This ViewFinder episode is supported by UC Davis Health, where doctors, nurses and researchers share a passion for advancing health.

Learn more about their latest medical innovations at health.ucdavis.edu.

- I just simply can't hear.

That's all.

That's it.

I...

I can't hear you.

So, we all have our own culture and different lives.

And, you know, education is the key to understanding and helping people.

- Just as every person is unique, every deaf and hearing loss journey is unique as well.

- There is a lot of stigma to having a hearing loss and admitting you have a hearing loss.

- It's not just about the loss of hearing, but about finding a different way to build and maintain connection.

- If it's hard for you to understand what people are saying, it's hard for you to interact with people.

And we're social creatures.

We want to interact with other human beings.

That's... that's a driving force.

♪♪ - In this program, we explore deafness and hearing loss through many different lenses: education, understanding, compassion, technological advancements, and many ways to communicate verbally and non-verbally.

Those ways provide each person the ability to share and discover what works best for them through their deaf and hearing loss journey.

Our shared goal, a better understanding of 'The Power of Silence.'

- I just turned her hearing on.

Should we say "hello" to everybody?

Should we say hello?

[baby cooing] - We've all seen moments like this shared across social media and television, as little ones have their hearing aids and cochlear implants turned on for the first time.

This moment was captured by proud dad Paul Addison, as his four-month-old severely deaf daughter Georgina's hearing aids were turned on.

Georgina's response to hearing her mother's voice is one of love and pure joy, but also a new sense of possibility.

For most people, the moment they find out they're expecting, the plans, fears and desire to be the best possible parents consume their thoughts.

When my son Tio was born, I remember the moment the hearing tech walked into my postpartum room to perform a hearing test on my one-day-old son.

After what seemed like hours, she said to me, "We are going to try to do the screening again in the morning.

Give this little guy some time to rest."

Of course, my response was, "Is he okay?"

Her reply was, "Whatever it is, he will be fine."

Those words have stuck with me till this day.

- There's been a... a switch from this, uh, kind of, uh, strong medical model, where deafness is seen as this... this disability that's going to have these... these lifelong implications, uh, to a much more proactive, in... in understanding that there are a variety of options available to families, now, whose child has been diagnosed with... with deafness.

- For us, as parents, the medical staff's actions during those initial hearing screenings played a huge role in how we responded to what may lay ahead for our son, helping us focus on positive actions instead of fear and loss.

When my son was two months old, a few days prior to his upcoming hearing evaluation, it would be his response to the loud vibration of his father's laugh that we knew some hearing was present.

They called it "compacted amniotic fluid," with some lingering sensitivities that we continue to monitor to this day.

- We generally think of hearing, in... in general, as a very broad category.

There are a number of individuals who have hearing loss where it's... it's... it's variable, in terms of the degree of hearing loss they have.

So, they may be very sensitive to things like sirens and... and bells in their environment.

But when it comes to more highly structured and subtle types of auditory, uh, uh, patterns, like language, they may have difficulty.

So, deafness, just like blindness, is not an "all or none" event, but it's actually variable.

- A shift to a more proactive focus on education, resources and support is giving parents a stronger foundation, from the moment any possible abnormality is observed.

Instead of seeing their child's deafness as a deficit, parents can shift their perspectives to see new possibilities for their child.

For parents Ken and Nikko Thomas, having a child with hearing loss was the furthest thing from their mind.

Just having their twins was all that mattered.

- Finding out to do the IVF was something very foreign to me.

I had not known anyone that did it before.

And so, it was just fresh.

It was a fresh experience for us.

We went through three rounds of IVF.

- When we... when we picked our babies, we picked the embryos we wanted to have.

I mean, I was...

I was very excited, because my assumption was that I couldn't have children.

And so, I was just going to be happy with raising the two children that Nikko already had, and just being their father.

- So, the day that I had the twins, um, was very exciting.

They were right into the NICU, immediately, because I was, um, 32 weeks and four days.

Kennedy is the first twin, and then Nicole is the second twin.

And so, they were in the NICU for two weeks.

And, um, before being discharged from the NICU, they have to do a hearing test, or they do a hearing test.

