baby hears for the first time!

At some point, you probably have seen a viral video of a baby hearing for the first time. Those viral videos have been floating around the internet for the last decade now. I’d love for those videos to vanish forever.

Most often the videos would show a baby [or adult] hearing for the first time when their cochlear implants have been activated or hearing aids turned on. I cringe every time I see those videos. Why? The ‘inspiration porn’ is not reality. It implies that the hearing loss is a problem to be fixed. The videos always come with comments such as “Awwww!”, “I’m crying! I’m so happy!”, “This is so amazing!”, etc. How do you think a deaf person who is reading those comments would feel? It makes me feel like I’m uninspiring just because I chose to not wear hearing aids or cochlear implants.

It’s disappointing that those videos always get millions of views, likes, shares. It’s not about the numbers but that amount of people that are not learning that it’s not a cure to deafness. Hearing aids and cochlear implants both are a tool for hearing loss and will never cure it 100%.

Those videos also don’t show what happens after — the years of challenges and training to re-learn sounds with the devices. It requires a LOT of time and adjustment for the brain to connect with sounds and recognize what the sounds are. Sometimes it even takes years! The sounds also never will sound natural like the way hearing people hear.

I don’t think people also think of this… when the hearing aids/cochlear implants are off — they’re still deaf! They don’t go in the shower/water with the devices. The batteries dies. They don’t sleep with the devices on.

I understand that hearing people feel like they can relate because they know what it is to hear. They can’t imagine a life without hearing. I just want you to consider what this does to the deaf community and think before you hit that like button or share it. I wish there were more of videos of other life’s firsts such as laugh, sign, food, vacation, etc. We, the deaf people still experience the joy of life with other firsts!