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What takes a 13-year-old to accept and believe that she has a hearing loss? At first I thought I had deficit of attention and that when someone talked to me and I did not understand, it was because I was distracted. Until these “distractions” became more frequent and caught my parents’ attention. Deep down, I knew something was wrong with me, but I did not want to accept it. I had a certain kind of “prejudice”, I did not want to imagine myself using a hearing aid. Eventually my parents convinced me to take an audiometry test (an exam that aims to assess the patient’s ability to hear and interpret sounds). And then the reality was there: bilateral sensorineural hearing loss of 40 decibels. I could no longer deceive or hide from myself my own problems.

I remember the first time I tried the hearing aids. I went with my father to Carlos Gomes Avenue to test the noise in a busy place and I was shocked. I could listen to everything! The sound of cars, motorcycles, people walking and talking, I opened the biggest smile at the same time.

Today, I am completely dependent on the devices, which have given me self-assurance and self-confidence. If I’m left without my “puppies”, I’m completely lost, it seems as if a part of me is missing.