# @davidmsmith15 on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/B548JGqB7r9
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/29187697-davidmsmith15-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e4b4dfb457.jpg
- **Posted:** 2019-12-10T11:08:43.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** David Smith 🇺🇸 (@davidmsmith15) — https://gondola.cc/davidmsmith15

## Caption

Growing up and playing sports as much as I did, I learned very quickly that my greatest challenge on the playing field would not be figuring out how to keep my opponent off the scoreboard, but how to keep the sweat out of my hearing aids. As I only had one pair of hearing aids at a time growing up, (they are EXPENSIVE!) I did everything I could to make sure they kept on working. I tried wrapping my hearing aids in plastic wrap, wearing wristbands and headbands to catch the sweat, and an endless routine of using my shirt to wipe the sweat from behind my ears.
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Unfortunately, there were times when it was a losing battle and I would “sweat out” my hearing aids. My world of “normal” hearing came to an abrupt and unnerving halt, and all of the sudden I was standing in a field of dead silence while everyone else played on like nothing happened. Well, one person would notice, my dad. He would always tell me he could pinpoint the moment that my hearing aids went out because I changed as a player. Instead of the carefree, happy and energetic kid who would chase down every ball, I reverted into a timid version of myself that was scared to miss something or make an embarrassing mistake that would draw attention to myself, so I did what I could to stay away from the action.
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Instead of blaming my hearing aids for a drop in my performance, I had to learn to adapt and play through the silence. It wasn’t an issue of if my hearing aids would go out, but when. I began to learn how to keep my head on a swivel, relying on the habit of keeping my eyes moving, looking for visual cues to make up for the auditory cues I was missing. It’s not the perfect replacement for hearing, but it allowed me to gain confidence and made me a better teammate, hearing or not. .
#deafathlete #deaf #hardofhearing #hearing #deafcommunity #deafawareness #hearingloss #volleyballplayer #oticon #myoticon #usavolleyball #TeamAdidas #Adidasvolleyball #Adidasathlete
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oticonusa oticonpeoplefirst adidasvolleyball adidas

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 3,812
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- **Comments:** 51

## Tags

usavolleyball, teamadidas, volleyballplayer, deafathlete, hardofhearing, oticon, deaf, deafcommunity, hearing, myoticon, adidasvolleyball, hearingloss, adidasathlete, deafawareness

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