A Millon Thanks To AB
World of Silence Yesterday was amazing- a technological miracle.They say, "Art is worth a thousand words", but what about a video.  I am a technological miracle.  I was able to video tape my special moment to share with you.  But first let me take you back five or so years.  Five years ago, I woke up with sudden hearing loss.  I didn't have any sound in my left ear and barely an...
Fri, Jun 24 2016

10 Percent
World of Silence Prior to surgery, I had about 10 percent of hearing left in my right ear.  My left cochlea was already dead from my 1st cochlear implant surgery, do to hear I must turn on my hearing device.  But, it was not easy hearing with one ear at 90 percent and other ear with only 10 percent.  I am amazed how well I did with just that amount.  Now, I am completely without s...
Fri, Jun 17 2016

Fatherhood
World of Silence Happy Fathers Day How should we define fatherhood?  We live in a world where some fathers are not around emotionally or physically.  We have families where children have two mother’s.  Do those type of families lack something?  I guess it depends on your convictions and how you define family.  For me, I am progressive in my thinking and believe relationships b...
Sun, Jun 15 2014

HAPPY ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY TO ME
World of Silence “Silence is still golden.”  A few years ago from this month I woke up and sound was gone.  I lost my hearing permanently and without reason.  The only thing the doctors can think of was multiple ear infections.  I stopped asking the questions “Why me? What now? How?”  After wasted hours trying to find answers to those questions, I concluded that being dea...
Sat, Apr 19 2014

Listening to Stories
World of Silence               Being out of work for several months and with money running thin, I started driving for Uber.com.  The job is easy and offers good money.  The company gives me a phone to accept rides from clients, I set my own hours, and I get paid weekly.  I don’t mind driving.  I like  hearing stories, seeing where people like going, and listening...
Fri, Jan 24 2014

Jeff Implant Activation
World of Silence YEP! That is me hearing sounds for the first time in two years.  My cochlear implant surgery was November 1, 2013.  The surgery was a big success with really no issues at all.  I had to wait for three weeks to get activated, which is when the audiologist turned on the electrode inside my head.  Here is a quick video to explain: I had high expectations of heari...
Tue, Nov 26 2013

New Adventure
World of Silence   November 1st, 2013 - Cochlear Implant I have been deaf for two years.  I lost my hearing suddenly as the result of a massive infection following years of sporadic ear infections.  I never got my hearing back and after using hearing aids for a short time they became useless.   Nobody plans to go deaf but things happen.  I accepted my deafness and decided to ...
Tue, Nov 12 2013

Recovery - What Should I Watch
World of Silence          I will be home from cochlear implant surgery November 2nd.  My surgery is November 1st but I am staying the night at the hospital.  The surgery is in South Carolina, which is four hours away so instead of sitting in the car for four hours after surgery the doctor wants me to stay.    Cochlear Implant recipients say it's about one week re...
Fri, Oct 25 2013

T-Minus 9 Days
World of Silence MORE DAYS Anticipating Great Things, Anxious at times, and Amazed!It is going to be an amazing experience - get my hearing back.  The days are flying by and soon I will be in the car driving to South Carolina getting ready for surgery.  You can read about it here why I have to go out of state for surgery - [link] I have read some amazing stories of Facebook frie...
Mon, Oct 21 2013

Cochlear Implant - Family Thoughts
World of Silence --- THOUGHTS ON JEFF GETTING A CI "From the moment he went deaf, Jeff has been researching cochlear implants. By now he’s an expert. He’s done a great job without them. For a while the hearing aids worked well, and it took some of the stress off at his job. But then his hearing started going downhill again. We learned sign language together, and we can communic...
Tue, Oct 15 2013

Cochlear Implant
World of Silence --- want to hear! I can’t stand my hearing aids. I have reached the point where I can’t hear anything but static even with the multiple adjustments I have received.  My wife and I went out to dinner the other night and I wore my hearing aids so she wouldn’t have to sign all night long.  She gets tired signing and at times I do too. But I had to keep asking h...
Tue, Oct 15 2013

