Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress and singer, Jane Lynch is just one of many successful hearing impaired individuals who refuse to let deafness limit them, writes Jennifer Peterson-Ward.

But we think you'd be better off not joining her club!

With a successful career spanning theatre, television and the big screen, Lynch certainly hasn’t let a hearing disability affect her career. She currently stars on the award-winning American musical television series Glee as sharp-tongued cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.

Through her fear of school funding going to Glee Club and not her cheerleaders, Sue's mission is to sabotage Glee Club.

Lynch recently revealed to the National Inquirer that she first became aware of her hearing problem when she was playing with her brother. He kept switching ears with his transistor radio. She told him he couldn’t do that, because she thought you could only hear out of one ear. She was astounded when he said he could hear out of both and told her mother. A visit to the doctor revealed she had nerve damage, probably caused by a very high fever as a baby.

Lynch, who realised at just seven years old that she was totally deaf in one ear, has chosen to live with single-sided deafness (SSD). “I shoot the sound into my one good ear,” she says. “If I think about it, I can straighten it out, but a hearing aid wouldn’t even help [that ear]. It’s stone-cold deaf.”

According to Roberta Marino, a senior audiologist at Perth’s Specialist Hearing Services, there are many in Lynch’s  'club' who choose not to rectify their deafness.

“Many people with single-sided deafness just learn to live with it. They compensate by always sitting with their best ear closest to the person they are talking to and training themselves to block out background noise.”

However there are options available for single-sided deafness that can help make it easier and more enjoyable to function successfully, even in high-pressure, demanding environments.

CROS Hearing Aid

A Contralateral Routing of Signal hearing aid (CROS) takes sound from the ear with poorer hearing and transmits to the ear with better hearing. It involves wearing two devices, one in each ear, which talk to each other wirelessly. If someone is talking on your poorer hearing side, you will be able to detect incoming sounds and hear them much more clearly. Disadvantages are that it may not help with knowing where the sound is coming from and you always have to wear something, even in your good ear, which can be a nuisance.

BAHA

A Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) is a system that is surgically implanted and allows sound to be conducted through the bone rather than via the middle ear. It delivers sound to the better hearing ear through bone conduction. Unlike the CROS system, it doesn’t have the disadvantage of partly blocking off your good ear.

Cochlear Implant (CI)

This electronic device bypasses damaged hair cells in the inner ear and stimulates the hearing nerve directly. CIs work well for profound deafness in one ear with severe to profound loss in the other ear (which may use a CI or hearing aid). How successful the implant is depends on how long you’ve been without hearing. People who have only experienced hearing loss for one to two years can do really well. They can tell where sounds are coming from and can hear much more clearly from their affected ears.

The long term deaf can also do remarkably well; even adults deaf since birth usually get awareness of sounds and possible diminution of tinnitus.

Today’s medical technology means there is little reason for anyone with a hearing impairment to continue unaided.

Recent SSD with BAHA

William Trickett will always remember the 2008 Beijing Olympics with mixed emotions – the elation when his daughter- in-law, swimmer Libby Trickett, won Gold and the painful flight home with a cold that left him deaf in his right ear.

Diagnosed with an inner ear condition causing irreversible hearing loss and affecting his sense of balance, his family and friends really underestimated the impact it was having on him. “I struggled in meetings at work when lots of people were talking at once and simple things like crossing the road became increasingly dangerous. It got to the point where even my marriage was suffering as I was becoming more and more introverted,” he recalls.

Now fitted with a BAHA, he can hear conversations through his right side, even when on the phone. “I love how I can easily adjust the processor with bass, treble and volume. And background noise is no longer an issue – I used to have to turn my head severely to the right every five seconds to get an idea of what people were saying, which had a negative impact on my spine. Life has honestly taken on a whole new meaning and our close friends have noticed a distinct difference in my behaviour. Rather than being cranky and negative, I’m more relaxed and open, almost back to being the Will of old.”

Long Term SSD with BAHA

Bob Williams, 67, has been deaf in his left ear since childhood after mumps caused irreparable damage. He only started using a BAHA about seven months ago and life has definitely changed for the better.

Bob coped “because there was no other choice” and got used to the embarrassment of getting things wrong because he either didn’t hear or only partly heard what was said. “I couldn’t tell sound direction so I had to be extra careful while crossing the road and had great difficulty in social contexts when people on my deaf side wanted to talk to me.” For work meetings he'd arrive early to get a seat facing the right way and his students understood they had to shout or wave their arms to get his attention.

He tried a CROS system, but he didn’t like having his good ear blocked. The changes he has experienced with a BAHA have been more subtle than dramatic. “I don’t say 'eh' anywhere near as much as I used to. I am even learning to discriminate sound direction. I no longer have to carefully position myself in social situations.”

On retirement Bob decided to take up the banjo. “Since getting the BAHA my band mates have reported a marked improvement in my playing and interaction with the music. I hear the whole band instead of concentrating on the lead instrument. Sound now seems to have more 'depth' and is more 'rounded'.  I wear it all day every day and wouldn’t be without it.”

BAHA Non-Surgical Trial

Even minor surgery can be a concern and one benefit of the BAHA is the opportunity to trial the BAHA using a headband to hold the processor against the skull. Brad Sharpe of the NSW Menieres Association said even after a week the outcomes are positive, although the bone conduction transmission is even better when surgically fixed in place.

Recent SSD with CI

Professional cellist Oliver McAslan, 45, plays with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Two and a half years ago, due to a virus, he quite suddenly lost all hearing in his right ear. His career relied heavily on his stereo pitch-perfect hearing. Adding to his distress, he also had to endure debilitating tinnitus day and night, equivalent to a noise of over 85 dB HL (the decibel hearing level used in audiograms to measure hearing loss).

Unfortunately, neither the CROS or BAHA systems gave him relief from the tinnitus, so he decided to have a cochlear implant in his “dead” ear. Not only has the implant decreased the tinnitus by half, he can now also hear speech in this ear and is aware of sound direction.
When the implant batteries go flat during a concert, Oliver misses the sound it delivers. While he had to practice a lot to get used to his CI, he says the sound is now “100% natural”.

With Tailored Help, Artists with Special Needs Can Realise Their Dreams

Young Australian actor Jodie Harris perfectly understands the challenges Jane Lynch has had to overcome. Diagnosed with moderate hearing loss at the age of six, Jodie’s condition worsened in both ears, posing even greater difficulties than Jane’s single-sided deafness.

In 2006 Jodie regained hearing thanks to a cochlear implant. She says it gave her a greater sense of vocal confidence and empowerment, not only as a performer, but also in daily life. “I received my implant in first year at drama school. It enabled me to have much more independence in my learning; I was less reliant on other students and class room assistants.”

The CI also helped her correct her soft, often high-pitched voice. With vocal training, “I was able to develop my voice to a much greater depth and complexity. I could develop a performance with a wider spatial range as I could hear things from greater distances. I could begin to rely on my hearing for cues rather than relying on subtle shifts in the space I was working in and lip reading,” she says.

Jodie admits aspiring performers with a hearing impairment should realise, “You probably need to really blow someone’s socks off with your performance in an audition to be considered over a hearing actor. [But] I believe the biggest obstacles, in regard to discrimination, can be overcome by having more of us out there.”

Both Jane and Jodie have not let their hearing disabilities affect their respective acting careers, and they both epitomise the importance of working hard and believing in oneself. “Please go for it. If nothing else you will make the way ahead easier for those who come after you,” Jodie concludes. “And, best of all, your dreams may come true. You will never know if you don’t give it a go.”