Tyson Gillies Doesn’t Let Hearing Loss Hold Back His Dreams

Professional athlete and longtime hearing aid wearer, Tyson Gillies, tells Dave what it’s like being an elite athlete with hearing loss, how he had to work extra hard to overcome other’s perception of his loss, the toll it takes on your mental health, and how — with help from his hearing professional and modern hearing technology — he’s been able to maintain his competitive edge.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Starkey Soundbites. I'm your host, Dave Fabry, Starkey's Chief Innovation Officer. Our guest today is going to bring a new perspective to this podcast as an athlete with hearing loss. Tyson Gillis is a retired baseball player who recently made his debut on Team Canada's deaf hockey team in the Olympics. And also, I think many people don't realize that you won a gold medal in the Pan Am Games with Canada in 2015 when they were played in Toronto. So you're an Olympian several times over here and in multiple sports. And I think that alone is testimony to your athleticism. We're going to talk with you about the unique needs of athletes with hearing loss and really appreciate your willing to share your journey with us and some of the perspectives that maybe the audiologists and hearing instant specialists that listen to this podcast may not be familiar with. Really, you come from the unique perspective of somebody who's performed at a very high level in athlete uh athletics with a significant hearing loss. And I and I'd really like to begin by saying thank you for coming today to share your journey with us. And uh let's talk a little bit about your journey with hearing loss, all the way up to the majors, um, and then also where you're going now, too. So, Tyson, thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Well, first off, Dave, uh it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for having me. It's it's and again, it's a pleasure to be here. And uh yeah, I'm I'm definitely happy to be here and love to um to tell my story and teach people about the environment we live in in the deaf and heart of hearing community, and anything I can do to help to spread awareness and you know, give these kids a dream like I had a dream as a kid, and show them that this dream can really become reality.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Excellent. Well, let's go back to the beginning and talk a little bit. You're Canadian and born in BC, one of my favorite places uh on the planet. I've had the opportunity. I had a buddy that taught in Edmonton and uh a very memorable trip that I took on a motorcycle to see him, and then we came down the backside in Jasper, Banff into the uh Okanagan Valley. Oh, amazing. Yeah, one country. Uh canloops and Koshona, Kelowna, Kelowna, yeah. Kelowna in that whole area. Best peaches I've ever had in my life. My parents live in Peach Land. Oh, they do? Yeah. I mean, it it I think August is sort of July, August is sort of the time when they're at peak ripeness where you bite into them and you're like biting a bag of juice. Exactly. I I can't tell you how many memories I had from that trip and the other times I've had the good fortune to be in Canada, but but where you're from, uh uh Vancouver and all of that, talk about your upbringing. You were first identified with hearing loss at a pretty young age, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I was I was four and a half years old. Okay. So I was already reading lips and actually speaking pretty well as a two-year-old. And I had a little couple little behavior issues that were going on here and there. I was getting kind of getting lost in like shopping malls. My mom's like, Oh Tyson, we're going over here. Not a thing. So I'm going taking little uh U-turns here and there. And uh obviously preschool was was very tough for me. Um the one that they started to really notice something different is because of kind of how I uh was reacting to whenever anything was out of routine.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Because I was really using my eyes at such a young age, and everything was so visual for me. So I started to memorize what we do on a Monday, what we do on a Tuesday at such a young age, because it's just your survival instincts will kick in. And yeah, finally, after having that third or fourth time in that the hearing hearing booth, finally they close the blinds and realized that I was lip reading this entire time.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

So that's a good lesson for student audiology students out there is really don't take for granted that even young kids are capable of compensating for their hearing loss by adding. I mean, if you think you're hearing just with your ears, your ears are sensors that supply the brain and they integrate that information that's coming from visual uh through lip reading. And so you are already very adept at compensating at a young age for this. And professionals are taught in school, you know, not to uh, and and for those listening, you won't get this, but push the button and then look up, and push the button and then look up. And any kid that is as sharp as you obviously were can figure out to push the button and kind of um get through um and compensate like that, and then as well for the word understanding to be able to read those lips. You can get about 40% of the content from lip reading.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, so it was I just it it takes me back to you know, knowing like situations when I was a kid, like I I have uh a memory that goes back so far because of being uh going through that um going through the hearing loss growing up, like knowing in preschool that my father was sitting there in the classroom for two weeks because I was misbehaving, and my parents were like, he's so good at home, we don't understand what's going on. And him just sitting there watching me, and all of a sudden the teachers talking, I would get up and just start dancing or moving around, and then he would look at me and I would look right back at him, and I would know I would have to sit right back down, but with no clue what was going around in the environment, what the teacher was saying. Like I was of loss for words, as you'd say.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Interesting. So you you managed to kind of fake your way through until you were four and a half or so. And then was that like kindergarten screening? In the US, it's really common. Before you start kindergarten or in kindergarten, they'll do screenings, and then you you clearly ran into someone who outmatched you on your on your lip reading capabilities to uh to identify that you had a hearing loss. And and uh do you mind sharing the degree of loss that was identified at that time?

