The sound of the metal aerosol container resonates across the parking lot as D.J. Demers shakes the black spray paint vigorously. 

Standing outside the RV that has become his second home during the past few weeks, the comedian takes a rare, more serious tone as he looks at the bright green vehicle with his face on the side. Written next to him, in font that can be seen from miles away: D.J. Demers, the “hearing aid guy.”

“I never wanted to be ‘the hearing aid guy,’” he says. “Now I’m on a tour, and I’m the hearing aid guy.”

It’s 9:13 in the morning, and comedian D.J. Demers is live-streaming with Facebook fans on Day 8 of the Here To Hear Tour, as he sits in the hotel courtyard in San Francisco, California.

D.J. a comedian who has been wearing hearing aids since age four, has his beige Phonak Naida hearing aids propped behind his ears like usual. Today, however, those beige hearing aids will be getting a makeover, thanks to YouTuber and “Phonak hEARo” Jessica Flores.

“I’m not going to say I’m nervous, because obviously there’s nothing to be nervous about, but kind of my whole style, not just with me hearing aids, is that I’m trying to be not too in-your-face,” he says. 

One comedian, a videographer and a driver board an RV.

No, this isn’t the start of a pub joke. (I’ll leave the jokes to the comedian.) It’s the start of the Here to Hear Tour, and the beginning of a month-long mission: to travel across the United States to break down stigmas around hearing loss with comedian D.J. Demers.

It’s early Friday morning and Justin Dalferes, the tour’s videographer, and Mike Connor, who is driving the crew across the country, stand outside the bright green RV, plastered with D.J.’s face.

Singer Mandy Harvey, who we’ve been following since her debut on America’s Got Talent, gave another stunning performance on the talent competition show Tuesday.   

The 29-year-old performed an original song, “Release Me,” on the last show before finals, again wowing judges who compared her to English singer-songwriter and 15 Grammy Award-winner, Adele.

“The vocal, the song, the delivery, the performance is about as good as I have seen on one of these shows,” said judge Simon Cowell. “It was breathtaking. It reminds me of the first time I saw Adele. I thought, ‘This girl is going to be a star.’”  

Deaf comedian D.J. Demers is ready to break down stigmas around hearing loss through the power of laughter. 

This October, D.J. Demers is getting in a bright green RV with his face plastered on it, to travel to universities across the U.S. for the Here to Hear Comedy Tour, sponsored by Phonak. D.J. will perform free stand-up comedy shows, meet with the D/deaf and hard-of-hearing communities and engage with fans through social media and daily vlogs on YouTube. 

“I will party very hard on the bus every single night,” D.J. says. “I feel one of the stigmas that surround hard of hearing people is that we don’t know how to party, and I aim to shatter that stigma empathetically. I might be fabricating this stigma to justify all the partying I will be doing…Nonetheless, I will be installing a hot tub on the tour bus to show my commitment to shattering stigmas. 

One mom’s passion for braiding her daughter’s hair is turning into a movement that is breaking down stigmas around hearing loss.

Beth Belshaw, owner of SweetHearts Hair Design, said it wasn’t a conscious decision to encourage people to show off their hearing aids, but rather a natural progression of doing her daughter’s hair, which often exposes her little ears and sweet, pink hearing aids for the world to see.

“In a very low-key way, without even really trying, I think we are raising awareness of being deaf and what it entails,” she says.

Mandy Harvey, the deaf singer who wowed judges on the talent competition show “America’s Got Talent,” again got an outstanding, silent, standing ovation during Tuesday’s quarter finals.

The singer-songwriter performed an original song, “Mara’s Song,” in her second performance on the show since winning the Golden Buzzer during her debut, which sent her straight to the finals.

“There is so much I could say to you — so much I want to say,” judge Simon Cowell told her,

What is the key of a happy life? Living it passionately, says Karen Putz, author of a new book on the topic.

“My life changed dramatically when I began focusing on bringing passion and joy into my life,” she says.

Karen, who was born with “normal” hearing, became hard-of-hearing after getting sick in elementary school and severely deaf at age 19 after tripping over a wake while barefoot water skiing.

“I spent many, many years hiding my hearing aid,” she says. “It wasn’t until I became deaf as a teen that I began to embrace a whole new different way to live.”

Kaylin Yost and Allen John are two of the best deaf golfers in the world, but they have more than just their swing in common.

The two recently won gold medals at the 2017 Deaflympics Summer Games in Turkey, and while they stood in celebration, hands in the air and medals around their neck, they both sported their most important accessories behind their ears: Phonak hearing aids.