My Superpower Anika Temple

“Stop interrupting! Before opening your mouth, see if the adults are in the middle of a conversation,” my dad reminded me for the hundredth time. What I couldn’t have articulated at the time was that I was too lazy to ‘watch’, and I couldn’t hear well enough not to. As far as I was concerned, nobody was talking. Later it became apparent that I could benefit from a hearing aid.

“Da octer ust call your nay.” My mom stood up and motioned to the audiologist. I looked back and mentally said goodbye to the centenarian I was sitting next to. I followed mom down the corridor. I felt out of place. Only old people have hearing loss.

Andrea, the audiologist, took out a purple hearing aid and adjusted it over my ear. I looked over at my mom just as the hearing aid turned on. My eyebrows shot up as I heard the loud static-y sound in my right ear.

“CAN YOU HEAR ME OK!!?” Andrea shouted.

“Yeah, it sounds...weird...but good. Like a radio or something.” Even my own voice sounded different.

“It’ll just take some time to get used to it,” she replied. She turned back to her computer and asked me a couple of questions before adjusting the hearing aid accordingly.

“Between the broken bones in her inner ear, the damage to the auditory nerve, and low...