Hearing-impaired student aces listening test to enter Peking University

Ouyang Zhuo, a hearing-impaired student from Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, who scored 680 out of 750 points in this year's national college entrance exam, or gaokao, has made it to Peking University. What's remarkable is that the hearing-impaired student got full marks in the English listening test, youth.cn reported.

Ouyang was diagnosed with neurological hearing loss in both ears when he was 3 years old; he had moderate to severe hearing problem, necessitating the use of a hearing aid in his daily life.

Despite facing difficulties learning because of his hearing problem, he never gave up. He had not attended kindergarten, but his grandmother helped him develop an interest in mathematics from a very young age. When he was in the sixth grade of primary school, he was studying junior middle school-level mathematics all by himself. He later went to the No 1 Middle School affiliated to Central China Normal University.

At first, Ouyang kept a low profile, rarely communicating with his classmates as he could not hear what they were saying. Gradually, however, he looked at it as a challenge life had thrown at him and he was determined to take it up.

In high school, Ouyang opted to live on the campus independently to overcome communication barriers. He also took part in a training camp at Peking University during summer and winter holidays. That is when his yearning for higher education at the university was born.

Ouyang had a hard time learning English at the beginning. He would repeatedly watch the teacher's lip movement to be able to pronounce better. He also used hearing aid to listen to English texts.

Existing policies exempt students who are hearing impaired from the English listening test, giving them 50 percent of the total score. But Ouyang insisted on taking the listening test in the hope of getting a higher score. He not only got high marks in English, he got full marks in the listening test.

Ouyang is also good in sports, such as table tennis, badminton and tennis. One of the reasons for his success is that he never saw himself as "special". "Wearing a hearing aid is like wearing glasses," he said. "It's no different."

"When God closes a door, he opens another window," Ouyang's mother wrote to him. "I hope you can follow your heart, pursue your dream bravely, and enjoy the joy of your efforts."

"The happiest thing for me was learning to solve problems by myself," Ouyang said.