HLAA Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2010 - 22

The Doughty Family

atie Doughty realized her husband Reed had a hearing loss pretty soon after they first met in high school. Now married with two sons, Micah (4) and Caleb (18 months), Reed wears hearing aids. Reed is an NFL player for the Washington Redskins and Katie is a stay-at-home mom and the Doughtys split their time between their home in Colorado and the Washington, D.C., area. After 11 years together, they think they have communications down pat.

Katie, tell us about meeting Reed.
Reed was very open about the fact that he had a hearing loss and told me before I even noticed anything. After he told me, I did notice that he asked for things to be repeated a little more than other people and he would always look straight at me when I was talking. The only other people I knew who had a hearing loss were older people like my grandparents. Reed was the first younger person who I knew with a hearing loss. Actually, a couple of days after we first met, Reed called me “Krista” instead of Katie. I think he blamed it on his hearing loss, but maybe that’s because that sounds better than admitting he just forgot my name!

Have there been any frustrating times because of his hearing loss?
Probably some of the frustrating moments with Reed’s hearing loss have been when he’s been sleeping. Our older son has kidney problems and when he was younger he was on dialysis and had a feeding tube. There were several times when I would be in Micah’s room, which is right next to ours, and yell for Reed to come and help because our son was throwing up or some other crisis. Reed simply couldn’t hear me when he was sleeping.

What communication strategies do you use?
Reed and I have been married for almost eight years now, and have been together for 11 years, so living with his hearing loss is pretty normal now. I know the situations where Reed has difficulty hearing and have learned how best to help him with that. For instance, I know that when we are at a busy, loud restaurant I will probably have to repeat what the waiter asks Reed. On a normal day, his hearing loss really doesn’t cross my mind. Some communication strategies that I’ve learned over the years are to talk in a little deeper voice with Reed. I have a higher voice naturally and know that higher pitches are harder for Reed to hear; so it will help to lower my voice a little. Also, I’ve learned to get Reed’s attention before I start telling him something. If I start talking to him without him knowing it, he won’t catch what I’m saying at first.

What about your children?
Right now, we don’t know if our children will have inherited Reed’s hearing loss. It is genetic for Reed. His grandma, several aunts, and dad all have a hearing loss. However, Reed has two older brothers who don’t have any hearing loss. We don’t notice anything unusual with our boys yet that would make us suspect a loss, but realize we do need to get them tested at some point. Barbara Kelley is deputy executive director and editor-in-chief of Hearing Loss Magazine. She can be reached at bkelley@ hearingloss.org.
© Cindy Dyer

HLAA Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of HLAA Hearing Loss Magazine July/August 2010