I Chose Series
Audiology
Why did you choose Audiology?
Of all things, my journey into Audiology began with a metal concert.
At that point in my early college life, I had experienced the freedom of going to a handful of concerts and raves, and I was eager to go to more. Thanks to a friend's suggestion, I got tickets to see a band called Kublai Khan TX. We carpooled to the venue in Deep Ellum, and I remember standing in line, feeling like a million bucks. I was ready to experience the energy of moshing and, for the first time, see a live metal performance.
Looking back, I only remember a few things that happened during the concert. I remember a supportive group of guys yelling and crowd surfing me toward the front of the crowd. I remember how sweaty it was. But above all, I remember how unbelievably loud it was. To this day, I can confidently say it was the loudest concert I had ever been to. The sound felt like it shook my entire head, and even after the concert was long over, I could still feel its effects.
Not long after that, I experienced my first bout of tinnitus. One second, I was sitting at my desk listening to music through my speakers. The next, complete silence in my right ear. For about thirty seconds, I sat there listening to a ringing sound as my hearing gradually returned. It could have very well been paranoia, but I also started feeling that I was asking people in my life to repeat themselves, noticeably more than I had before. For the first time, I became genuinely scared for my hearing.
At the time, I was studying Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences in my undergraduate program, and I was taking my introductory Audiology course. Because of what I had recently experienced, I started paying much closer attention to what Audiology actually was and what a career in it could look like.
Around the same time, I thought about one of my favorite musicians, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, whose career and live performances had been affected by tinnitus. I began to realize that hearing was something I had always taken for granted. I loved music, concerts, and experiencing sound, but I had never really thought about what it would mean to lose that.
And then it clicked. It felt like all of these events had pointed me toward the same place. I wanted to help prevent other people from losing such a beautiful and essential part of their lives. Not just music, but communication itself.
One of my personal mantras is that a good conversation is 25% talking and 75% listening. As an audiologist, I want to help my future patients continue to participate in those conversations. I want to help someone hear their partner's voice, follow along at a dinner table, laugh with their friends, listen to their favorite song, or simply feel connected to the people around them.
I learned, in a very unexpected way, just how precious hearing really is. And I chose Audiology to help people protect it, because everyone deserves the opportunity to keep listening.
