Drew McIntyre Unveils Battle with Hearing Loss and Self-Taught Lip Reading

In a recent conversation with Gorilla Position, Drew McIntyre opened up about the long-standing hearing challenges he's faced, a revelation that came to light as he prepared for his much-anticipated WrestleMania 40 showdown against Seth Rollins. The aftermath of the grueling Elimination Chamber match still lingers for McIntyre, but it's his admission about a self-taught skill that truly surprised fans.

McIntyre, a former world champion, detailed the discovery of his inadvertent lip-reading ability, a skill honed due to his hearing difficulties. "I found out about a year and a half ago from an ear specialist, because I have bad hearing in general," McIntyre recounted, "that I taught myself to lip read, which I had no idea."

He further illustrated this revelation with an anecdote: "We did a little test, where he was talking. He had me put my fingers in my ears where I could still hear him, [I] was telling him what he was seeing. He slowly slipped up a piece of paper in front of his face and I was like 'I can't hear what you're saying. you've lowered your voice.' My wife was like 'He hasn't, it's the exact same volume.'"

The ear specialist confirmed McIntyre's self-taught lip-reading, attributing it to his significant hearing loss. "He went 'Yeah, you're a smart guy. You've just taught yourself to lip-read because you're hearing so bad.' [I went] 'Oh, fantastic.' Then I got perforated. So I wouldn't say who it was because I don't want them to feel bad, but it's very annoying because I can't hear jack," McIntyre shared, discussing the additional challenge posed by a perforated eardrum suffered during the physical bout.

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