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Read the full transcript here

On today’s episode of The All About Audiology Podcast Dr. Lilach Saperstein share with Xinke Liu. Xinke is from China and was diagnosed with hearing loss at 15 years old. Currently, she is the  co-founder of Orka. The two speak about Xinke’s experiences with hearing aids, Cochlear Implants, multilingualism and multiculturalism. Despite her family not being that involved in her hearing loss experience, Xinke has become her biggest self advocate and this quality of hers shines throughout the conversation.

This week on the All About Audiology podcast:  

• 4:30 – Certain unwanted behaviors that we see in children who are Deaf of HoH are attributed to their hearing loss.

• 6:22 – Cultural norms can be a barrier for one to recognize that they might have hearing loss.

• 7:10 – Turning captions on during a TV show or movie is an example of Universal Design.

• 13:22 – Just because someone receives a hearing aid or CI, doesn’t mean that it’s doing its job correctly or that it’s fit properly.

• 32:00 – It is helpful to talk about your own or a loved one’s hearing loss journey so that all the feelings do not get bubbled up inside.

• 43:00 – It is crucial to seek treatment as soon as possible

For more resources and research visit:

All About Audiology Website 

All About Audiology Facebook group  

All About Audiology Instagram

Related Episodes:

Podcast episode about Universal Design

Mentioned in this episode:

Patreon

Orka

Podcast episode about Universal Design

The All About Audilogy Facebook Group

All About Audiology on Tiktok

All About Audiology on Instagram

https://drlilach.teachable.com/p/all-about-you-52

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Transcript:

Dr. Lilach Saperstein:

Welcome back to The All About Audiology podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Lilach Saperstein, and this is a very interesting and special episode – All About You: an interview with Xinke Liu, who is going to talk about her journey with hearing aids, Cochlear Implants, and also about multilingualism, multiculturalism, moving around the world. And I’m really excited to share this story with you and have Xinke share her  experiences. Many parents and people who have a Deaf or HoH child in their life are in this All About Audiology community, and everyone should feel that their story is represented in some way. So lots and lots of different people have shared their story on the podcast, and I invite you to do the same. If you’re interested in being a guest – DM me on Instagram and be in touch so that our community can continue to grow and help each other and support one another.

So welcome Xinke. How are you?

Xinke Liu:

I’m good. Thank you. I am thrilled to be here. So happy to be here. I mean, I wish there was a program like All About Audiology when I first knew I had hearing loss when I was 15. So with all this information, my hearing journey would have been a lot different.

I would not have wasted like 7 years before finding the right solution for me. And the transcript – I mean, I’m sure you’re pulling a lot of effort, proofreading and correcting the transcripts and for us with hearing loss it’s always such a delight to see a podcast, with accurate transcripts. So thank you, Dr. Lilach.

LS:

Oh, thanks for mentioning that! Because it always is so important to be accessible! I’m trying to do something for a particular community of people. Of course it would be my goal to do that. And yet it’s a big, like you said, effort and expense. So I’m grateful to the supporters of the podcast. If anyone wants to join our Patreon, this is a good time to mention that your support really helps for the production of the show. But I know that there’s always more to do like captioning on Instagram stories and making sure [there is] accessible, alternate text. There’s always more things I’m learning but thanks for mentioning that. So I’d love to hear a little bit about your background if you could start. Where were you born? And how did you grow up?

XL:

So my name is Xinke Liu. I was born in China. I had hearing loss when I was 15 years old. Now, I’m a bilateral cochlear implant user, but before that I used hearing aids for about 7 years. And now I’m the co-founder of Orka. Orka is a hearing aid company. We design hearing aids, [and] general purpose chips.

LS:

So before the age of 15. Did you have any problems with your hearing? Did anyone in the family have any suspicions? What was it like growing up?

XL:

No one ever suspected that. I think it’s kind of absurd because when I had my first hearing test at age 15, the results came out. And it was profoundly severe on one side, and severe on the other side, so at that point I should have went straight with cochlear implants, but I didn’t. And I think me and my family just kind of ignored the signs, because I wasn’t struggling in school. I wasn’t struggling making friends or anything. I thought I was just having attention deficiency problem. I remember that I used to talk to my friends, and when they answer me I started drifting away, and then I would remind myself, Okay, don’t do this. Now pay attention. So I would ask my friends to repeat them[selves], and I think it works like when they repeat them when focus[ing], I seem to understand them better. But now, looking back, I know I was just compensating for my late hearing loss with lip reading.

LS:

Wow! That sounds so effortful, so exhausting. And I love for parents to listen to this and know that a lot of the behaviors that we see in children who are Deaf of HoH – they’re attributed to the hearing loss, but we may not know that. So we see kids who are rude or ignoring you, not paying attention, and all of those behaviors we’re putting our interpretation of it. But really it could be they didn’t have access to the sound; they’re not ignoring or being rude or not paying attention if they’re not hearing that, and that’s so hard for you to have dealt with. 

You were hard on yourself, or you’re not paying attention. And all the things that you didn’t even know you were missing. And then to say: Oh, it was a hearing the whole time. That’s so frustrating! 

XL:

Yeah, and I think the thing with lip reading is that maybe because I was a kid [at that time]. So, lip reading wasn’t that exhausting for me. I mean, if you want me to do lip reading now, I would definitely say no, but I was a kid. I didn’t know what I was not hearing, and I guess it’s also related to The Chinese language. It’s because we have different accents, different dialects here in China. So the TV shows always have captioning on. And the movies always come with captions. So I never had trouble understanding these, because we had different dialects. People already have problems understanding each other if they’re not speaking Mandarin. So I didn’t suspect it was my problem. I just thought, oh, it’s noisy! Oh, that’s what happens to everyone else.

Well, looking back, I know I was struggling, but then I didn’t feel like I was struggling, or it was frustrating at all. I was just thinking, why [do] people have radio – like I can’t really hear that much from radio. I don’t think that’s an efficient way of communicating information. But now, looking back, I know. Oh, yeah, because I wasn’t hearing what they were saying.

LS:

Yeah. So it was more normal for you. You didn’t realize that everyone else wasn’t experiencing that as well

XL:

Yeah, right? I just didn’t know. I thought everybody was just studying by themselves. So I didn’t ask. I didn’t know you were supposed to, you know, listen [to] what the teachers have to say in class

LS:

Ah yeah, you men