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Hearing While Deaf

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Olive Howden, 16, is the only deaf student at her high school. Howden wears bilateral cochlear implants to help her hear. (Sruti Mamidanna/KQED)

When the morning announcements pipe through the walls of Santa Clara High School, students pause, look up for a minute, and listen for what the day has in store for them. But for 16-year-old sophomore Olive Howden, the announcements sound very different.

Pretty much everything sounds different to her. Olive is deaf, and she uses cochlear implants to help her hear.

Olive tells us what it’s like to navigate a full day of high school while struggling to be part of the conversation.

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