Gary Kearney (54) still remembers waking up in his hospital bed eight years ago with double vision and a headache, unsure where he was or what had happened to him the night before.
His nurses informed him he had been mugged and drugged, and that he had sustained brain haemorrhaging and severed nerves in his skull, among other injuries.
Within a few days, a CAT scan confirmed he would be deaf in one ear for the rest of his life, and that he had suffered significant hearing loss in his other ear.
The former music industry worker who used to describe his hearing as “better than most” could no longer listen to music the same way, or dictate which directions sounds were coming from, a particularly frightening impediment for someone who was mugged.
“The mental side is the hard part,” he said. “For somebody that has acquired it like I did, it is terrifying.”
Six months after the mugging, Kearney built up the courage to enter DeafHear, a national charity for deafness and hearing loss that on Thursday changed its name to Chime as part of a rebranding aimed at reaching more hearing-impaired individuals.
Information line
In addition to Thursday’s name-change, Chime launched Ireland’s first information line dedicated to hearing loss.
The hotline is an extension to the charity’s services, which include one-on-one counselling, information on hearing aid technology and support groups for people affected by hearing disabilities.
Before visiting DeafHear, Kearney – like many people – assumed the organisation catered solely to deaf individuals, a common misconception Chime's head of advocacy Brendan Lennon credited as a leading factor in the rebrand.
“Our old name was a traditional name that focused on the condition,” he said. “Chime is a more modern name with positive words. It’s engaging and it focuses on the person living a full quality life and not being limited by the detriments.”
Kearney felt dislocated from the world and a victim when he first entered Chime, but through its counselling services learned how to live and cope with the radical changes in his life.
“The people here were the best people I’ve ever met to help me in the situation I was in,” he said. “I can’t say enough good things about them.”