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A space for real stories, honest reflections, and small victories from life with tinnitus and hearing loss.
Here you’ll find comfort, perspective, and maybe even a laugh or two as we learn to live a little more peacefully with that damn noise.
The Not So Silent History of Hearing Loss
By Marie
Spoiler: Everyone Handled it Badly
Disclaimer: (Yes, another one!)
Once again, I must stress that I am not a historian. I am a person with hearing loss, a decent imagination, and a long-standing suspicion that humanity has never quite known what to do with us.
Any historical accuracy you may spot is purely accidental. If you’re expecting dates, sources, or facts that would survive peer review, you are in the wrong place. If you’re here for a slightly mischievous wander through how people with hearing loss have been treated over the years, welcome. Pop the kettle on.
Let’s begin.
Hearing loss has been around for as long as people have been talking. Unfortunately, so have opinions about it.
In ancient times, if you couldn’t hear properly, this wasn’t seen as a sensory issue. Oh no. It was a character issue. Or a moral one. Or a sign you weren’t quite… all there. In many early societies, hearing and speech were tangled up with intelligence. If you didn’t respond quickly, speak clearly, or follow instructions first time, the conclusion was obvious: you were simple.
Not hard of hearing
Simple
You could be strong. You could be skilled. You could be wise. But if you missed a question or answered slightly wrong, that was that. Case closed. Next.
Fast forward to the Middle Ages, where subtlety went to die.
If you couldn’t hear the sermon, the announcement, or the shouted instructions in the marketplace, you were excluded by default. No malicious intent required. Life just carried on without you.
You missed things. Decisions were made. Jokes happened. Plans changed. And you stood there smiling politely, hoping no one asked you a follow-up question. (Hmm… I feel like I’m talking about my life in the present)
Still, you were lucky. Because at least you weren’t a witch. That honour mostly went to people with tinnitus or seizures. You? You were just “dull”. Or “slow”. Or “rude”. Ah yes. Rude. Hearing loss has always had a complicated relationship with manners. If you didn’t respond when spoken to, you were ignoring people. If you asked for repetition, you were a nuisance. If you nodded along and guessed, you were dishonest.
You simply could not win.
By the time we reach the Enlightenment, things get… interesting. Society becomes very excited about fixing people. Deaf schools appear. Methods are debated. Gestures are frowned upon. Speech is prized above all else.
➡ The goal is no longer understanding.
➡ The goal is normality.
Hearing loss becomes something to correct, train away, or overcome through sheer effort. If you just worked harder. Concentrated more. Paid attention. Listened properly.
Sound familiar?
The Victorians, bless them, added a layer of moral discipline. If you struggled to hear, you mustn’t make a fuss. Complaining was unbecoming. Drawing attention to your difficulty was worse than the difficulty itself. Men were expected to cope quietly. Women were expected to be delicate about it. Children were expected to behave and not embarrass anyone.
And so the great tradition began: people shouting at us.
- Not facing us.
- Not slowing down.
- Not checking understanding.
- Just louder.
It’s a tradition that has unfortunately survived remarkably well.
The 20th century arrives with wars, machinery, industry, and noise. Suddenly, hearing loss is everywhere. Veterans return with damage. Factory workers struggle. Musicians squint and say “pardon?” a lot.
At last, hearing aids appear. Progress! Science! Hope! 🦻
Unfortunately, the social response remains… complicated.
Some hearing aids are tiny now. Most are clever. They are powerful marvels of engineering. And yet, people still treat them like it's some sort of end-of-life sentence!
“You’re too young for those.”
“Do you really need them?”
“But you hear me fine.”
As if hearing loss is selective. As if your ears have personal favourites.
Modern life prides itself on inclusion, and yet hearing loss remains oddly misunderstood. It’s invisible. Inconsistent. Exhausting. One moment you’re fine, the next you’re utterly lost. So people forget, or assume, or decide it’s easier not to adapt.
Meetings happen without captions. Conversations drift while you smile and nod. Background noise does its thing. You go home tired, not because you talked too much, but because you worked so hard just to keep up.
And through it all, the assumptions linger
That hearing loss makes you old
That it makes you less capable
That it makes you awkward
That it makes other people uncomfortable
Which, historically speaking, has always been the real issue
Not the hearing loss itself
But how much it disrupts other people’s expectations
So yes, hearing loss has a long, not-so-silent history. One filled with misunderstanding, mislabelling, and a great deal of shouting.
Have We Learnt Anything from History?
For centuries, hearing loss was mistaken for a lack of intelligence, effort, or manners. People were excluded not through cruelty, but through assumption. Today, we know better. Or at least, we should. Hearing loss hasn’t changed, but our understanding of it has the chance to. Small things matter. Facing someone when you speak. Being patient. Accepting that clarity isn’t the same as volume.
History doesn’t ask us to feel guilty.
It asks us to do better.
We’ve made progress. Absolutely.
We believe people now. Mostly.
We have tools. Language. Support.
But some things haven’t changed nearly enough.
If history teaches us anything, it’s this:
Hearing loss was never the problem.
People’s reactions to it were.
Take care.
Marie
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