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So I have a cookie bite hearing loss. Um I'm not too sure the my decibel percentage back then, but my loss now is um obviously depleted over the years and moved to profound. So it's been difficult, but you know, I've like I said, I've been uh again through it. And as being even a kid, what did I have to do? I had to adapt. Yeah. And even now, with being older, a little bit more aware, um, a little smarter. I just had to keep on adapting and keep on surviving and living this life the best I can.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Absolutely. Well, um did you have any other siblings or was there a history of hearing loss in your family, or did this come completely out of the blue to your parents uh in that they weren't really thinking about it either? And and your dad must have been, you know, what a commitment for him to say, you know, he would come into the classroom for two weeks and sit and observe because as is very common with hearing loss, kids are misdiagnosed as having behavioral problems when you had a hearing loss. But but were your parents um did they have a history of hearing loss in the family, any other siblings or family members with hearing loss?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

No, there was there was no history at all, and they started to just yeah, they started to see my behavior be triggered a little bit, or if it was even being disciplined by the school teacher or by a coach, or it's and it was really tough because I would get frustrated, you know, and then I I I already know like myself and kids like me, you go through those kind of hyperactive behavior and you lash out and with all the frustrations building up and and not really knowing why. Why am I being punished right now?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Yeah, you don't know anything any different than what you had all your life. So how would you know that you were dealing with any issues different than any other kid in that classroom? And so I can easily see the frustration, but but it's cool that your dad went directly into the classroom and did that, and then you were fitted uh so you were identified at four and a half uh and then fitted with hearing aids shortly afterwards? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

And uh people both ears. Yep, both ears. So people don't know. Uh after those two weeks, he was uh with me in school. It probably wasn't much later that uh I was actually expelled from preschool.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Oh you got you got expelled from preschool. So you you were fitted and then they expelled. No, I still didn't have hearing aids. Oh, you still didn't have them, and then they expelled you from preschool.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Expelled for not listening.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

So then they got defitted. You couldn't you listen, you couldn't hear it.

SPEAKER_01 8:36

Yeah, I couldn't hear it. Nobody nobody knew. So I think it became I think it was a relief for my parents afterwards because they're like, I was like, we're we're doing our best here, and I can only imagine, you know, raising raising a a young young kid, but raising a young kid who it's you can't hear you, there's a communication barrier right there. So I think it came a little bit of a a relief to them as well to know that.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

To put a diagnosis on it, and this is the reason, and then be able to say, okay, now we have to go from here, get you fitted. And then did did um so clearly they allowed you back into school. And and uh but but so did you immediately do you have memories? You talk about having memories way back. Do you remember first being fitted, and then do you did you see a transformation right away, or did it take a while, or what happened?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Oh, that's when the real journey started. Yeah, let alone uh yes, it was it was great to hear, but did I want to wear them? Absolutely not. So I think uh Welcome to my life. Yeah, welcome to my life. I think my hearing aids at a very young time in um my career with hearing aids, they took a couple spills, a couple in the toilets and a couple from uh the the patio from four stories up in the apartment.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

So trying to destroy the way. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

So I was very, very insecure to wear them, especially being around young kids and everyone kind of always poking at my ears or kind of laughing. And you know, it was really tough. Kids are brutal.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

People want to think that kids are all kind and nice to each other, but particularly, I mean, they're they're just brutal at that age in terms of differences.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

