"My vision is that people should have the same feeling about wearing hearing aids as about wearing glasses". Johan Hammarström
Back in 2005, I shared a story on i711.com about a hard of hearing pilot from Sweden, Johan Hammarström, who was to make an unprecedented flight all over the world in 2006. The flight happened and Mr. Hammarström withstood all challenges with great success! I had a chance to finally meet Johan in person during my recent trips to Sweden and Norway, and to discuss his flight experience in retrospect and find out what he's doing today.
"When I was a kid, it was a bit strange to wear glasses, and today some people wear glasses even if they have a perfect vision!" says Johan. "I was born with a hearing loss and got nicknamed 'Johan WHAT Hammarström.' What? What? I said it all the time."
I went to a mainstream school with hearing people and had a difficult time because I did not want to show my hearing aid. The only person I knew with hearing aid was my grandfather. I decided to look "normal" and I suffered from that for a long time. So I grew up and did not change my mind about hearing loss. I got OK grades even though I heard more or less 50 % of the classes. It was very difficult," recollects Johan.
Johan has had a dream since childhood to become a pilot. From the day when his father took him on a plane from Stockholm, Sweden, to Legoland in Denmark, Johan "could not stop thinking about flying."
To qualify as a pilot, Johan had to meet standards, such as being able to hear a person from 4 meters (13 feet) away. "They rejected me. I did not hear well enough. It was 45 dB, and then 55 dB in average. Because of this, my pilot dreams almost crashed," confessed Johan. "And, because of my personality (there is a headwind but we fight a lot!), I fought the rules".
Johan explained how he manages to follow what is needed in aviation: "You talk a very structured language in aviation: climb - descend - right turn - left turn. When we know the topic we hear better. On the ground I was a poor hearer, but in the air I could hear everything. I could hear with aviation and had necessary technology to assist me. I could hear everything from the air traffic controller."
Despite this, the authorities looked only at his audiogram and did not listen to Johan. It took Johan more than a year to understand that a doctor would never approve him. However, he was lucky to have found somebody else to help. It was a professor in Sweden, an expert in difficult issues in aviation. And the expert was optimistic: "Of course you should prove to people who Johan Hammarström is!"
Johan gradually got an opportunity to pass a hearing test in the aviation environment: "I had a headset and did the only hearing test I've done in my life that was really FUN!"
Johan did well in the test, and a professor wrote a necessary letter. "Finally after two years, I was running around with the letter that said 'you are approved!' I had poor self-confidence before that, but then I saw - I could do it".
In December 2003, Johan thought about how to reach all hard of hearing people and decrease the stigma of hearing loss. He also remembered his other dream: to fly around the world.
And the idea was born....
A dream about a world record in aviation combined with the desire to increase knowledge about hearing loss and to show a success story of a person with hearing loss, gave way to a world recognized expedition.
"With the right conditions everything is possible!" stresses Johan. Hearing loss is commonly depicted as very problematic, and Johan wanted to diminish the stigma and stereotypes such as, "hearing loss is something abnormal," or "hearing loss belongs to old people." No, said Johan, hard of hearing (HoH) can be young. And HoH people can become pilots.
With the support of hard of hearing and deaf organizations, Johan could go to hearing aid production companies and ask for their support for his ambitious project. That made GN ReSound support his flight after a year of searching for donors.
"Our aircraft was a Diamond DA42 Twin Star. It was not even launched on the market when we flew it, it is a disempowered aircraft. So we were flying the first diesel light aircraft around the world!" This fuel efficient, small plane became a home to Johan and his team for six months. "If you know how small a Fiat Uno is, you know what I am talking about," laughs Johan.
Take off was on March 15, 2006. On the 6-month, 40,000-mile tour Johan and his crew visited about fifty cities in 40 countries, and participated in many awareness building activities, including giving speeches at hard-of-hearing organizations and schools for hard-of-hearing children. "Everywhere we stopped, we saw our faces on TV screens. It was fun. But at the same time, we could observe first-hand stigma about hearing loss. Hard of hearing people in Cyprus told us many people say, "Promise me one thing: do not call me on my home number because my wife or my husband will find out that I have a hearing loss!"
Want to know what adventures, exciting (and, at times, haunting!) experiences Johan went through during his flight? Stay tuned for the next part of the article!
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