CI on Saint's Day
World of Silence    After visiting all the doctors and several audiologists here in Georgia and not being pleased with most of them I decided to go out of state to visit a doctor that came highly recommended.  I made a good choice.  The doctor was knowledgeable, experienced, and answered all my questions. The good thing is I can keep the CI audiologist here in Georgia, which was r...
Tue, Oct 08 2013

DEFINE: EXPECT
World of Silence Expectations, we all have them.  We may not like knowing we have them but we do.  We expect our alarm clock to go off at a certain hour so we can jump into the shower.  We expect our children to behave a certain way during dinner when you have guests. We expect our pets to not bark or bite visitors.  We expect our bed to be comfortable with big fluffy pillows so w...
Thu, Oct 03 2013

Choices
World of Silence "It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." J. K. Rowling “Choices”, a powerful word.  When I was working at my previous employer I saw many paths but ignored them.  I made a choice not to go - to play it safe.  Maybe there are voices in your head or there are some people out there saying “you are crazy to think of doing...
Sun, Aug 18 2013

Karen, My Wife
World of Silence Hi, I’m Karen Swartz, Jeff’s wife. He asked me to write about my experiences living with a suddenly deaf person. Jeff and I have been married for nearly 14 years and we have experienced many health challenges over the course of our marriage, including the preterm delivery of our second child and her diagnosis with an incurable genetic condition, my brush with ...
Tue, May 07 2013

SOUND Relationships
World of Silence ASL --- we need them.  Our lives depend on these connections.  We help each other grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Without relationships we eventually break and fall apart. One of the most important parts of developing a SOUND RELATIONSHIP is communication. But what if one or both of you or both have hearing loss? I want to first talk about person...
Tue, Apr 23 2013

1 Year Anniversary - Diving in Deep
World of Silence “Two feet in and full speed ahead” with my deafness.  I am not sure if my family is ready to handle me embracing ASL and deaf culture and my acceptance of progressive hearing loss.  NO, I don’t want to rush into surgery and plug another device (a cochlear implant) into my head. This month will mark my one-year anniversary of going deaf.  I didn’t hav...
Tue, Apr 09 2013

SuperJeff
World of Silence LOOK VERY CLOSELY.  DO YOU SEE ME IN HERE? RIGHT . . .  YOU WON’T!I have had my hearing aids almost seven months now. I’m happy with them most of the time.  When I bought them seven months ago, I was really excited to be able to hear sounds like my kids playing, my wife’s kiss, my cats meowing, and the phone ringing.  But, even with hearing aids, I ...
Tue, Mar 26 2013

AND THE WINNERS ARE . . .
World of Silence Drum Roll please . . . . . !After several sleepless nights and numerous instant messages back and forth between Monica Hood and me, we finally came to a decision.  But before I announce the winner let me first say a few works in review of your comments on my post Hearing Aids Are Expensive. In my post I mention how expensive hearing aids can be, and for man...
Tue, Mar 12 2013

Ears Infections - Tinnitus - Stomach Acid - Drugs
World of Silence What do ear infections, tinnitus, stomach acid, and drugs all have in common?  First you have to read my tinnitus story here My Wife is Going to Kill Me.  As you can see, I have had tinnitus most of my life and it got worse when I became deaf. Also I have always been plagued with ear and sinus infections as far back as I can remember, which I think played a ro...
Wed, Feb 20 2013

My Thank You's
World of Silence  Saying the words, “Thank You,” is probably the best gift you can give to someone - sometimes even better than the gift itself.  I believe there is something magical in those two words.  But, of course, you have to have good intentions when saying it and not because your parents or someone else told you to say it.  In ending 2012, I was thinking about ad...
Sun, Dec 30 2012

Lizzie's Story About Dad's Hearing Loss
World of Silence My daughter, Elizabeth at a very young age started writing some amazing stories.  Elizabeth has seen her family go through a lot of health issues and has used these moments of crisis in writing about them.  Her teachers since 4th grade have commented about how amazing her writing is.  She is not only a great writer, but she is also beautiful, smart, witty, and hi...
Wed, Dec 19 2012