Aaron Ross Powell Exactly. So it was it was it was a very tough time growing up. Um and I probably went on for quite a few years, to be honest with you, before I said, you know what, I that this is what it is. I mean, this is this is how my life is gonna be. I was like, I gotta accept it, I gotta embrace it, and I gotta move forward.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Well, and so then as you did, did you did you use like the um classroom amplification systems where they transmitted directly to your in and how is that? Was that against stigmatizing? Because yeah, the teacher uh had to put it on, and then you're you're you were maybe the only kid with hearing loss in the classroom. The only one. So everyone knew the reason he or she was wearing that was for you and and another sort of uh sort of you know the the hard of hearing kid uh in the classroom. So I I I hear this a lot, you know, in the stigmatizing aspect of it.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

So it was just like another here we go again, all eyes on me. And yeah, every question, why are you wearing that? Why are you wearing that? Oh, it's for him, it's for him. And it's just like over and over, just getting just uh I always remembering it's it was always like a means for kids to kind of like call me out or you know, single me out. And it was it was very difficult. But like I said, when I started to embrace it, when I started to accept it, and I started to kind of make jokes, throw myself under the bus, and kind of just laugh with the kids and everything, that's when everyone truly started to ask me questions about hearing, get interested in it interesting, and really started to feel accepted.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

And you know, I understand what it's like as a kid, and you're you're out there, you're trying to you're trying to um be yourself, you know, trying to show your brand. But you know, kids can be cruel.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

They really can be cruel too. Well, I had a chance to interview Lou Ferrigno a number of years ago, and he was born with much more significant loss than you have that went uh undiagnosed for a while. He compensated for his hearing loss by he always idolized uh uh superheroes, and and he clearly uh put that effort into making his body bigger so that when kids picked on him, that uh he could take care of things. Did you have any any sort of bent towards that? Because clearly I've seen your Instagram page, and uh, you know, you you've managed to uh uh build yourself up as a professional athlete. Did that factor in at all? That this was the way you could, you know, work hard to be bigger and buffer than everyone?

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Absolutely. I mean that that was the biggest thing. Um I needed them to talk about something else. Yeah, I needed them to overlook the hearing loss, to not think that I was a liability on the field or on the ice. So it's it wasn't just oh, you know, Tyson Gillias, he's he's got some pretty good skill set, but you know what? What if a ball gets hit into the right field gap? Is he gonna run into our center fielder or right fielder? And I I kind of made him talk about something else. You know, Tyson Gillias, there he is again, working hard. Yeah, I mean, same old, same old. So it started to just really mask, you know, what they what they had to talk about. And that was that was my goal always, and I still in life still to this day. Yeah, I mean, the work ethic's always been there and it has to be there.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

So every kid in Canada grows up to want to be a baseball player. No, I I mean I think of hockey player is the it's the national sport. So talk a little bit about did you play both? Did you I did you find baseball and hockey at the same time? Uh which did you find first? How did you balance it? How did it uh help you uh take the focus uh off of your hearing onto your athleticism?

SPEAKER_01 13:55

So, funny enough, uh I grew up playing hockey. I started hockey at five. Okay, and I didn't start baseball till eleven. Okay. So baseball was just something to do in the summer while I was waiting around for a hockey season.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Just to stay in shape bigger activity going things. It was really hockey's my first love. It always has been, even till this day. And yeah, baseball just complemented the hockey so well, and I started to grow with it. And I got picked up at 15 to leave home for baseball. And at the time I felt like I would have a better opportunity to get a college scholarship, go to the States, you know, travel the world a little bit, and so I took it.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Certainly have done that too. I gotta believe that in the minor leagues in baseball, I think, of all of the sports, well, probably, probably hockey too. Um you end up going, you you end up moving a lot as you're progressing through. How did that uh how was that for you? Did you embrace it in terms of, like you said, opportunity to see Canada, the US, uh to see the world a little bit? Or did you sort of, you know, do you like the moving around like that, or was that something you you sort of took as a burden, but as a as a necessary part of the journey?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

I mean, I I loved it. Um up until last year, I was living out of a suitcase for 16 years. Yeah. And seeing moving town to town, city to city, and being with Team Canada for baseball and traveling the world and seeing different countries and the international scale. Yeah, it was some of the best moments of my life. I met some of the most amazing people that you form a bond with because you have to survive with each other going up and into a sport, and you can be 16, 17, 18 years old and trying to survive financially as well and having to take care of each other. Being in the minor leagues, we don't really make a lot of money. So we're sitting there in a three-bedroom apartment with six teammates, and they're a mattress beside a could be my teammate from Nicaragua, could be my teammate from Cuba. It's just you you start to meet so many people and you start to learn the different cultures of the world. And I've found so much value in that. And I think it's really shaped me as an individual today.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

