Holly Hagan spent over seven years struggling with her hearing, often avoiding social events out of fear of feeling awkward. But after finally getting tested three months ago, she was fitted with hearing aids – and she tells us it’s been life-changing. While there have been overwhelming moments, the 32 year old is grateful she can experience things she didn’t realise she was missing out on, like her 15-month-old son Alpha Jax’s first sounds.
However, she jokes that she can now hear her footballer husband Jacob Blyth’s annoying eating habits… Here, the former Geordie Shore star chats to heat about wearing her hearing aids with pride, motherhood, and her incredible weight-loss journey...
When did you first realise you were losing your hearing?
Me and Jacob were in a brand-new relationship and when he came to my house for the first time, he said, ‘Your oven’s bleeping.’ I was like, ‘No it’s not.’ He recorded it on his phone and turned up the volume and played it in my ear, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, my oven’s beeping!’ And then it all made sense. If I was ever in taxis, I would always really struggle to hear the driver speaking. And then if I was in nightclubs, I couldn’t hear what people were saying.
Why do you think it took you so long to get tested?
I didn’t actually realise how bad it was. I got a test pre-Covid, around 2019, but I didn’t do anything about it then because it didn’t seem like it was that severe. And then within the last three months, I got tested again with Boots Hearingcare to make sure that it wasn’t anything sinister. Here we are now, and I’ve got a lovely pair of hearing aids! I don’t care what people think and there isn’t anything wrong with wearing hearing aids at all. I actually think they’re a really cool piece of kit.
How did you feel when you were first told you needed them?
I felt relieved that I’d got a professional’s opinion and that I wasn’t just being rude and not listening to people. And that actually, I did have quite a serious problem. My hearing loss is high frequency hearing loss, so when I was getting my test done, a lot of the sounds were in the severe to profound range. It did make me feel quite emotional, but also just so grateful that hearing aids exist.
Do they give you perfect hearing?
As perfect as I think it would be. I hear things relatively clearly now. I hear the birds tweeting again – I don’t think I’ve heard the birds tweeting properly since I was 18 years old.
Has Jacob been supportive?
Yeah. It’s definitely changed both of our lives. Now, I’m not annoying him by leaving the oven on or leaving the fridge open, because I can actually hear the beeper going off. But when Jacob’s eating – he always has yoghurt and nuts – I just pop the hearing aids out, because every time he crunches, I just want to punch him in the face. I don’t know why, I’m not a violent person!
And it must be nice being able to hear Alpha Jax’s first sounds?
Definitely. And that’s something that I wouldn’t have even really known that I was missing out on. All these little noises that he makes – I want to be able to hear that.
You’ve also been on a weight-loss journey since giving birth last year, and you look amazing…
I naturally lost 20lbs after I gave birth, and then from that, I’ve managed to lose 47lbs. I work out about three times a week – it’s not super-strict or anything. I didn’t know what my body was capable of ten years ago when I went and had surgeries and was trying diet products. The weight loss that I’m doing now is to try and shrink the BBL [Brazilian bum lift] I had. I don’t want to go through any more surgical procedures unnecessarily. It’s really dangerous and when you’ve got a child, your priorities change.
If you’re struggling with a hearing condition, visit your GP or an audiologist for more information. If you are aged over 50, you can book your free hearing test at bootshearingcare.com