Austin Klapman is a Bay Area resident who began to lose his hearing at the age of four due to an enlarged vestibular aqueduct. Around the age of six, he received a Cochlear implant within his right ear.
During the summer of 2020, Austin began his AKXactive Instagram account. This account revolves around him promoting his athletic/health routines, while promoting his achievements within the hearing loss community. One of his most recent achievements consisted of him completing the Austin David Goggins #4x4x48 challenge. The challenge involved him running 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 consecutive hours.
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Now, as a recent college graduate, Austin has been able to channel his loss of hearing to assist him in his drive to become a more determined athlete.
Here is a brief interview with Austin about his connections with the hearing loss community, and how his athletic pursuits have encouraged him to take part in the Golden Gate Half Marathon.
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Hi Austin, great to meet you! We'd love to first know, what interested you in pursuing athleticism? What/who are your influences?
Athleticism is a way of life that incorporates both mind and body. My parents raised me to follow a simple rule: being healthy requires good nutrition, appropriate sleep, and sufficient exercise. This lesson was applicable when I was five, just starting to play tennis, and when I was in college, competing on a Division I men’s tennis team at Monmouth University in New Jersey.
Obviously, the physical training evolved as I grew in size, as well as the level of play. Now, as a runner, the rule still applies as endurance requires both physical strength and the mental fortitude to complete strenuous challenges. While the specific requirements of athleticism are sport-specific, as a goal-oriented person, I’m motivated to achieve my own physical and mental goals through athleticism. I am very fortunate to have had many people in my life championing my pursuits, including my family, friends, teammates, and coaches. In particular, my tennis pro, Jimmy Doessel at Northbrook Racquet Club in Illinois, helped me grow as an athlete from preschool to college.
What influenced you to make the AKXactive Instagram account?
For me, AKXactive began with a relatively small personal challenge in August 2020. After months of staying in place in my small apartment with my family in California, I needed a release, or a way to vent some frustration, so I chose to complete a 5K challenge. Every single day in August, I ran a 5K. During this time, I made no excuses – even if I had spent hours in the day training for tennis or had muscle aches from all the activity, I was determined and pushed through. By the end of August, my body and mind were revitalized.
As expected, not only did my running times improved, but so did my mental outlook. I was able to shake the feeling of COVID being an overwhelming burden, and I wanted to keep the positive momentum going. And so, AKXactive, my blog about fitness and positivity was born. It has become a forum for sharing the mental and physical healing benefits of a healthy fitness regimen and positive outlook, which I hope inspires others.
AKXactive eventually evolved into a platform to not only connect to fitness enthusiasts, but to persons in the hard of hearing community as well. In the past, I focused on communicating effectively and downplayed the challenges of being hard of hearing. Through my blog, I started connecting with other athletes, like myself, that are hearing impaired, as well as hearing organizations like HearStrong – which in turn, chose me as one of their “HearStrong Champions and Representatives.” From this experience I realized that I have a voice, a story, and encouragement to share with other hard of hearing persons and parents of hearing-impaired children.
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Thus, I transformed my blog into a place of positivity for fitness, for focus, and for hearing awareness. Through my blog I hope to quell some of the misnomers and fears associated with being hard of hearing. I began this by sharing my own story. While I was born with normal hearing, by age four I quickly started to lose my hearing. By age four and a half I started wearing hearing aids and by six I was received a cochlear implant. I still wear a hearing aid and cochlear implant. While I will never have normal hearing, the technology has massively helped my life.
Over the years, I learned to advocate for myself with teachers and professors to ensure I could excel in my classes. Despite administrators in my high school doubting my ability to learn a foreign language, I proved them wrong and earned an A all three years in Latin. Moreover, my hearing loss made me a more attentive and focused listener, which has benefitted me in work and personal relationships.
In the future, I hope that I can grow my blog to be able to influence others to have a positive view on all types of communication. I want to encourage others who think that they may have a hearing loss to get their hearing tested. Understanding how each individual can best communicate begins with a hearing test. And secondly, too often, hard of hearing children fall through the cracks in school. My goal is to end offensive phrases like “deaf and dumb.” The first step is by raising awareness about the vast array of achievements accomplished by those who are hard of hearing.
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How did you train for the 4x4x4x8 challenge?
I have been an athlete my whole life and just recently graduated as a Division I athlete, so I felt as if I was already somewhat in shape for the challenge. I was primarily motivated by competitive spirit and was able to complete the challenge despite injuring my knee by not fully training and properly preparing. For those who seek to complete this challenge though, it is highly recommended that you train and prepare your body accordingly.
Did you learn anything from this challenge that you might apply to the Golden Gate Half Marathon that you are participating in next month?
From the 4x4x48, I learned my lesson about preparing for long distance races. For the Golden Gate Half Marathon, I consulted with a running coach to plan out a running schedule, weeks in advance of the race.
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Besides the San Francisco full marathon, are there any other events that you might want to compete in?
This weekend, I will be running a 5k in San Jose, sponsored by Western Digital, where I’m employed as a financial analyst.
Do you have any favorite spots in the Bay Area to exercise or spend your free time in?
For exercise, running anywhere along the Bay Trail comes with great views and endless trail routes. When it comes to running in San Francisco, I enjoy running in Presidio or alongside the Embarcadero. I also enjoy hiking with my dad up in the mountains with my two most frequently visited places being Mount Diablo State Park and the Sierra Vista Open Space Preserve. As for food in the Bay Area, El Taco De Oro Restaurant in Alviso and Los Altos Grill are my two favorite places to eat.
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What advice do you have for anyone who’s deaf and wants to pursue athletic activities?
My advice to those that are deaf and want to pursue athletic activities is to find a way to make it happen. Some activities may require slight alterations or adjustments, and some may require extra safety considerations, but where there is a will there is a way.
For example, in tennis, the score can be indicated by holding up the appropriate number of fingers, rather than calling out the score with one’s voice. In addition, my tennis coach and I learned to communicate most effectively between points and in close proximity. And as for running, I prefer to run on trails than on the streets to avoid worrying about traffic that I cannot hear.
Thank you for your thoughtful and thorough answers, Austin, and we can't wait to see you continue to succeed and inspire!
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This interview has been edited and condensed.
Photography by: Courtest of Austin Klapman
