Five Warning Signs That Your Partner Might Have Hearing Loss
May 21, 2019
Living his dream regardless of hearing loss
May 22, 2019Did you know the winner of “The Voice,” Maelyn Jarmon, is deaf in one ear?
Maelyn Jarmon won season 16 of “The Voice!” Did you also know that she is deaf in one ear?
As one of the show’s frontrunners going into Monday’s finale, Jarmon has been deemed a force to be reckoned with. She was a four-chair turn during the blind auditions and has continuously proved herself week after week as part of Team Legend coached by John Legend.
During the semi-finals this week, after singing her own rendition of the popular Rhianna song “Stay,” “The Voice” coach Adam Levine went on to say that Jarmon “definitely should win.”
Her coach, Legend, followed up by saying, “We all know Maelyn is incredible. She is the best vocalist on the show, it’s clear…”
OUR WINNER. OUR QUEEN. 👑
Give it up for @johnlegend‘s first winner: @maelynmusic. #VoiceFinale pic.twitter.com/fuajuuKZdv
— The Voice (@NBCTheVoice) May 22, 2019
Maelyn’s Background
The 26-year-old from Frisco, Texas has not had an easy road to “The Voice.” According to Country Living, when Jarmon was two years old, she had tubes put into her ears to treat recurring ear infections. The tubes, however, damaged her eardrums, leaving her deaf in her right ear and with only 80 percent hearing in her left ear.
Jarmon, despite her hearing loss, always loved music and started voice lessons at the age of 13. At the age of 17, she and her parents moved to New York City, so she could pursue a career on Broadway. When she was 21, she decided to shift gears to focus on creating original music, which is ultimately what led to her audition on “The Voice.”
Performing with Hearing Loss
Jarmon hasn’t shied away from revealing the struggles of being in music with hearing loss. After one of her earlier performances in the show of Maggie Rogers’ “Falling Water,” she said on her Facebook page that “this was the first performance so far that being deaf in one ear felt like a disadvantage. It was definitely a learning experience with in-ears!”
Being open about her experiences has been rewarding, though.
“Being deaf in one ear, the most overwhelming interaction that I’ve had with fans are people who have hearing impairments,” she tearfully said on the show. “I was so taken aback by that.”
“Being deaf in one ear, the most overwhelming interaction that I’ve had with fans are people who have hearing impairments.”
Jarmon has even said it’s “kind of like a superpower.”
Single-sided hearing loss, affects about 60,000 people in the United States annually, according to a report in the Hearing Health Journal. While the severity can affect how a person comprehends conversation and hears different pitches in tones, it can also cause difficulties knowing which direction a sound is coming from, and can make it difficult to understand speech in the presence of background noise.
Read more: Solutions for single-sided hearing loss
As Jarmon proves, however, hearing loss doesn’t mean one can’t experience the beauty of sound.
Her win puts her in good company of other famous deaf singers, including Mandy Harvey, who took 4th place on “America’s Got Talent” in 2017, and UK Deaf Musician Lady Geraldine.
For more on Maelyn Jarmon, follow her on Instagram.