No question. I think you know, I always say that the thing that will keep us from trying to destroy each other from around the world is to break bread with people from around the world to understand that basically they're looking out for the same things as you are. And it's really when we only read the news or the high level that that's where we see the conflict in many cases. Now, obviously, there are exceptions to that, but it it it I think that ability with Team Canada to see the world and to interface with athletes all over the world is one thing. And then I think as well on the um on the the baseball side, you made it to the majors first with Seattle, right? All the way up to the bigs.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

I spent uh my furthest I got was Seattle was the exhibition series in Las Vegas in 2020. Okay. And uh yeah, while I was with the Phillies, I was on the Major League roster for most of uh four years, four out of the five years I was there. Okay, and with injuries plaguing on my shoulder and my foot, I was just scratching the surface right there, and I couldn't stay healthy to get on the field. But at the same time, I got to experience everything the world baseball classic, got to experience international baseball, playing in the Pan Olympics two to two separate times with a gold and silver medal. And now I want to switch over to my first love and hope to get to the opportunity to play with the Deaf Olympics in hockey in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yeah, that's awesome. Um, and so before we pivot to hockey, talk a little bit about your hearing loss and how that impacted you on the baseball field. What sorts of things did it challenge for you? And did did your hearing loss and your lip reading capability give you a better ability to steal signs?

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Well, I I would have to say that pitchers started to kind of know. So you see that pitcher, pitching coach interaction there, they made sure to cover their mouths when I when I was on the dugout. But um it was actually very tough too. Um we talk we talk a little bit about um my hearing loss in in baseball and the effect it had on me was it was tough for some of it because I had coaches telling me, you know, not where don't worry about stealing third base because you can't tell me, I can't yell at you and you can't hear me to get back. And I'm just sitting there, I was like, what why would that ever be a thing? You know, why would that ever be an issue? Placing limits, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Limitations on you.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

They're placing limitations on me, and you know, it was it was a very frustrating time. And I I told myself way back when I was a kid when I was training to be quarterback in high school, and I couldn't fit my hearing aids in my helmet. And the coach told me, Well, you can't be quarterback then because you can't hear out there. So they made me the field goal kicker. No kidding.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

It's just you played three sports, so you played football. Yeah, but you got you got blocked into the field goal kicker because of your hearing loss because of the hearing.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

I told I told people I would never that time I was in grade, grade eight or eighth grade, used to say in America, um, I said I would never let that happen again. And it was very frustrating. It was frustrating to be labeled by fans, yeah, you know, walking through the tunnel and having fans yell for an autograph and being beside me or behind me and just couldn't couldn't hear them. Yeah. And always getting labeled as you know, having a bad attitude or you know, being ignorant. And you know, these are the things that um people with who are deaf and hard of hearing have to go through that people don't realize. You know, it's just still it's such a a big secret, and a lot of people don't have a general understanding of what it is we really go through.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah, people just think, well, I'll just shout everything. That doesn't help. Uh you know, it just distorts and makes everything worse. What would be one thing if you consider that there's not only consumers, hearing aid users that listen to this podcast, but also professionals? What would be one thing you would uh want professionals to know and understand from your journey that would help them be more empathetic and understanding to uh the the issues faced by people with hearing loss?

SPEAKER_01 20:14

Oh, I would just start to say just the general understanding, just being, you know, pay the having the patience, like the the patience and really get to know your patient and what environment they're going through every day, whether it's work, whether you know it's in sports, and you know, trying to get to the the bottom of you know how to not just help your hearing but how that will relate to their mental health in general.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

And you know, so these are things that are really tough with me because not being able to hear and going through all these frustrations, you you start to get mixed in your your emotions and you know your mental health really takes a toll, and that leads to a lot of frustrations, a lot of isolation. And these are things that I know kids are kids are going through because I went through them all.

SPEAKER_02 21:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

And even nowadays, I'm I'm 33 years old now, and I'm still learning so much in this world, and I'm still you know trying to just get through some days as well. Like it's it's not the grass isn't always green all the time, the sky's not always blue, but I'm trying to figure it out and trying to adapt just like everybody else.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Oh no question. And and I think that you highlight a really important point. Too often, especially you know, when people get right out of school or finish with their training, that they're looking at the audiogram and thinking about okay, what do I need to fit on this uh patient uh based on the audiogram? And there's so much more, as you just articulated, uh about the patient that they need to learn. They need to learn about the auditory issues, certainly. But then all of the non auditory lifestyle factors, and you don't really know a patient until you get to know them. And and that really requires listening as well as talking, and not just telling you everything that's I know that's gonna put in you know my expertise in fitting you, but listening. What are your concerns? What are your fears? Exactly. How did you get here?