I'm A Dreamer!
World of Silence As December begins, the year draws to a close .  During this time I tend to think about what has happened and what I want to happen in the coming year.  I know there are some people who sit down each year and write out their goals and aspirations while others just go with the flow.  I am a planner.  My wife is a non-planner.  God put us together for a reaso...
Wed, Dec 05 2012

Black or Red Ear "Friday"
World of Silence The beginning of my week was really terrible. My youngest daughter was sick and I had to take her to the hospital because she was having problems breathing.  I had to sit in the emergency room for several hours early in the morning listening to a very loud breathing machine, alarms and intercoms.  I actually read an article this week that some hospitals can ge...
Fri, Nov 30 2012

More Than Just Shoes
World of Silence My 10 year old daughter, Abby, needed some shoes this weekend, and I thought I would give her the royal treatment. It turned out to be that I got the royal treatment.  We woke up around 11AM. Abby and I got dressed and went to the mall near our house.  My older daughter and wife were going to spend the day together, and we were going to meet up later for dinner.  I...
Sun, Nov 11 2012

Who Is This Guy With Two Pillows Between His Ears?
World of Silence My name is Jeff Swartz. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.  I have three younger brothers.  I would say my temperament is intuitive, giving, and choleric.  I struggled in middle and high school with learning disabilities.  I didn’t excel in school until I entered college.  I completed degrees in theology, business, and instructional design with h...
Sun, Nov 04 2012

Sleeping on The Couch Tonight
World of Silence This will more thank likely be me tonight once my wife reads the blog I wrote over on this website. You can read the blog here:  [link]
Tue, Oct 30 2012

T-Minus 7 Days
World of Silence In 7 Days, I return back to work.  I work at a University, and my responsibility is students' academic history all the way until they graduate from school.  If the student has issues with professors, study concerns, family problems, or anything else, they come to me for assistance.  I am their main point of contact, and the person to give them hope to finish their ...
Mon, Oct 29 2012

Deaf Buddy
World of Silence My buddy "4Ears,4Eyes" is one cool girl.  She actually got up the courage to post my story when I created a "ASL T-Shirt".  She also included a special picture but I don't want to say too much. Just click on the icon and leave a moment on her page.  Add caption
Wed, Oct 24 2012

Talking About Street Art
World of Silence "Switched at Birth" a show that comes on Monday nights. Sixteen years ago, one mistake changed two families forever when two newborns were switched at birth. Bay grew up in a wealthy family while Daphne, who lost her hearing as a child, was raised by a single mom in a working class neighborhood. My wonderful wife had a great idea we should talk about Bay and Bay'...
Mon, Oct 22 2012

Mentoring Deaf Newbies
World of Silence I was thinking today there are a lot of deaf resources and information you can find in the internet.  You can search things like how to learn ASL to medical information and assisted technology for the deaf and hard of hearing.  Do you know other than Facebook groups (most of the people being outside of your location) and some organizations that meet once maybe once ...
Thu, Oct 18 2012

Social Web
World of Silence Spiders I can live without but spider webs I can look at all day long.  Spiders are such wonderful artists, the way they spin such impressive designs.  It takes about one hour for a spider to construct an elaborate web of silk thread, called an orb web. An orb web consists of a series of roughly circular, concentric outlines, with spokes extending from a hub. Orb...
Tue, Oct 16 2012

Mucusland
World of Silence For the past few days I have been in Mucusland. No, I did not mean to say Disneyland.  The rides are really sticky and really expensive given you can't use your flex spending account to buy Tylenol or Mucinex D to kill thick monster rolling around in my head.  And worse of all I can't wear my hearing aids because my ears are so irriated, red, itchy, and probably inf...
Mon, Oct 15 2012

How Did You Come Up With That Title?
World of Silence Some people have asked me what “World of Silence” means. We live in a world of noise.  There are several cities around the world that never slow down, like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.  When you go on a cruise ship you can dance the night away and never be without noise.   You would think churches would value silence but not so.  There...
Tue, Oct 09 2012

