Raising a Deaf Child Makes the World Sound Different

When I Found Out My Son Couldn’t Hear, I Figured Out That I Wasn’t Really Listening, Either

Just before my youngest son Alex turned 2, we discovered that he had significant hearing loss that was likely to get worse. A few weeks later, I found myself in the gym at the school my two older boys attended. I was there for the regular Friday morning assembly. I’d been in that gym dozens of times for such events—dutifully clapping and cheering, chatting with other parents, and then moving on with my day.

On this morning, my routine was upended. The noise of the kids filing in echoed through the …