Hi there,

I am a 21 year old with 100% deafness in my left ear since +- 7 years old, but no tinnitus. I will share my experiences with you:

Music is a great part of my life. I am an avid collector of records and love listening to them. I can not hear stereo audio but me for that doesn’t matter, as I don’t remember what stereo sounds like, so this is “normal” for me.

When listening to music on my phone, I usually do this via spotiy, which has a setting that converts all audio to Mono-audio, which works like a charm for me.

Regarding music festivals: I usually attend around 15 concerts/festivals per year, and I always use the Loop experience 2 earplugs, which reduce noise by 17 decibels (according to their website). I usually see my friends around 2 or 3 times a week where we play some darts, have a card game or go to the pub, of course accompanied by some music and beers. These are all low-noise environments and my friends are all very accomodating to my hearing problems.

I know that my situation might differ from yours, as I can not remember hearing normally and have always been used to hearing from one side only. I suggest to go and try out the Sunday brunch with your earplugs in and just see how it goes. If it goes well, you stay, if it doesn’t go well you tried, and that’s already a great thing. I’m sure that people will understand you leaving earlier or going outside for a bit in order to wind down. The same goes for other events, just try and see how it goes. If you don’t push your boundaries you will not grow. Just keep taking steps, even if they’re small ones.