48 Hours
World of Silence My brother Jason came in from out of state to visit me and the family.  I love to be silly but especially when he comes out I get weird and have lots of fun.  Here we are walking through the mall stopping at Claire's. My brother is so much fun to be with.  He has read all my blogs and Facebook messages.  It really meant a lot to me for him to come down from New Y...
Mon, Oct 08 2012

SLOW DOWN THERE HORSE
World of Silence You see me in this picture. Yeah, that's me, the dark one trying to find a way to run away.  The other horse is you - my wonderful Facebook friends, my wife, and Audiologist saying, "Jeff, slow down, go slow with those hearing aids.  For heaven sakes you just got them.  Give yourself time to get use to them." I am so stubborn and want to quickly get to point B an...
Fri, Oct 05 2012

Massage Helped A LITTLE
World of Silence I didn't do much today other than visit the ENT for post-operative surgery.  I was home and all of sudden my ears started hurting me.  It is not easy at all getting people to believe the pain in my ear is really severe.  Most of the time it ends up being a horrible migraine, which doesn't go away until the next day. I found a really informative website to help nov...
Wed, Oct 03 2012

A Parent’s Favorite Word
World of Silence This is the ASL sign for NO!Everyone knows the first word out of a baby’s is usually “Mama” or, if you have a smart child, “Dada.”  My  children said “Mama” first.  Now can you guess what a parent’s favorite word is?  Right, we use “no” a lot when it comes to our children because we want to keep them safe and teach them boundaries. “Noâ€...
Tue, Oct 02 2012

Full Day with Hearing Aids with Family
World of Silence Sound overload - that is how I feel.  I know I just got my hearing aids (HA) and I am really happy to hear sounds and words.  I had really bad hearing in both ears and my speech discrimination is poor.  I was severely deaf in both ears and now with my HA's I am about mildly deaf in both ears, which is amazing. I am trying to get a good idea of what I can handle wi...
Sat, Sep 29 2012

Sound with ReSound
World of Silence Meet "Bionic Jeff"Actually with all my gadgets in my body I feel more like this: Everyone loves C3PO from "Star Wars"I spent almost 4 hours last night with my audiologist.  I didn't even know I was taking home my hearing aids until she pulled them out started putting them together with temporary domes.  I got the ReSound Alera 9000TSG series but will eventually get...
Fri, Sep 28 2012

Hello. May I Take Your Order?
World of Silence I was starving after seeing the audiologist today and had to make a quick stop to get something.  I drove up and went through the drive-thru because I didn't want to go inside and had to get home to watch the kids.  I was just sitting their waiting to tell the person my order and then it hit me . . . I CAN'T HEAR THEM. It turned out they were asking me for my ord...
Wed, Sep 26 2012

Ready to Run
World of Silence I started my "World of Silence" blog back on July 9th.  I decided to go back today and read my past writing and boy have I come a long way in short period of time.  The first one was called Who The Hell Knows.  I didn't realize how much of a difficult time I was having going suddenly deaf in both ears and severe ear pain from loud noise - actually any noise.  I...
Wed, Sep 26 2012

Nearly Killed Me Today
World of Silence I knew it was going to be a really bad experience going to the diagnostic place today for my MRI.  I spent $150.00 for custom ear buds and used the  headphones thinking it will hurt but I will be okay.  YEAH RIGHT!  By the end, I was in tears.  I don't think the nurse knew what to do when she saw me crying.  All I could tell her was that I have severe recruitmen...
Wed, Sep 26 2012

Random Thoughts
World of Silence Blog of  Random Thoughts I am nervous about what my MRI results will show given how much pain I have been in.  I am glad I can have a 1.5 tesla MRI, thanks to neuro-stimulator upgrade this August. Even with hearing aids or cochlear implants I might still have loudness recruitment until the day I die.  Is there any way to truly go completely deaf in both ears s...
Wed, Sep 26 2012