By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
Reagan Phipps is the typical 16-year-old teenage girl. She giggles, hangs out with girlfriends, plays sports and loves Taylor Swift; however, she also has
a challenge in her young life, significant hearing loss that requires wearing hearing aids to properly hear.
The Nocona High School junior is the daughter of Rocky and Traci Phipps. She has a little brother, Lincoln, who is an eighth grader.
Phipps is an active student athlete running
cross country where the team has gone to state the last two years, and plays basketball and softball. Her other school activities include National Honor Society, PALs and yearbook.
Her hearing loss may be hereditary as her mother has an implant to assist with her hearing loss that began several years ago. Her great aunt also had hearing issues.
“My hearing has always been ify, but the last four-five years it has gotten much worse. My mom’s loss came on after she was pregnant the second time,” she said.
For Phipps it was a gradual loss and she would wonder why everyone was being so quiet or why they were mumbling. She recalls not being able to hear well in cars due to the engine noise and people needed to look at her when they were talking.
“I wasn’t scared, but I told my mom and she said I may have what she has and I needed to
get tested before it became a problem,” Phipps explains.
During the past four years or so her hearing has gotten worse especially in cars and in restaurants where there is background noise. As for the high school gym filled to the rafters for basketball, she can’t hear at all.
It is hard for her to hear school announcements and answering a phone is difficult because having the hearing aids close to the phone can create noise like a speaker and microphone being too close together. The phone issue can be problematic since she works at a restaurant.
In Christmas 2022 Phipps was able to obtain hearing aids when they went to being sold over county making it more convenient and less expensive for her family.

Read the full feature in your weekend Bowie News.

Top photo – Lady Indian Reagan Phipps is a real go-getter on the court and she does not let her hearing loss slow her down a bit. (Photo by Jordan Neal)