In our industry we often hear people say “Getting hearing aids will make me look old” or “What will other people think if I wear hearing aids?”.
Our response to both issues is the same, you don’t look old if you’re able to participate in life, and other people will want to socialize more if they know you can hear them. Derrick Coleman didn’t listen to what other people said, and has just reached the pinnacle of his profession, while wearing hearing aids.
Derrick Coleman, football player for the Seattle Seahawks, helped his team win the Superbowl in 2014. Watch this ESPN interview to see the challenges he faced growing up with hearing aids and trying to break in to the NFL. Everytime someone said he couldn’t do something because of his hearing loss, he used it as an incentive.
His response was to ignore anyone who was rude or simply turn the volume down on his hearing aids. “That’s the one good thing about having ’em,” Coleman says. “You guys have to actually listen when somebody’s talking. I just turn ’em off.
And by the way… I don’t think Derrick cares what other people think about his hearing loss and I wouldn’t want to tell him he looks old.
