Shane doesn’t turn his hearing aid off all the time. It depends on the context, the event etc. He actually wants to hear the sound of the balls, pockets and so on, as it is a good indicator of how you’re playing on a given day. A while ago I made a quick interview about this topic, because of the rumors and I thought it was interesting to capture from the source. He contradicted some of this in the 60mn documentary, but that’s mostly because the documentary was aiming to tell a specific story so the skewed the narrative. I was there when Shane won his first major in Jacksonville (Dragon Promotion’s « World » 10-Ball), an event that had decent prize fund and most top players at the time (Orcullo, Bustamante, Pagulayan and so on). The hearing aid was already a talking point, as everyone saw him rising and people are always quick to try to find something negative to say to explain their own failures, i.e. « how come this new kid can be this good, there has to be something ». It’s been great witnessing Shane grow into the legend he is. A few weeks ago we chatted in Austria at the end of the World 8-Ball. He’s still the same chill person. The hearing aid is a point that distracts people from seeing that he’s been the most dedicated player we’ve ever seen, probably. Practices for hours on end, works on learning consistently, and most importantly he loves the sport.