SPEAKER_01 22:09

It's a very it's a very intimate thing that you can have with you know your audiologist or hearing professional fitting you. It's just so we can learn so much from our obviously audiologists with new technology and custom settings, and and they can learn so much for us about what kind of environment you're in, what kind of environment he's in, she's in, their end, you know, and I think that's very important to really get into their their their present, their past, you know, to help their future.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

Well, and and too often in Canada and in the US, we're being faced with um you know the fact that the biggest competitor, you know, you're all about competition. Our biggest competitor is not the other brands of hearing aids that are produced, but non-compliance, non-use. Only about a third of the people who have hearing loss do something about it, meaning two-thirds of the people still have the cost or the stigma or the accessibility, all of those other things. And so the more that we can raise awareness for what people with hearing loss are capable of, not placing limitations on them, but looking at the opportunities, maybe some adjustments that have to be made, but they're capable of doing every bit and more of what a person uh with normal hearing, no hearing loss, can do. Exactly. But but it's that understanding that's so so crucial to that. And I think when clinicians worry about uh uh being their role being commoditized by over-the-counter hearing aids or low-cost providers, the one thing that can't be commoditized, I always say, is caring. And and if you really care enough to find out more about what your patient, why what brought your patient in to see you, and and just like you said better than I can, um that is going to prevent your role from being commoditized. You can't commoditize caring. Exactly. Exactly. So right now I know you're um you're wearing Evolve AI devices. Yep. And uh I I I'll I'll put a pin in that for a minute because I want to transition as uh you you your your baseball career, you're retired, and now you're um you're competing at a very high level in hockey to, as you said, have a goal to participate in the Olympics uh uh in the uh 2024. Yes, yes. Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Um so I've actually always had the dream to play with this team. Yeah. I mean, I think I've known about this team for probably close to ten years now, and I've always been playing baseball and always kind of seen uh their trips that they've been going on, like the Deaf Olympics uh in Italy in 2019 where they won the the silver medal. And you know, it's very exciting and being being a part of uh the clubhouse and being with the guys, and you know, these are the things that a retired athlete and by any means is gonna miss the most. I mean, the stories with with the the people that have been so close to you that you went into battle with, and that's something that I want to hold on to as long as I can. Sure. So Saturday three is not that old. You've still got lots of time, lots, lots of surgeries later. I'm I'm back getting on the ice and ready to sacrifice my body some more just for for those memories. And I had the the opportunity to play these two exhibition games this past weekend against Team USA, and it was it was an amazing. I have never it's been a long time since I've felt that alive. And it's the first time I've actually been in a room with people deaf and hard of hearing, like myself, play who play sports. It's the first time I've it's it's ever happened. And to to see the way those guys carried themselves and the way they take care of each other, and the and how uh accepting and welcoming they were for me. This is a 33-year-old rookie coming into the clubhouse, the youngest kid at 17, the oldest guy, right here. And just how amazing they took me under their wing and taught me about you know hockey and teaching me a sport that I haven't played um played in 17 years.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

What position are you playing?

SPEAKER_01 26:18

I was playing uh left wing.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Left wing. Okay, fantastic. Well, we'll look forward to seeing that as you continue your journey towards the Deaf Olympics in 2024. Where are they?

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Um I believe they're either in Quebec or Portland. I think they're I think they're trying to make the decision now. Awesome. That's great.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

Well, let's talk a little bit. So you're you're wearing now, you've you've had multiple sets of hearing aids, I'm sure, over over your lifetime since you were fit now, some nearly 30 years ago. Um so how has the technology changed uh from your first set of devices to your Evolve AI ones?

