Hi I’m Matt, 
On appearance I don’t look or sound like I am anything other than a normal 30 something brummie going about daily life like anyone else. 
However appearances can be deceiving, for as long as I can remember and for as long as I live I experience something that is generally most of us take for granted without a second thought. I have a hearing deficiency. Whilst not the most dramatic of disabilities or the most obvious. I still count myself extremely fortunate to be able to lead a normal life 95% of the time. 
The simple way to describe how my hearing is less than the vast majority of peoples is to say that 1 ear doesn’t work at all. The other is brilliant! Dr’s have said there is no cure, it won’t get better on its own at all, and there isn’t any equipment out there to aid hearing that would make any difference whatsoever. 
I didn’t actually have it acknowledged and diagnosed until I was 14. That was at the instance of my mother who was sick to death of me not hearing her calls, or replying with “pardon” or “what” almost all the time.  She was convinced (and rightly so) that there was something wrong and that I wasn’t just being a mildly obnoxious teenager choosing not to listen. 
I guess upon reflection I’ve always known there was a difference between both ears. But then again speakers for TV’s stereos, headphones all distribute sound differently depending whether it’s the left or right so how would I as a child know any different when my life was no different from the other kids at school. 
I went through 3 separate hearing tests each one more intense than the other, and an hour in an MRI scanner to determine exactly what was going on in my ears. The diagnosis was that my ear drum was fine. The three little bones in the middle ear (Malleus (hammer), the Incus (anvil) and the Stapes (stirrup)) were fused together and didn’t vibrate as they normally would. The result of which meant the vibrations in the fluid in the cochlea doesn’t occur which in turn means the little hairs that act as nerve endings aren’t receiving vibrations to send signals to the brain. To add to this those tiny hairs and nerve endings are dead so no electrical signals are transmitted to the brain at all. 
Initially after diagnosis I was happy to tell people what was wrong. That changed very quickly following the reactions of (some) teachers who made far too much fuss about it and were probably inadvertently a bit insensitive, and did more to draw attention to me than not. I also was on the receiving end of some unhelpful comments from other lads at school who just didn’t get it and were more than happy to poke fun at difference. Some of those lads I’ve known and have been friends with since still take the piss but there’s no harm meant by it now as I don’t mind it from them anymore. 
I have since been very selective about who I told, and when I told them. There are women I have dated who I have never told; there are probably some friends who don’t know. At work my line manager is the only person that knows, and that is only because of me waking up one morning and no being able to hear at all because my good ear was blocked up.
I had taken this decision following the initial experiences of telling people, I didn’t want the attention, special treatment, comments from people who didn’t understand, or having the repeatedly explain how it works over and over again to confused faces. 
You’ll be asking, well why are you telling people now after more than 15 years or relative silence. 
My answer to that would be, why should, I continue to keep it quiet when actually being open and explaining about my hearing would be a much better way of tackling some of the negative experiences I have had with telling people. I’ve also been inspired by people out there also talking about their own differences, still getting on with their lives as well as I do. I also love a challenge and in a world where the images and sounds on our phones, tablets, laptops, TV’s etc. explaining and demonstrating how the world sounds to me excites me. 
So over the coming weeks I’ll try and give an idea of what I hear compared to most people. How certain social situations work out good, bad or funny. Show how I manage to effectively hide my disability in a subtle way. Show the different reactions I get to telling people I meet and finally give people an idea of what day to day life is like hearing the world differently to everyone else.