Growing up in the vibrant, cultural melting-pot of Ladbroke Grove, home to the Notting Hill Carnival, Semhar Beyene’s childhood dream was to become a performer.With her dancer’s physique, love of music and exquisite, model features, she had all the attributes to make it to the top.
There was just one problem: Semhar was born profoundly deaf.
The reasons are unknown (both her parents and older sister have perfect hearing), but with the assistance of hearing aids and lip-reading, she never allowed being deaf to hold her back.
Nevertheless, once she left school and started attending auditions, the reality of her disability hit hard. She gave up on her dreams, finding work as a graphic designer.
Now, however, the old spark has been reignited — thanks to a tiny electronic implant drilled into her skull last November. At 27 years old, Semhar is one of a small group of profoundly deaf people offered a cochlear implant. She can now enjoy sounds and voices she has never heard before.
Prior to this, the quietest sound she could hear was 98 decibels (the level of noise made by a lawnmower), whereas the normal hearing range is 0-20 decibels. Hearing aids helped to amplify the sounds, but hearing conversations was impossible.
‘For the first time, I’m able to hear my voice,’ she says. ‘And I can hear the way my parents’ names are pronounced — up until I had the implant I had never heard them spoken. All these things make a huge difference. It’s a surprisingly emotional experience.
‘I didn’t even think of myself as deaf. I thought I spoke exactly the same as all the other children although it clearly sounded different to hearing people.
Indeed, she went on to achieve a great deal. She appeared in Channel 4’s show Vee-TV made for and by deaf people; helped organise a dance troupe and appeared on stage. She also reached the latter stages of selection for the BBC TV show Britain’s Missing Top Model, in which eight young women with disabilities competed for a modelling contract.
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