Being deaf (lowercase "d") means you are medical unable to hear very little or any sounds from the ear. On the other hand, hard of hearing means you are able to still hear sounds, but not completely. Being hard of hearing falls on a spectrum from mild hearing loss, to moderate, severe and worse of all profound hearing loss.

The cause of my hearing loss is actually unknown. My parents speculated different scenarios of when I was sick as an infant that might have cause my hearing loss. However, there has been no definitive case that connects to the cause of my hearing loss.

I actually was against getting a cochlear implant to begin with. I have had a mot of medical surgery procedures to where I was not interested in getting another surgery! However, my youngest son was just learning to speak at the time of consideration and one day he got fed up with having to repeat himself for me and refused to have a conversation with me since I couldn't here him. That was unacceptable for me and my decision was made to get a cochlear implant. I was going to do whatever I had to do to be able to hear my son and have a conversation with him. Best decision ever.