A 29-year-old mother of four, Madison Rei, has shared her experience after losing most of her hearing shortly after giving birth to her fourth child.
Madison said she initially believed the problem was connected to hormonal changes after childbirth and expected her hearing to return to normal. However, the condition continued to worsen and soon began affecting almost every part of her daily life.
She said:
“I couldn’t hear my baby if she cried.
“I had to be in the room with her, watching her, at all times when my partner wasn’t home
“I was terrified.
“I thought of losing my hearing completely and never getting to hear my children’s voices again.
“I thought of not being able to work and what that would mean for my family.”
Madison, who has children aged nine, eight, six and 18 months, said she had a normal and low-risk pregnancy before giving birth to her youngest child in February 2025.
However, just a few days after giving birth, she noticed something unusual.
She recalled:
“A few days postpartum I was sitting on the couch and suddenly heard this super loud ringing in my ears.
“I Google’d it immediately and decided it was a normal, temporary postpartum symptom that can stem from hormones.
“But it didn’t go away and I started noticing significant hearing loss.
“I was having trouble hearing my kids. I would have to be right next to them and try to read their lips in order to understand what they were saying.
“My older children became aware pretty quickly that they needed to walk up to me, tap my shoulder, and look at me when they spoke to me.
“They were great at that, and I was so grateful.
“But even then, there were many times when they repeated themselves several times and I still couldn’t understand.
“It took a huge amount of energy to try and understand what everyone needed, and it was all very draining.
“It affected every aspect of life.”
As her hearing continued to deteriorate, Madison began changing the way she went about her everyday activities.
She said she started going to the gym very early in the morning when there were fewer people around because she was worried that others might think she was deliberately ignoring them when they spoke to her.
She also avoided fitness classes because she could not hear the instructors properly.
She said:
“I also started going to the gym early in the morning when no one was there because I didn’t want people thinking I was ignoring them when they tried to talk to me.
“I wanted to join various fitness classes but didn’t because I wouldn’t be able to hear the instructor.
“When people talked to me, I could only say ‘what’ or ‘can you repeat that?’ before it started to feel embarrassing and I would just pretend I’d heard.
“It was really hard to make and maintain relationships.
“It was extremely depressing.”
Madison said she received help from members of her family while she struggled with her hearing.
She explained that she is divorced from the father of her first three children, and they were still working out a custody arrangement. The children spent some time with her and some time with their father and his parents.
She said they were very supportive and flexible whenever she needed additional help.
Her fiancé, Tim, also stayed by her side throughout the difficult period.
She said:
“My first three kids’ father and I are divorced, and we’re still working on creating a custody arrangement that we can agree on, so the kids were with me some of the time, and with him and his parents some of the time.
“They were a massive help, being super flexible with me when I needed extra help.
“My fiancé Tim was also there with me every step of the way.
“I rarely had to ask him to repeat himself and he took care of the kids whenever he could.”
A hearing test later showed that Madison’s hearing was far below the normal range, leading to a referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist.
However, she was faced with a waiting list of more than six months and became worried that her hearing could deteriorate even further before she received specialist care.
She eventually saw Dr Daniel Lee at Proliance Surgeons Puget Sound Ear Nose and Throat, who suspected that she had otosclerosis.
Madison was initially advised to consider hearing aids and return for another hearing test after several months.
By the time of her next appointment, however, her hearing had become so poor that hearing aids were no longer considered suitable. Surgery was recommended instead.
She explained:
“Otosclerosis is an abnormal condition where the stapes bone becomes locked in place.
“This condition is most common in women experiencing hormonal changes, or who have a genetic predisposition – which I do not.”
Madison Undergoes Two Surgeries
Madison underwent surgery on her worse ear in January 2026, almost a year after giving birth.
She said:
“Dr Lee needed to see my inner ear bones in order to make an official diagnosis.
“By the time of surgery, my hearing was almost completely gone.
“There were certain sounds I could hear okay, and some that I couldn’t hear at all.
“Dr Lee recommended I get the worse ear done first, then wait four months for it to heal fully before getting my second ear done.
“I had my first surgery in January 2026, almost one year postpartum.
“And Dr Lee confirmed that it was otosclerosis.
“Four months later, I got my hearing tested again, and found that my post-surgery ear could now hear in the normal range.”
After seeing improvement in her first ear, Madison underwent surgery on her second ear in June 2026 and is still recovering.
She said her hearing was absent for the first few weeks after the operation before gradually returning.
She said:
“I couldn’t hear at all for the first few weeks post-surgery, then my hearing started to come back very rapidly after that.
“Suddenly everything sounded so loud to me
“That’s also when the ear ringing stopped, which was a huge relief.”
Looking back at everything she went through, Madison said the experience left her shaken but also made her appreciate her family and her senses more.
She said:
“Most of the things I love involve interaction with other people.
“I wondered if my family and friends would learn sign language for me and how much my life would change.
“Now I’m more aware of how powerful and strong moms are, and how much we go through while making it look easy.
“I hope I can create more awareness for the things that moms go through.
“I’m just so grateful for everything I have in life, especially my senses.
“I recognise that everything can change at a moment’s notice.”
