Mental Health Awareness Week: Let’s Talk About Hearing Loss Grief

When I suddenly lost the hearing in my left ear, I was so focused on the practical impact of my hearing loss and learning to live with single-sided deafness that I barely stopped to acknowledge my feelings.

Several months after my sudden hearing loss, I was given some advice from a stranger, who I had briefly connected with online. They told me that, as with any other loss in life, I would need to grieve my lost sound with the attention it deserved. This advice proved crucial in helping me address the emotional aspects of my new situation and immediately made it feel acceptable for me to begin the grieving process.