And so, they did Kennedy's and she passed.

Uh, no issues.

Um, when it came to Nicole, they said that she didn't pass.

[baby cries] - There are different, uh, congenital syndromes that result in deafness, uh, and... and deafness does run in some families.

Most deaf children are born into families who have normal hearing parents.

It comes as a surprise to them that they've had a deaf child, having no history in their past.

- When Nicole didn't pass the initial hearing test, we went home, and the second hearing test wasn't for another two months.

And so, that whole time we're at home, we're [claps] you know, clapping in front of her and, you know, trying to get her attention, seeing if she responds to our voice, and she's not.

And so, when we got the results that it was severe to profound, my reaction was, "Okay, what's the next step?"

- Within the medical community, there's been a question about when children should get a cochlear implant.

And originally, the FDA had approved implants at age two, but they... they've, uh, subsequently started to, uh, implant children at younger ages.

And generally speaking, uh, children who are implanted earlier tend to have better outcomes than children who have been implanted late.

And so, now, there's... there's new recommendations that children as young as nine months could receive a cochlear implant.

- I was strongly motivated towards the technology aspect of cochlear implant, um, the same way I would choose to wear glasses if I couldn't see.

- Dr. David Corina believes that his research may help parents make these kinds of decisions.

He also hopes they'll be able to weigh the risks and benefits of medical interventions.

- Some children get a cochlear implant and do extremely well, but there is- there are children who don't perform well.

We'd like to understand, is that because of early auditory processing, the early stages from the cochlear up to the brain stem, up to the thalamus, for example, where we're finding these kind of bottlenecks in processing?

- One... Two... - Programs like CCHAT, The Children's Choice for Hearing and Talking Academy, have been a lifeline for the Thomas family, offering knowledge that provided options for their daughters.

- She's there with other kids that are just like her, so it gives her the confidence.

- Nicole, can you put it in?

Yeah.

Say "bye-bye."

- Maybe I thought that she would... she would- like, the cochlear implants would be, like, so magical for her that she would just talk normal.

Little more.

Good job!

I was talking to my daughter.

I asked her a question, and her response to me, it sounded like a deaf person's response.

It was like this throaty response.

And I just, like, got kind of choked up.

Like, it... it never dawned on me to really acknowledge it because I was so okay with... with who she was as a person.

It almost gave her some individuality.

It took her away from being my daughter.

It was like, she's a deaf person, but I don't think I really, really understood it, really believed it until I heard her speak.

- What I would like others to understand, regarding any type of disability, is just you don't have to feel defeated just because your child isn't born like everybody else.

- You can see right through it.

Do you know what?

It's transparent.

[Child] It's translucent!

- Ooh!

This equipment in here is the ABR equipment and the otoacoustic emissions equipment.

- As research continues into understanding how the ability to hear affects our brain development, experts and parents alike seek a better understanding of how establishing language impacts children and their ability to connect with the world around them.

I think the differences between, um, an oral school, like... like CCHAT, or, um, a mainstream school, or a school for the deaf and hard of hearing individuals, they're on a spectrum of... of different hearing levels and different needs and different modalities of communication.

And so, I think each of those schools has a place in deaf education and in our communities.

The difficulty is that trying to find the... the mode and the education system that works best for a child as quickly as possible so that they don't lose ground.

That's what it really comes down to.

Can you show 9:25 on the clock?

- Terry Orsi has been a teacher of the deaf for over 26 years.

His own life experiences has given him the perspective needed to guide both his students and help their parents better understand how to meet their child at whatever stage they are in their development.

- So, I'm a CODA, which means a child of deaf adults.

Both my parents are deaf, and I was raised with my first language being American Sign Language, mostly through my mom.

More recently, I've started to lose my hearing in my left ear, and now I wear hearing aids.

So, I kind of joke that that gives me street credit with my students.

I think it's really important for deaf students to see that there are other people like them that have a hearing loss at whatever level, whether they be profoundly deaf, hard of hearing, um, or everything in between.

In my work, I encourage them to learn sign language because for many of my students, that's their primary language.

And without that, we can't build relationships.

We can't build their education.