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Oh I it's it's been you can't even you can't even compare to what to the old hearing aids back in the day to now. I mean, this the sound quality in general and being able to hear that that R I couldn't hear before, that TH sound. And it's it's allowed my mind to to roll and be able to put together a sentence and you know the topic of what we've been talking about and be able to come back and be a part of a conversation. And that's huge, and especially now with all the features that have been so amazing for my everyday life, as far as being in the Thrive app and having the activity tracker. I mean, you like such a oh, it's been amazing like to for my calories and my total steps in a day to being the like the best healthable hearing aid on the market that you can get, as far as making sure that these you're interacting with people. You're you're putting yourself out there, you're you're engaging conversation, you're trying to grow as a person.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Yeah. Now, are you fluent in both uh English and French? Just English. Just English.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

So you use the translation feature at all? That's that's what I was gonna get to next, as far as my love to travel the world. I I've actually playing in Quebec City, I've used that the translation, and I can't wait to travel the world even more and try it out in all different countries. I mean, I think that would be my goal to go about 27 of the on the list right now. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Awesome, that's fantastic. Well, and we you know we have the ability, as you said, to have the tracking to be able to track your physical activity, your exercise, your steps. And as someone who's easily gamified, I like to fill those buckets up and get that maximum score every day. One of the other things we talk about is um the the reminder feature, where you can set reminders. And you know, we typically talk about this in terms of medication reminders for older people. But for someone like yourself, you can remind yourself of appointments or places where you have to be and things, and you can set up a daily, weekly, monthly, or even an annual reminder so you don't forget anyone's birthdays and things like that. Have you used the reminder feature at all?

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Oh, I mean, it's it gets me through my week, especially very busy with uh the youth baseball and training the kids all the time to know that I have to be on the field at this time. I have a private, private instruction hitting lesson at this time. Oh, I got to take some time for myself at this time. And so yeah, it's been it's been really amazing. It's been very accommodating and very convenient.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Yeah, it's something that a lot of people think of, oh, well, that's just for older people. And I think the use cases for all of these features really transcend age. And going back again to the pointer for the for the professionals listening, get to know what your patient's lifestyle is, what their needs and expectations are. Don't presume that you would think medication reminders, but think about setting up reminders for your uh your programs that you're running, for your appointments that you got to go to. All of those things uh can really serve as additional, I say it like provides you with superpowers. You get an audio reminder and you can even control the hearing aids using voice commands. Have you ever tried that? You can turn it up the volume, change programs.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Exactly. I mean, I I love all the features. I feel like a modern-day inspector gadget most of the time. So it's been it's been truly amazing. And uh yeah, people people ask me all the time about the settings, and they're just they're floored by it. And it it's it's very exciting to talk about. And I think that talking about that with uh different people, they're they're more likely to now, okay. I might as well go get my hearing tested. Yeah, it's like such cool things. Like you can stream your music, your calls, everything's hands-free. Yeah, I mean, um just it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

Now do you wear do you wear uh in-the-ear custom devices or over the ear, or do you have both? I wear both. You when you're when you're putting a helmet on, I would assume in the ear is easier.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

And it's a lot easier with because of with all the moisture and sweat and like the hockey helmet or the baseball hat, or if you're out and it's raining on the field. Yeah, it's it's definitely really convenient having the in-the-ear hearing ends.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

Yeah, we talk about, I mean, the ear is a hostile work environment. There's uh and especially for someone playing outdoors or playing on an ice rink, a hockey rink, where there's moisture and there's humidity close to the ice and you're falling, and you want to make sure that they stay securely in your ears. Uh, and that's why I was uh curious. The custom probably are that best solution. Do you use the rechargeable batteries? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

That's that's been that has been huge, huge for me uh going forward is not losing those little batteries anymore and not sitting there and all of a sudden the pharmacy is closed because we all know that is very devastating moments.

SPEAKER_00 31:36

Yeah, you're out of luck then at that point. So that's where I think having a backup pair in your case is useful, and then having both the custom and over-the-ear style. Do you have a preference just for one in general uh versus the other?

SPEAKER_01 31:49

I think my preference right now would be um my RICs with the AP molds have been really great for me because it gives me that that sound boost that I need and um that con that uh the uh confidence to have that that conversation because a little bit louder, like it's very, very, very crisp and um really good for that conversation, being in the restaurants and being in meetings. And that's been uh it's been very good for me.

SPEAKER_00 32:18

Okay, so now going back to your youth, and you talked about those FM transmitters and and sort of how you sort of grimaced considering that uh because it singled you out. Have you used any accessories for your devices now that you live in the Bluetooth world? And not only are you connected to your smartphone, and you already mentioned that you use the Thrive app to control the devices, you can stream phone calls, as you mentioned, you can stream podcasts and music. Have you explored or tried an accessory in any cases where there is a challenging listening environment, like the table mic, the remote mic or the TV streamer?

