These days, you can find pretty much anything you need on the internet: there are cat videos on TikTok, homecoming dresses on Amazon, and pretty much any semi-famous person’s life story written out in three or four paragraphs if you look long enough on Google. But, there are some things that are not as easily available: for example, resources for people with hearing loss are much harder to come by.
Senior Annabelle Jacobs is hoping to change that with her YouTube channel, “Hear for Hope.” Annabelle has moderate to severe hearing loss and has worn hearing aids since she was three months old. “I was diagnosed at birth, and I was told I wasn’t gonna be able to speak and that I would have to wear hearing aids the rest of my life,” she explained. “I wear two hearing aids, and I clearly can speak fine. I did early intervention when I was younger. Basically, someone came to my house and taught me how to speak.”
Annabelle says she wanted to create “Hear for Hope” as a way to connect with guardians of children with hearing loss, to reassure them that hearing loss isn’t an unconquerable obstacle, and help them navigate parenting kids with hearing disabilities.
Annabelle first began thinking about creating a YouTube channel near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she attended a summer program at the River School in Washington D.C. After the two-week-long program, during which Annabelle helped young children with hearing loss, a parent began asking her questions. Annabelle realized that there was a demand for information, especially from a first-person perspective, and a very low supply.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in America also pushed Annabelle to create “Hear for Hope.” “When masks came, it was a huge problem,” she explained, attempting to describe the struggles the pandemic caused. “I wasn’t able to read lips. So basically, that was taken away from me. I really struggled with hearing people in the stores, or in ice cream shops. Wherever I went, if anyone wore a mask, it was difficult for me to hear. I kind of felt isolated.”
She first thought about creating her YouTube channel in June 2020, and on Nov. 5, 2021, she uploaded her first very first video.
Running the channel, however, has been a learning curve. In our interview, Annabelle described the process of figuring out how to edit in iMovie, the best ways to record, and, once the videos were uploaded, how to get people to watch them. “At first, I was like, who do I send this to?” Annabelle said. “I have a video, but how do I get this out? It was kind of difficult to do that at first, but once it started getting more publicity, it was better for all of the videos.”
Originally, Annabelle had planned to upload one video a month. “It’s difficult with all of my schoolwork and other responsibilities,” Annabelle said. “It’s really just time management at the end of the day, and I need to be better at it.”
To motivate herself, Annabelle will set small goals throughout the week to keep herself in check – for example, she’ll try to finish all her homework by Wednesday so she can record on Thursday.
Although it can be difficult to create content sometimes, especially during her senior year, Annabelle feels that “Hear for Hope” has had a positive impact, on both her and parents that might need help. “It’s really allowed me to reach a larger community that I feel like I haven’t been a part of for a long time,” she said. “I feel like I haven’t really been connected to the deaf and hard of hearing community all of my life. So it’s been nice to kind of feel connected to a greater community.”
Because of her YouTube channel, parents of kids with hearing loss have reached out to Annabelle to ask questions about their children. Connecticut Children’s Hospital even wrote an article titled “Beyond Hearing Loss: Annabelle’s Story” about her inspiring channel.
One video at a time, Annabelle has helped to guide families with her own experiences with hearing loss.
