Hannah, 31, was diagnosed with otosclerosis, a condition that causes progressive hearing loss, when she was just 19. It’s her belief that living with this has taught her many things, including resilience and the power of kindness…

“It was my mum who initially noticed the problems with my hearing. Just small things like I wouldn’t hear her when she called up the stairs for me. At the time I was 19 – getting your hearing checked wasn’t something you’d usually be thinking about at that age.

“Eventually, I allowed my mum to book me a test. The guy conducting it looked shocked when I arrived – I was by far the youngest patient he had seen.

“I sat in a booth and was given a button to press every time I heard a sound. Eventually the guy stopped the test when he realised I couldn’t hear, and that actually, my condition was very serious. I was then referred to the NHS for further testing.

“Otosclerosis is often hard to diagnose without surgery because It affects the middle area of the ear, which sits behind the eardrum and isn’t visible. Initially they could estimate my condition based on the tones I could and couldn’t hear, and we eventually decided that surgery on my left ear would be the best course of action.

“Unfortunately, while the surgery was a success in that it improved my ability to hear low tones (otosclerosis mostly affects low tones), my ability to hear high notes in my left ear was damaged indefinitely. More recently, the hearing in my right ear has started to deteriorate too.

“I don’t think you ever really come to terms with the fact you may lose your hearing. There was obviously some relief that followed the diagnosis, but mainly I threw myself into researching everything I could about the condition – quite often we call upon our resilience because something’s happening that we can’t control but this way, I was able to focus on what I could impact.

“For example, I discovered that otosclerosis affects twice as many women as men because it’s thought that it can be escalated by our hormones.

“In fact, a lot of women report that the condition gets worse during pregnancy – this is something I’ve had to consider when thinking about having children myself, because getting pregnant could ultimately accelerate my hearing loss.

“Plus, my tinnitus (a symptom of otosclerosis) gets worse with stress and doing CBT has really helped me manage all the internal noise I’m experiencing. It’s a constant journey but every year I get older, I feel more positive about how far I’ve come.

“Not everyone knows that I have this hidden condition, and it’s taught me that we can’t ever know what someone is going through. We should always endeavour to be kind, because someone’s pain might not necessarily be visible.

“If I could go back and speak to my 19-year-old self, I think the overarching message would be that, despite everything, it’s all going to work out and you can be proud of what makes you unique.”

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