Kenneth R. Hardman

Hearing aids blessed the high-tone breadth of what I can hear – The Gospel opens the high traits in what I can see and be

In March of this year while serving on Maui. I had this delightful experience. “It was a pleasant Aloha Saturday morning as Joan and I drove from Wailuku to Wailea. We parked and approached the ocean boardwalk just south of the Grand Wailea resort. The ocean bay was relatively calm and we observed many visitors enjoying the beach, snorkeling, playing in and even walking on water via stand-up paddle boards. This is a familiar scene. However, on this occasion as we approached the sea, my legs and feet automatically stopped and I gazed over the prominent white-ginger bushes with their scented white five-peddle flowers. My mind took a moment to correlate what I heard with the perspective that I saw.

With new interest I watched a typical wave brake from the left, and from the right. As the left and right breakers converged in the center in front of me, I saw new interactions and admired the collision with my ears. I could hear millions of droplets I hadn’t heard before breaking on the water in front of the wave. I could hear more clearly the children’s voices and the birds and the breeze and the leaves. After a moment we walked on.

Along Wailea Point I again couldn’t help but stop and stare at the rocks below. The gurgling, spraying, crashing, sound of millions of water droplets hitting the rocks as waves lightly struck. Even the sound of water retreating and dripping and babbling from the rocks back into the ocean gently sustained my attention. I was seeing anew with my ears. It was delightful.” (https://ancestorclips.com/2026/03/17/seeing-with-new-ears/)

I have long known that my hearing was diminished in the high frequencies. It was such a pleasure to hear these high tones once again-in the water droplets at the sea, in the drum cymbals of my favorite songs, and in clarity of conversations-. In my next post I plan to release in my ‘Songbook’ section a new song that was refined by the experience, at the beach and in our service, on that spring day in Maui.

Have you had these experiences? What insight can you share about receiving hearing-aids? What new things have you seen because of your Gospel study, faith, and service? I’d really love to hear your experiences.