A ballerina awarded for her musicality copes with hearing loss

Angle said it helped that he and Mearns can hear music in a similar way, with their responses driven by the same impulses. Because of this, he said, “she would have my body, my cues and my breathing to support her determine the time signature and tempo.”

Mearns said she was shocked by the number of dancers with hearing loss she had heard about. “I hope I can inspire them to do something about it,” she said. “I’m not saying everyone needs hearing aids. Everyone is different. Therefore, you must pass all the tests.

She first had hearing problems 10 years ago. In Brazil, she attended a pre-Carnival rehearsal in a metal gymnasium where about 100 drummers played for an hour. When she left the gym, she said she couldn’t hear anymore, which lasted for several days. When she returned to Recent York, she went to the doctor and learned that she had hearing loss in the lower registers in both ears. “It wasn’t that bad that I was handicapped on a daily basis,” she said. “I just knew this event was happening and wanted to check my ears.”

But it was worse. Mearns said she admitted during the pandemic, “I have a problem because I can’t hear people talking with masks on. And then I realized: Wait, I can’t see their mouths. Which then was like: I was there supervising people talk instead of listening. I read their lips.

She was nervous about giving interviews and participating in conversations. She was ashamed to ask the pianists to play louder. She was injured last year and felt like “everything was falling apart for me,” she said. “I thought it was also a huge thing that was making my life so closed off and obscure, so I had to do something about it.”

Mearns underwent a series of tests to determine the problem, which was neural hearing loss. In October, she and her audiologist searched for the best solution for her hearing aids, and he fitted them. She can’t feel them, but they make her hyper-aware of the vibrations of her body, the air as she spins, the sound of landings as she jumps, and the sound of her pointe shoes.