As her hearing deteriorated, Denise Clayton struggled with her much-loved hobby of dragon boating at Carrington.
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She had to rely on paddlers sitting next to her to relay instructions.
"That was probably a bit taxing on them and me," said Mrs Clayton, 75.
The Redhead resident shared her story to mark World Hearing Day on Sunday.
The day aims to raise awareness about the effects of hearing loss and highlight the stigma that prevents people from addressing it.
About 3.6 million Australians live with hearing loss, including one in three people over 65.
Yet only 10 per cent of adults who could benefit from a cochlear implant choose to get one.
Mrs Clayton first began to suffer hearing loss in her forties.
Industrial deafness, Meniere's disease and ageing all contributed to her condition.
She used hearing aids for years, but over time they were no longer enough.
So she chose to get a cochlear implant, which stimulates the auditory nerve and sends signals to the brain to enable much better hearing.
In the Hunter, 74 residents received implants last year through NextSense, formerly the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children.
It's been 15 months since Mrs Clayton had the device surgically implanted for her left ear.
"They make a small incision and put a magnet under the skin behind the ear," she said.
"There's no hair loss. You just sit it on top and pull the hair over it. You can even swim with them if you want to.
"They used to screw it into the head."
She was initially concerned about the look of the implant, given she had short hair.
Her granddaughter Sarah told her not to worry about the look, as hearing was more important.
And her niece Kim, who also has a cochlear implant, encouraged her to get one.
"Now I've grown my hair and everybody says you can't see the implant," she said.
She also uses a hearing aid in her right ear, which provides "a bit more hearing" and an option when not using the implant.
But she said the implant - also known as a bionic ear - was "amazing".
"I can hear the nasty things people say about me now, especially my husband," she quipped.
"I went from the bottom 25 per cent for hearing to the top 25 per cent."
Using the implant required practice to "re-educate my brain to distinguish all the sounds I was hearing".
For example, she knew she was hearing birds in trees and cars driving past, but somehow they sounded different.
She had to relearn the sounds, as her left ear previously had hearing levels of only six per cent.
"I did that for half an hour every day and gradually it made sense," she said.
"Now I can pick out all the different sounds of birds. It's amazing how the brain works that out."
She now finds it much easier to hear instructions at pilates and dragon boating.
Group activities are much better too.
"I went to a yoga retreat one year with about 30 people in the room. Everybody stood up and talked about themselves.
"I couldn't hear that - only the person sitting next to me.
"Now I can participate in those things. It's really great. It gives you more confidence."
