MANDY HARVEY

When I was losing my hearing, we had to buy hearing aids and they were incredibly expensive. It was a huge financial situation.

I wanted to encourage people around me to evaluate their lives and see where they are holding themselves back. I wanted them to dream again.

I am an ambassador for a nonprofit organization and I love being able to help people crush their barriers. I recently wrote a book. I want to do more with my life and help people do more with their lives, whatever that looks like.

With a progressive issue, it was always a monkey that was chasing me down. I had a great fear of losing my hearing. In my gut, I always knew that it was going to happen. I was just hoping that it would happen when I was 50 and not when I was 18.

You can feel the drums, and you can feel the bass. So, being able to feel the music through the floor, it makes me feel like I'm a part of the band and not just the only person in the room who doesn't really understand what's going on.

I use the aid of technology while running through songs. Visual tuners and feeling the vibrations through the floor to keep time.

It's just I do things differently and I want people to appreciate music for what it is, and not because of a story.

I don't need pity. I want to be looked at like a musician, because I am one. I happen to be deaf.

What I do is I get the sheet music and I put it out for myself and then I use a visual tuner to go through each note individually. And every time I make a mistake, I start the song over again, so I use the muscle memory of intervals and then watching that tuner, and then a lot of repetition.

I found my way back into music and realized that it's not that the music went away after losing my hearing, I just get the privilege of enjoying it and experiencing it differently.

My friends and family refused to give up on me even when I gave up on myself, and I wanted to hopefully encourage even just one person to try again.

I wanted to show that even if you fail, you have the ability to pick yourself up off the floor and try again. I wanted to show a different side of what a disability looks like to highlight all the invisible ones.

I was a shy child. I had anxiety. I used to cry when I had to give a presentation.

My touring band, they're just brilliant, and all of them are learning ASL, so the wall of communication is breaking.

My understanding of current music stopped in 2006, so I am continually inspired by music from the past. Three Dog Night, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Herman's Hermits, Association, Eagles, Beatles, Stones, Turtles, Animals... this list goes on forever.

There is a lot of technology out there that can help people with hearing loss including wearable technology that vibrates.

I grew up with hearing, so I have a really good understanding of music theory and the structure of music.

I am not the performing type. I was the one who would cry, throw up or pass out.

A long time ago I started talking into a balloon so I could feel myself talking, to practice judging volume, and compare it to other musicians.

I was in Colorado for about 15 years but my family is all from Florida.

I didn't wake up one day and just couldn't hear. I woke up one day and realized I was having difficulty, and that I had overcompensated by lip reading, so that I didn't really understand how bad it was.

Losing my hearing was always my biggest fear, so what's the worst that can happen, sing the wrong notes? Who cares, it's not going to kill you.

I don't live my life based on fear of failure. I live my life with an understanding of failure and I'm embracing it, because every time I fail, I learn something new.

I work a lot with dynamics of how loud I'm talking, like speaking into balloons and then feeling the texture on my fingertips, and then I get used to the feeling on my throat.

Music gives people the ability to dream, to leave their troubles behind for a moment and experience something beautiful. You create dreams and that's a beautiful thing!