And it puts severe delays on... on their development when they don't have access to communication, uh, whether that be spoken or through sign language.

- Research has found that a child's brain continues to develop if any form of communication is used, including sign language.

But parents must also understand that language does not equal speech.

- I think sometimes it's hard for parents to see the depth that is missing from their child's language.

In their day-to-day communication, they can get by, and they're understood, and they seem to be understood.

But what they don't realize is that it's a very surface-level, very superficial relationship when it's just about, "Let's go to the store," "Time to eat dinner," and that sort of thing.

And what they really need is to think about can they have those deep conversations with their children that they would have if they had a child that's hearing?

I think it's important that they know that it's not just about the books and the math and the reading and the writing, that there is much, much more.

- Over the last 20 years, society has seen a shift in its recognition of the deaf and hearing loss community, and sign language is becoming far less stigmatized.

- No, no.

- For many parents and deaf advocates, social media has given them a platform to help a hearing world gain a better understanding of a very vibrant and diverse deaf community.

♪♪ For Bridget and her partner, Ricky, becoming parents has given them a whole new perspective.

♪♪ - Honestly, that's really it.

It's really fun to learn more every day from how they live, how we, us, live.

Even if it's a little different, it's not bad at all.

I mean, you learn so much every day.

New signs.

New things about our culture.

- Through Deaf Family Matters, Bridget is changing the conversation and having an impact that can't come fast enough.

She says that was evident during a recent experience Ricky had at a local fast food restaurant.

♪♪ In 2011, the Americans with Disabilities Act effective communication rules were updated.

They ensured access to public services for individuals with disabilities to communicate with, receive information from, and convey information, including those who use sign language as their primary language.

- There are so many situations where deaf people are getting the short end of the stick because they're having to go through communication barriers that they shouldn't have to.

It shouldn't be on the deaf community to have to fight for rights for communication.

Um, that's a human right, to be able to communicate in your native language, and there are so many areas and institutions and systems that do not support that for deaf people.

- Experts, parents and many in the deaf community say interpreters are vital to ensure effective communication in all capacities from health care, school, business and access to everyday activities without restrictions.

- The truth is... is that we're there, also, for the hearing person as well.

We have to make sure that both parties are comfortable in those environments.

I love the expression of, like, not saying that we speak for the voiceless, but we're just there to really pass the mic, to allow them to be heard louder.

[talking, laughter] - ...in a living room full of guests and everybody's talking, and then I realize that I wasn't hearing what anybody was saying.

Like, I wasn't hearing anything.

[silence] And my youngest... my youngest son, Joseph, looked at me across the living room, looked at me and was like... like, "Are you okay, Mom?"

And I looked at him and I looked away because I knew if I kept looking at him, I was just going to burst into tears.

And then he came over and sat by me and just took my hand.

And I just looked at him and I said, "I can't hear.

I don't hear anything."

- As a doula for over 40 years, Samsarah Morgan has found joy in being able to support women as they prepare to meet new additions to their family.

The thought of her not being able to hear the heartbeat of a growing infant in the womb was deeply hurtful.

- That is a very particular and precious sound.

Um, it's like a whisper.

- It would be that learned patience, as a doula, that would play a huge role for Samsarah as she faced the challenges within her hearing loss journey.

- The doctor, at first, was focusing on the fact that this was based on a... a potential virus.

It was the first hearing test that they did on me after the first round of prednisone, where the doctor said that he considered this ear to be a dead ear, and that this ear had, um, significant hearing loss.

Um...

So, excuse me.

It's hard to remember that.

- A lot of people think when you have hearing loss, it's just that you can't hear the sounds, themselves, when in fact, a lot of people, especially when they're older, have a lot of trouble understanding what's being said.

Over the past 15 years or so, I've been studying age-related hearing loss, um, mostly from the point of view of the brain, as opposed to the ear.

What I'm studying is the part that gives rise to the percept of "This is a person talking to me.

This is what they're saying."

And that feeds into all the other cognitive parts, with memory and what happened before and who the person is.

So, I'm really at the gateway of where the sounds become interpreted and perceived.

♪♪ - I have to hear for my work.