SPEAKER_01 32:57

I've used the table mic actually in uh like a team meeting. Okay. Put the table mic right there because you have a conversation with the coach on one side, the other coach on the other, some of the players, so all the different camera uh different microphone settings in that, in the table mic to be able to catch and get um and real-time translate right to my ears. It's been it's been absolutely amazing. I mean, I think it's one of the it's I really wish I had that as a kid.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

So again, you think about how far it's come in that instead of something that you thought about, oh, you know, this is singling me out as the hard of hearing kid versus something that, as I said, gives you a bit of a superpower in that to the degree that your hearing loss allows, it allows you to outperform your normal hearing counterpart in the same environment. And then you get people saying, wait a minute, what's that? How's that work? Can how do I get that?

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Exactly. I've had so many, so many people come up to me or call me and be like, okay, I think I want hearing aids. I don't need them, but I think I want them. All of the things that they can do and see you doing. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

So Well, so we talked earlier, and you gave some great advice for professionals to consider when they're working with the patient, and they're not just working with a pair of ears, but they're working with a whole human who has a whole journey before you and after you. What about what advice would you give young kids? And I know in Travile now you're working with kids to develop uh their skills as athletes, and I'm assuming for both baseball and for hockey? Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

We're doing it for uh baseball. Baseball, okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:30

Starting baseball starting baseball. Um but what advice do you have for kids who want to grow up to be a professional athlete like you? And then are there any other given your history as a kid with a hearing loss who overcame some of those early obstacles to succeed at a very high level, winning a gold medal at the Pan Am games, what advice do you have for kids who want to grow up to be a pro-athlete? And what advice do you have special, unique to your journey as a kid with a hearing loss? Listen to yourself. What do you mean?

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Expand on that. I say listen to yourself. I was like, you have a dream. I had a dream, I had a goal, and I had a lot of people telling me that it would never become a reality. Placing limits. Placing limits and telling me that, you know, laughing at me or telling me like because I wanted to be a professional athlete when I was a kid. And they're like, Well, you can't hear on the field, or you can't hear somebody call for the puck. I was like, Yeah, but I'm gonna find a way anyways. So I listened to myself and I I I allowed myself to reach for the search, reach for the clouds. You know, I was gonna go in there and I was gonna put the work in. And like I said, we can go back to what I had to do to defy these odds as you'll call them, and um get away from those limitations that people put on me and the labels that they put on me as a kid, and I was gonna give them something else to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

Yeah, the odds are long for any kid who wishes to be a professional, professional athlete. And then in addition, based on the fact that you had a hearing loss, weren't identified, you know, we were you were you were told you had behavioral problems until four and a half, then we're fitted, and you know, still being able to pick up all of the players around there, you know, when you have that hearing loss, you had to use your eyes probably more than uh than the average person and paying attention to those details. Yeah. But the fact that you were able to do that, commit to yourself, look at uh and listen to your own voice inside. Exactly. Use all of those uh uh combination of senses that you're getting input on. Do you feel as though um that your hearing loss made you more uh visual? You mentioned it a couple times that you know being more in tune to the visual surroundings.

SPEAKER_01 36:46

I have to. I mean, it goes right back to just human survival instincts, you know, as like those had to kick in. And going back to what you said about you know, things uh to tell like the kids that have the dream of coming up, it's like we try and teach our kids it was like fail now. Yeah, fail now and fail over and over and over.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

And learn how to deal with so that then you can the success will come. Exactly. So is that what talk a little bit about what uh Trevile and and and how you work on that with the uh Trevial translation to to uh French. But how what are you building in them at this age? Work. Yeah, work ethic.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

Yeah. So you you look at the definition of that word and you can see an unbearable experience. I mean, I've grown up with an unbearable experience since day one, and I knew I had to put the work in. So my business partner, Michael Krauss, and myself, we both went through, you know, uh it's kind of tough operating when it came to that. And so we teach our kids about failure, about sacrifice, because you gotta build a certain threshold in to be able to survive in sports and not even in sports. Sports is second. Yeah, we're building character in these young men and women, and we're trying to get them ready for the real world.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Yeah, sports is just a plus. Yeah, John Maxwell says the dream is free, but the journey is not. And when you think about that journey to professional, uh to the professional level, seeing, you know, where they talk about 10,000 hours at a minimum is what you have to invest in perfecting your craft, no matter whether it's music or sports or anything else, academics. You got to put 10,000 hours in, and everyone thinks about the dream from here to there, but it's that work that comes in between that is essential to that goal.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Exactly, exactly. You hit it, you hit it right on.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

