Since age 10, Susan Sperry’s life had been music.

The Helena native earned a bachelor’s degree in performance from the University of Montana and a master’s in music from the University of Arizona. She performed flute for symphonies from Mexico City to Phoenix.

But in 2004, Sperry started losing her hearing due to an interaction with a prescription drug. Within two weeks, her hearing was completely gone. So was her music career.

Four years later, Sperry, who now has two cochlear implants that allow her to hear, has a new passion — helping people adjust to life with disabilities.

On Sunday, Sperry will perform at a gala celebration for Deaf Awareness Week at the Myrna Loy Center. It will be her first public performance since she lost her hearing four years ago.

“People need to see that even though someone is disabled, they shouldn’t be limited,” she said.

Sperry, the featured act at the event, will perform flute selections accompanied by dancers from the Allegro School of Dance in Helena.

Sperry first realized something was wrong with her hearing when her conductor with the Helena Symphony Orchestra complained to her in her final orchestral performance that she was playing out of tune.

“I haven’t played out of tune since I was a freshman in high school, so I knew something was up,” she said.

She later played a couple more gigs, including one in which she couldn’t hear a thing.

“That’s when I put the flute down and decided to figure out what the next step was going to be,” she said.

Sperry is now the office manager of the Montana Telecommincations Access Program (MTAP), a state program within the Department of Public Health and Human Services that provides telephone assistive equipment and telephone relay services to the deaf, hard of hearing and speech and mobility disabled.

When Sperry lost her hearing over a period of a couple of weeks, she contacted MTAP for help with her phone needs. Later, she came on staff temporarily as office help. After her first cochlear implant, Susan was permanently hired when the former office manager left for another position. In August 2007 she was fitted with her second cochlear implant and decided to try to play the flute again, mostly for her own enjoyment.

She is now working on a master’s degree in public health so she can do more work with people with disabilities.

She said in many ways the hearing loss has been good.

“Who would have ever thought I’d be involved with all these quote, unquote disabled people,” she said.

She feels the struggles she’s been through helps her empathize with everyone who calls looking for help getting telephone equipment.

She stresses that Sunday’s performance won’t be perfect. It can’t be. Though her implants allow her to hear, it’s not the same as hearing used to be.

It has been a long struggle to learn to hear again.

She has no sense of pitch or timbre. Anyone can learn the technique of playing an instrument. Pitch and timbre are what make a musician an artist, she said.

“As far as I know, I don’t sound anything like I used to,” she said.

Other acts at Sunday’s gala will include a pianist, string players, and deaf poets and storytellers.

MTAP is putting on Sunday’s celebration along with, the Montana Association of the Deaf and Hamilton Relay, which provides.

Click here for more information about MTAP.

Features Editor Joe Menden: joe.menden@helenair.com or 447-4087