He was deaf for 35 years + Listener Stories kickoff

他失聪了35年 + 听众故事启幕

Twenty Thousand Hertz

2026-03-23

27 分钟
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单集简介 ...

Last year, we ran three full episodes of listener-produced stories. But one beautiful story was just a little too long for the final cut… and we couldn’t leave it behind. In this episode, sound designer Jesse Herrera tells the story of his grandfather, who lived in silence for 35 years before receiving a cochlear implant, and the overwhelming, joyful process of learning to hear again. Afterwards, Dallas and Casey reflect on last year’s Listener Stories and kick off this year’s competition.  Learn about this year’s Listener Stories competition and submit your story at 20k.org/2026. To make a donation to the Harry Hakeem Scholarship Fund supporting the education of children with hearing loss, visit peiabq.org/giving. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by ⁠Defacto Sound⁠. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Explore incredible speakers, soundbars, and more at ⁠sonos.com⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠quo.com/20k⁠⁠⁠⁠ for 20% of your first 6 months of business phone software. Get 3 months of free payroll at ⁠gusto.com/20k⁠. Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month Shopify trial at ⁠⁠⁠shopify.com/20k⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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单集文稿 ...

  • You're listening to 20,000 Hertz, the stories behind the world most iconic and fascinating sounds.

  • I'm Dallas Taylor.

  • Last year, we kicked off a brand new competition where we invited you to produce

  • your very own mini podcast about sound and send it to us for our listener stories episode.

  • It turned out to be even better than we expected, and the winning submissions filled three entire episodes.

  • So this year, we're doing it again, and I'm really excited to hear what you create.

  • But before we kick off this year's competition,

  • there's one more audio story from last year that was too long to include.

  • But would have absolutely earned a spot in our gold episode.

  • But be sure to stick around after the break,

  • because supervising producer Casey Emmerling and I reflect on what these listener stories meant to us.

  • We also talk about what we learned from them.

  • And we officially kick off this year's competition with a few words of advice.

  • But first, here's that final story.

  • It's called The Choice to Hear by Jesse Herrera.

  • Enjoy.

  • Jiddu's house was full of sound.

  • Our big Lebanese family, us grandkids and our parents.

  • The gumball machine, the old rotary phone, the electric organ in the spare bedroom,

  • and that huge mechanical grandfather clock that chimed every hour.