An 82-year-old British actress is opening up about her hearing loss, and proving she isn’t afraid to flaunt her “Earing Aids.” 

Amanda Barrie, who acted in the series Coronation Street, told the Daily Mail about her hearing loss, and getting fit with hearing aids after struggling to follow conversations with coworkers and friends. When she felt like background noise was drowning out their voices, she says she slowly came to realize, “maybe it’s not the restaurant, maybe it’s me.”

Decorating hearing aids is a great way to show off individual style and increase confidence. Phonak hEARo Jessica Flores walks us through one way to decorate hearing aids. 

“It’s totally up to you if you want to decorate them,” she says. “If you don’t want to decorate them, that’s fine. But while we have them, we might as well make them something that we enjoy wearing!”

“What’s that behind your ear?” my customer asked me curiously as I placed her items in a bag.

I immediately stiffened up at the suddenness of the question, then relaxed again just as quickly.

“Oh, it’s a hearing aid,” I replied with a smile.

The customer looked directly at me, frozen on the spot. I knew she hadn’t expected that answer, and her face spelled out shock, confusion, and embarrassment. “Oh I’m sorry…” she began to say, before tailing off into an inaudible whisper. I smiled at her again.

We love it when people share their hearing loss stories with us on social media. Our community often provides comfort, encouragement, inspiration and support for others in similar situations.

Recently we connected with one of our Instagram friends @whimsical.pixies who we think has a wonderful story to share.