Table 2.

Themes and subthemes constituting the triple burden of living with acquired hearing loss following aminoglycoside treatment.

Themes	Subthemes	Selected quotations
Living with socio-economic hardship	Living with limited economic support	My sister’s husband says, “you have grown up, you have to do your own things”. Teekay
	Living with limited emotional support	I am only realizing it now that my maternal family does not love me… Even when I was in hospital they never even came to see me. Sandisile
Living with life-threatening MDR-TB	Living with illness	I was thin thin, thin, thin, thin!… I was wearing a [disposable diaper] before and then they put a drip on. I was really sick. And I was unable to walk. Elizabeth
	Living hospitalised	… they move you for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and Monday you go back and on days like Christmas you are allowed to come back. Sandisile
	Living with treatment challenges and limited awareness of side-effects	…and later stopped fetching the treatment, because I had to go to the clinic every day. Bianca
	Living with stigma of TB	They said, “You should have your own cup, your own spoon, and everything else that you need to use should be your own and you should not use other people’s things” …Sandisile
	Living with school and employment challenges	The life I'm living now, you can't get a job nicely… So if you go to work, you work with lots of people, you are not putting a mask on, it’s going to spread. Teekay
Living with life-changing hearing loss	Living with loss of normal hearing	And so I told my sister to put the TV louder because I can’t hear what the people are saying. And then she said, “it is already loud, why do you want to put it louder?” Liezel
	Living with loss of effortless communication	If someone talks to me, I have to pay attention. When you say something, if I don’t understand, I say, “Come again?” I really think fast what she is trying to say. Teekay
	Living with fear of permanent, complete hearing loss	I thought my hearing would have got worse, to a point where I would have had to speak sign language. Fortunate
	Living with stigma of hearing loss	I always felt embarrassed when I wore [the hearing aid] …People always looked at me when I was wearing that thing. Bianca
	Living with others’ reaction to hearing loss	When people are telling their stories, you try to go there. Then they start to talk, you say, “hey guys, what are you saying?” They keep on continuing with the story, they don’t tell you. Teekay
	Living with the consequences of hearing loss	Even at home, I like to isolate myself, I like to sit in my room, watch DVD or TV in my room. I don’t sit with them in the room like the kitchen or dining room, sitting there chatting, I don’t… Elizabeth