So that's great what you're modeling for these young kids. Uh and uh have you had any prospects? I know you've been doing this for about three and a half years, right? Any prospects yet that you see really have don't don't name any names because by doing that, you're putting lids on the other kid. But do have you seen any that really have promise that may be able to indeed achieve their dream as long as those odds are?

SPEAKER_01 38:57

Yeah, I mean we do, we we see it every day. We see these young kids, and we handle kids anywhere from five to eighteen, nineteen. It's awesome. And we start to see these kids that have they have a high ceiling. And now we just want to, we hope they can grow with us because they're teaching us so much every day about ourselves and about, you know, their lives and what they have to go through. And you know, it's just been it's such been such an awesome interaction and an awesome exchange altogether.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

Well, uh I appreciate your sharing this time with us today. And um, for the last couple minutes, I want to uh do a bit of what's become a tradition. We talk about this podcast is focusing on hearing better and living better. And uh sound is sort of the central theme, and as somebody that um has achieved great success in multiple sports now. Um what favorite sounds do you have that you think of in the world, whether it's in the sporting world or in your family or in any other area in the wilderness? You've grown up in a great part of the world where there's a great wilderness there, but what are some of your favorite sounds?

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Oh, you won't believe this one. I won't. I kind of have this obsession with bagpipes. Bagpipes? I love listening to bagpipes.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

Well, and for me, it's sort of like you go to heaven and here's your harp, you go to hell and here's your bagpipe.

SPEAKER_01 40:17

Nothing kind of gets the adrenaline going and gets me more excited than listening to bagpipes.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

So where did that come from?

SPEAKER_01 40:23

I I honestly I'm not even too sure. I just when I I think the first time I kind of heard bagpipes, I just loved like that sound and kind of how how it how I hear that sound, which could be a lot different than I have outs here at the end.

SPEAKER_00 40:37

That's just giving me inspiration. So your walk-in music could be ACDC, long way to the top which fits with Trevide, and there's a big bag pipe role in that uh song. So that's cool. So how about okay, so one other thing that I want to ask again, specifically for you as somebody with a hearing loss who's looked at uh taking limitations away, uh favorite movie, uh because one of the things that I think about is to date, we're starting to see more and more movies. In the past, whenever there was a movie with someone who was a hearing aid user or a cochlear implant user, that element, the hearing aid or the hearing loss or the implant was always a part of the plot. Quiet Place, uh Mr. Holland's opus, those kinds of things, coda. But we're starting to see movies that can feature my dream is to have someone with uh hearing aids or a cochlear implant that's in the movie, and that the the plot doesn't factor in at all to the fact that this person happens to have a hearing loss or a hearing aid. So, what favorite movies do you have? And are you a movie person to be honest with it? Oh, big time movie. Well, then then it's easy. What's your favorite movie or movies that inspire you?

SPEAKER_01 41:52

I think one of my favorite movies of all time would probably have to be Major Pain. And there actually is somebody in the movie, deaf and hard of hearing.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Okay, I didn't we didn't plan this out in advance, so that's interesting. And uh and so you know, I think you know the goal is really just to get this to society where we remove that stigma, we recognize the importance of uh of hearing aids and and and hearing loss offsetting, just like you know, some people take medication for blood pressure, other people have to wear glasses, and hearing aids should just become a part of the landscape and and without placing limitations. It pains me to hear, even a man as young as you, 33, that you were told, well, you can't do this because you have hearing loss. And so, you know, I I can't tell you how inspirational it is to have you here today sharing your story with us. And I wish you all of the best in the future, and I'll look forward to seeing you in the in the Deaf Olympics in 2024.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

I hope so too. Hey, it's been an absolute pleasure, Dave. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Oh, it's my pleasure. So, to our listeners, uh, thank you for listening to this episode of Starkey Soundbites. If you enjoyed this conversation, please rate and review us as your on your preferred uh podcast platform. And you can also follow us by hitting subscribe to be sure you don't miss a single episode. We'll see and hear you next time.