Local woman starting hearing loss support group

Marta Watson has dealt with hearing loss issues for 50 years. She wants to start a support group for people in Libby and the surrounding areas in Lincoln County who deal with hearing loss.

Watson said she first started having hearing problems in her teens, often complaining that she couldn’t hear clearly in her left ear when she spoke on the phone. Her hearing loss worsened until, in 1977, at 26 years old, Watson was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis 2 or NF2.

NF2 is a disease that causes tumors to form on the nerves. It caused a tumor to grow on Watson’s auditory nerve, requiring brain surgery in order for it to be removed. However, Watson still had the hearing in her right ear, which she said was perfect.

In the mid 1990s, Watson’s hearing started to go completely. She started having issues with her right ear and had to have surgery yet again. Unlike her first surgery, the doctors were able to follow the growth of the tumor that was causing her hearing loss. As a result, she was able to evade total deafness at the time. That changed in 2002, when she lost her hearing completely after another surgery resulted in the loss of her right auditory nerve.

Watson worked as a teacher, and her hearing loss resulted in her gradually losing her ability to understand her students. During that time, Watson said, even though she knew she had a disease that could take her hearing, she was in denial. Once it became official that she had a tumor on her auditory nerve, she began to admit that she was hearing impaired, but still didn’t want to think about it. It wasn’t until she lost her hearing completely that she came to terms with her condition.

“I had resigned my job ostensibly because of my son’s urgent illness which required my help, but that was an excuse,” said Watson. “I simply could not function well in the classroom any longer. When I finally decided to have the surgery that guaranteed I would be deaf for good, I had to face up to the fact that I indeed had an issue.”

Even though she no longer has either of her auditory nerves, Watson said she has not lost heart. According to her, when she had her operation in 2002, the doctors implanted an auditory brainstem implant, or ABI. The ABI looks like a cochlear implant or CI, but works differently. Whereas a CI is placed in the inner ear of people who still have hearing nerves, the ABI is placed on the brainstem and transmits electronic pulses to the brain, which are interpreted as sound.

“The ABI is most helpful when I’m lip reading,” said Watson. “It improves my comprehension quite a bit. It really is one of technology’s greatest miracles as far as I’m concerned, but it is by no means anything like real hearing. It is hard to describe.”

“You may wonder how hard of hearing people can relate to me if I have no hearing at all. Being deaf is different than being hard of hearing, I know. But not completely. We share similar struggles, if not identical ones. We have lost some or all of something most people take for granted and it has impacted us in innumerable ways. I feel an immediate connection to anyone with hearing loss.”

One of the first things Watson did when she lost her hearing completely was to get a tutor and learn sign language. The lessons did little to help Watson, as the majority of the people she knew could still hear. Her tutor was the only person she knew who understood sign language. Watson’s husband, Dave, tried to learn sign language as well, but stopped after learning what Watson estimates to be about 100 signs and “fingerspelling,” the sign language equivalent of the alphabet.

Watson also had issues with the speed at which people who knew sign language could sign. She reported having trouble keeping up with the speed at which sign language interpreters could sign.

Because all of her friends were hearing and would most likely never learn sign language, Watson gave up on signing.

“I very rarely have a reason to sign,” said Watson, “but when I do, I usually start by signing, ‘I don’t sign well.’ What works for me is lip reading (assisted by the ABI) combined with pen and paper, fingerspelling and gestures.”

In addition to learning to speak in sign language, Watson said she also went to a grief counselor to deal with the grief of losing her hearing and attended a course for coping with hearing loss. She also joined a group belonging to the Hearing Loss Association of America, or HLAA, and hosted a few of the group’s meetings.

After participating in activities with HLAA, Watson decided to become active in the community of deaf and hard of hearing people.

“In 2004, we moved to the metro Phoenix area and I tried to find another HLAA group,” said Watson. “Most were too far away, so I attempted to start a local group.”

“I printed up fliers and put them in what I thought were strategically located places, but had no responses at all. In 2007, I discovered another national HL group, Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) and met (online) a couple of other people who really wanted to start a group.”

“We managed to get about 12 people who had contacted ALDA wanting to find a group. Several meetings and social gatherings (which I usually hosted) were held over the next three years, but ultimately, it fell apart because the metro area is so large. Meanwhile, I edited the group’s online newsletter and joined the national ALDA.”

Watson said she started spending summers in Libby in 2008, and each stay got longer until she and her husband decided to retire to Libby in 2012. Since then, Watson has reached out to deaf and hard of hearing people in the Libby area, but has had difficulty doing so, as many people with problems hearing often isolate themselves and hide their problem.

And even if she is successful in finding someone with hearing problems, Watson said the responses she receives are usually guarded.

“Sometimes I can almost feel the wall go up, and I understand,” said Watson. “It’s a risk to open up about something like that.”

Watson said she wants to create a place where people facing problems with their hearing feel comfortable, and for them to know that they are not alone in their struggles. She says she wants them to know that there are people who care and want to help.

Watson said she hopes to accomplish this through the support group she wants to put together. Other than that, she said she hopes that this support group will give both hearing people and people with hearing issues much-needed education regarding the issue.

“I think most people have a loved one with hearing loss issues, but they simply don’t know what to do (or not do),” said Watson.

“To deaf or hard of hearing people, I say, do all you can to improve things but don’t expect to return to perfect hearing. To hearing people, I say, combat hearing loss by protecting your hearing NOW while you can. Don’t take it for granted.”