“I heard sounds for the first time at the age of 17. It was a life-changing experience to be fully introduced to the world of sounds.” So said Gardens resident, Marisa Smit, who has been selected as a Miss Deaf SA 2019 finalist. Ms Smit was born with a hearing loss of more than 140 decibels and was diagnosed as deaf at the age of 14 months. At this tender age, she said she wore hearing aids but they could only amplify vowels and not consonants, particularly the high-frequency consonants s,t,* and f. “I cried when I heard my own voice for the first time. The clock’s tick-tock, waves on the beach, the wind in my hair, a crackling fire, to the little birds singing in the tree in front of my house. Everything has a voice! What a wonderful world. I invested all my pocket money to hear new sounds,” she said. The big day was June 9 2005 – three weeks after having a cochlear implant at Tygerberg Hospital. This has resulted in her starting her own campaign called “Catc
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