normal hearing in one ear; severe hearing loss in other ear
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Michael has a malformed ear (atresia)
- Has had hearing loss since birth due to a malformed ear
- Can’t wear hearing aids
- Has conductive hearing loss
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Every person’s hearing loss journey is different, so these stories are based on the combined experiences of many recipients. These stories should not be considered medical advice, but they can help you get a better understanding of the steps to finding a solution to hearing loss. You can find out about real-life experiences from MED-EL recipients on our User Stories page.
Vera’s Journey
Get a unique insight into what to expect from your journey to better hearing. This in-depth video series follows Vera from her decision to get her cochlear implant all the way to surgery and beyond.

User Stories
Learn about people’s experiences with their MED-EL hearing solution. From parents to seniors, cochlear implants to bone conduction systems, our stories from around the world show what life is like with a hearing solution.
Get in Touch
Would you like more information on our hearing loss solutions? Just fill out our simple contact form and we’ll get back to you.