I Was Legally Deaf as a Child

When I was an infant I had terrible ear aches that has led to a little scarring in my left ear. I also had fluid in my ears so doctors put tubes in them when I was three and, when they fell out because I was growing, again at seven.

In that time, I had to have an older boy walk me to school because I couldn't hear the traffic. I also became an expert at reading lips. I was legally deaf but I grew out of that hearing loss.

Nowadays, I don't usually have trouble hearing but I don't always do well separating noises. When there is background noise, I can have trouble separating sounds. It is the worst when I'm on my cell-phone. Folks at WMF make fun of me, because I'm usually shouting into the phone. HELLO, THIS IS BRENT!

Also, I'm almost always covering the other ear with my finger because it seems like the person on the other line is always whispering. Even when my phone is at its highest volume setting.

It has become a running joke between Ron McAvaddy and I. He would always laugh really hard when getting into my car because the radio is always so LOUD. I gave him excuses...that I need to hear it over the engine, over the A/C, its talk radio so it needs to be louder to hear the conversation. I could tell that each excuse just made Ron laugh harder. So my excuses turned to: "I was legally deaf as a child and I had to have an older boy walk me to school."