I have to hear for my life.

I'd like to put it out to you guys, especially the more experienced doulas... - So, normally, what happens when you're having a conversation, no matter how old you are, is that you don't actually get everything perfect on the first try.

And what your brain does, without you even thinking about it, is it fills in.

- And the age of those experiencing hearing loss is becoming younger and younger.

- If you're a baby boomer, you probably had a stereo with big honkin' speakers and you'd crank them up, and that probably didn't do any... any good for your hearing.

But now, our speakers are tiny little things that we put inside our ear canals.

And if you walk by somebody and they're wearing earbuds and you can hear their music playing and you're like four, five feet away from them, they're doing damage to their hearing.

The average person takes about four years, 4 to 5 years before they say, "Okay, I admit I have something going on with my hearing."

- For Jenny Carrick, there was a moment of realization that a lingering childhood learning delay would show itself to be a gradual decline in her hearing as she aged.

Well, my story is- goes back to when I was a child.

When I was learning to read in the first grade, they discovered I was having some problems pronouncing particular words or learning how to sound things out, which triggered some hearing tests.

They didn't discover, uh, any hearing problems, but I went to speech therapy and then we fast-forwarded, uh, decades.

When I was in my forties, it was when I really discovered that my hearing issues were causing a lot of problems in day-to-day life, um, from having to turn the TV up too loud, or the radio in the car, to be able to understand what people were saying, to sitting in meetings at work and not being able to hear what someone across the table was saying to me.

And it was at this point that it was discovered that I had moderate hearing loss.

And I- So, I started the journey of getting hearing aids at the age of about 45.

- How do I approach this?

If they approach it like they're buying a commodity, like they're buying a television, often, those people end up- How would I say it?

They end up being very disappointed in how hearing aids work for them.

- I thought it was going to be similar to that, that I would just put the hearing aids in, and bam!

Everything would be right where it was supposed to be.

I'd have 100% hearing.

It was... [loud disorienting dialogue] overload, the first few weeks of the hearing aids.

I thought the world was such an incredibly noisy place.

- Because hearing, um, is such an emotional- hearing loss is such an emotional thing, I...

I think we do a real disservice when we don't spend time with that human being, helping them unravel what it means to them to have a hearing problem, and the loss and the grief that they might feel because they have a hearing loss.

So, when that hearing loss disconnects you, um, I am all about people belonging and all about people feeling connected.

- That disconnection can lead to what some researchers say may be connected to a devastating decline into Alzheimer's and dementia.

- Not too long ago, there was- the connection with Alzheimer's was a little bit dicey, but it's... it's clear now that there is, that... people with... age-related hearing loss are much more susceptible to having Alzheimer's disease.

And it's been long known that other forms of dementia are correlated with hearing loss, in general.

- You know, you want to keep learning new things.

You want to keep your brain stimulated because you're less likely to go down the path of dementia or memory loss by doing that.

- As hearing technology continues to advance, what was once a very fearful, lonely and sad diagnosis can now become a journey of education and opportunity.

But this is not a journey to take alone.

- So many people do their hearing loss by themselves.

I can't tell you how often someone will come into my practice to have their hearing checked and they're all alone.

There are so many things loved ones can do, like get your attention before they start talking to you.

Not only get your attention, but walk into the same room and call your name or say, "Sweetheart," and stop, listen and look at each other.

- Hearing aids are a wonderful, wonderful device, but they don't replace 100% what you've lost.

And I think that by being vocal and outspoken about, um, my own experiences, um, has helped me understand that there are so many, many people affected by this.

I have had dozens of people in my workplace reach out to me with fear, um, of learning that they need to wear hearing aids, and being able to help them has been incredibly rewarding.

- It's the acceptance, just understanding that they are just people, just like, um, everybody else.

Hearing, deaf, doesn't matter.

Or... or any other disability, for that matter.

It... it's just accepting the person as a person that you're interacting with and, you know, you just- you're richer for it, when... when you can include all people.

This ViewFinder episode is supported by UC Davis Health, where doctors, nurses and researchers share a passion for advancing health.

Learn more about their latest medical innovations at health.ucdavis.edu.