People born deaf who gained hearing later in life. How did it make you feel, what was the first sound you ever heard?

1. My mom was deaf so when she got hearing aids, she ran into room while I was working on a school project and almost yelled, "What is that ticking sound?" I stopped and listened and it was dead silent in the house. She left and I resumed my work. She must have just stopped right outside my door because her head popped back in not a minute later and said, "Your keyboard makes sound! Did you know that?" The small things we don't even notice are big if you hear them for the first time.
   — thatguyoudontlike


2. I wasn't 100% deaf, but very hard of hearing. When I had my hearing aids fitted at age 9 I was completely baffled that rain makes a sound when it hits the roof. Also, you can hear a toilet flushing from other rooms in the house.
   — BreeCC


3. I was deaf on one side from birth, and acquired a hearing aid at 23. Stereo sound is the craziest fucking thing. For weeks after I got my aid, I was just jamming to the Top 50 Songs to Listen to in Stereo. I have to take the aid off when I'm in the office at my corporate job because the sound of paper rustling makes me homicidal.
   — pm_me_badgirlbutts






4. Not deaf but my Mom was. I remember the first day she got her implants it was a pretty windy day. She said the weirdest thing was the wind. I was sitting with her and she asked me who was making that whistling, wooshing sound outside. She proceeded to look around the house for a good hour, I had no idea what she was talking about and assumed her implant was malfunctioning. It began raining so I closed the window and the sound of the wind stopped and she pretty much broke down crying/laughing in frustration while shouting THE WIND MAKES NOISE DID YOU KNOW THAT WOW THAT'S SO CREEPY at like, 2AM. It was that and whistling. She pretty much didn't stop whistling whenever she was alone for like two months.
   — AggressiveKey23


5. When I was six, I remember when i was sitting in my audiologist's office, waiting for my cochlear implants to come on. When the implant beeped and began to take in sound, my audiologist said "They're up" and my mother saying "Oh my goodness!" I also remember feeling very grateful and happy when I got them as it started a new path for me. I now have been playing music for 7 years and i thank my audiologiat for helping me get to where i am today.
   — JD4TW24


6. I’ve been very hard of hearing my whole life and was pretty stubborn about it up until I was about 26. I remember getting fitted for my hearing aids and hearing like, just ambient noise. I dunno how to describe it, but I could hear people talking down the hall and there were just all these noises that weren’t there before. Everything was so crisp and I could actually have a conversation with someone in another room without having them right in front of me.
   — fondleyoursweaters






7. I'm not deaf, but there are a lot of deaf/HOH people at my school. One loves telling the story of how their first sound was a beautiful birdsong, and the second, immediately after it, was his deaf little brother letting a massive fart go. He assumed the sounds went together for a long time.
   — newbiedoodle


8. I was about 60% deaf from my ears being clogged to shit with earwax up until I was about 12. Teacher noticed it when I wouldn't respond to her when she was saying my name directly behind me. They cleaned out the wax and put ear tubes in. I woke up from the surgery and everything was loud as fuck, I was hypersensitive as I was hearing things I didn't hear before. i woke up crying covering my ears from the noise. Car ride home the sound of the tires on the pavement sounded like a blow dryer going into my ear. When we got home I could hear everyone talking inside of our house, even the rooms all the way across it, (was a big house). My ears returned to normal somewhat I can't hear deep sounds anymore and always have to ask people to repeat themselves, I probably need to go again
   — Fire_tits


9. Switched to a receiver in canal aid last month that allows me to hear high frequencies correctly in my left ear (used behind the ear aids all my life so feedback) and its weird how loud the fans at home and work are 😊
   — MNWild46






10. I wasn't really "born deaf" but went deaf slowly when I was 2. A surgery fixed my ears in 2nd grade when I was seven. I remember when my goldfish, comet, died my mother took me to the sofa and talked to me about death and that sort of thing. I remember watching her face and not hearing a single word she said to me. A week after my surgery, my parents tell me that I ran charging into their office squealing "When I cover this ear, I can hear out of the other one!!!"
    — justhereforminecraft


11. Not deaf, but have a good story. I went to public school in St. Louis, and we had a deaf kid in our class. He was from a poorer family, but the day finally came that the state funded hearing aids came in. They came with a little microphone for the teacher. We all took turns introducing ourselves with the microphone for their first use. At first he just got a big smile on his face, then he started laughing really hard! Then, tears. A rollercoaster of emotions right in the classroom. At the end he was wiping the tears away with a huge smile on his face. He went to the restroom later and when he came back, the teacher started to catch him up on what he missed. He started laughing all of a sudden, and pointed at his ears. The teacher said "oh...you could hear all that in the bathroom?" Big laughter from him and big laughs from the rest of the class. We all hung out at recess and just talked on the microphone with him. 23 years ago and I'll never forget it.
    — invincib1e


12. My son was very hard of hearing and when he received his BAHA hearing implant at 5. He was extremely amused at the fact that farts made noises. Also that his feet made noise when he walked. Him slapping his feet on the hardwood floors and laughing was adorable.
    — R3DhandedJill