In November of 2015 I received notice that I was being called to jury duty starting December 1st. I was surprised to receive this notification because I thought my name had been removed from the rolls. About twenty years ago, when I was a hearing aid user and relied on lip reading to communicate, my doctor had written a letter for me describing my hearing loss to give the courts that would excuse me from jury duty. Even though I wore hearing aids, I could not understand what was being said without the visual cues of lip reading. Hearing aids delivered more sound, but did nothing to aid with comprehension and understanding of speech. Since getting cochlear implants, all of that has changed dramatically.

I have had my cochlear implants for many years now and function as well as most hearing people in my generation. Upon reading the letter calling me to jury duty, I felt kind of excited at the thought of being able to perform my civic duty just like everyone else. Instead of assuming I couldn’t do this because of my bionic hearing, I decided to call the jury hotline and tell them my issue and see what they had to say. The court informed me that they had special headsets to assist with hearing. This made me feel more comfortable knowing they do all they can to assist with hearing issues. I have used headsets over my behind the ear processors that look like a hearing aid and that has a microphone right in front of the ear canal. I thought that if I had trouble hearing I could try the headset option. I decided I did not need to get another letter to be excused. I could do this (maybe).

The first time I had to go down to the courthouse, I asked the court administrator if the court room was looped. A loop system would provide me with the best hearing option available to me. Looping brings the sound from a sound system directly to any hearing aid or cochlear implant processor that has a telecoil. The sound from these systems is great and can be likened to a hearing person wearing earbuds or a headset for listening. Unfortunately she said it was not. I have participated in some testing of areas looped for the hearing impaired as well as attending a conference in a looped convention hall. I hope someday all courtrooms will be looped. To learn more about looping, click here.

It was not until the very last week of my three months of jury service that I actually made it into the court room. In the court room I found that I could hear pretty well. I began to relax as I discovered that I could hear as well if not better than one of the lawyers. There were microphones in front of the judge and lawyers as well as the witnesses and when people spoke into them properly I could hear quite well. I also discovered that some adjustments made with myPilot (remote control) to my hearing processors gave me the volume I needed and softened the background noise that comes from high ceiling echoes and air systems. Even though I watched the proceedings intently, I definitely heard and understood speech without lip reading. During closing arguments there were times when I deliberately looked down and just listened to what counsel was saying. Sometimes body language is more distracting from, than contributing to, the communication.

I did it! I sat on a jury and heard a criminal case with fellow citizens. Each time I am able to do something that I couldn’t do before cochlear implants, I am thrilled. I smile to myself and feel internal joy. Should I be summoned for duty again, it feels great to know that I can be a juror.