# He was deaf for 35 years + Listener Stories kickoff

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/he-was-deaf-for-35-years-listener-stories-kickoff
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/he-was-deaf-for-35-years-listener-stories-kickoff.md
Podcast: [Twenty Thousand Hertz](https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394)
Published: 2026-03-23T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://20k.org/episodes/listener-stories-2026-kickoff
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/TTH9889813714.mp3?updated=1773857624
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/episodes/he-was-deaf-for-35-years-listener-stories-kickoff
Duration seconds: 1784

## Resource

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

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/episodes/he-was-deaf-for-35-years-listener-stories-kickoff/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/he-was-deaf-for-35-years-listener-stories-kickoff.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.