The hearing aids enable her to participate in a world of small talk, car horns, sound bites and jazz music.

''I love jazz music,'' Mrs. Clemons said.

The hearing aids are tucked away unobtrusively behind strands of her black hair. Molded every four months to fit her ears, the aids are just two of many devices she uses to communicate.

Mrs. Clemons, 32, is the community relations coordinator for the city of Aiken's Neighborhood and Development Services Division. Her job is to receive, interpret and disseminate information.

For the past three years, she has written articles and taken photographs for city publications, promoted the city's cable channel, coordinated the city's speakers bureau, delivered her own speeches to civic groups and answered questions for residents.

Her love of writing and photography spills over into her personal pursuits.

''The hearing world is silent to me, so it's my way of expressing myself,'' she said.

Sheri Clemons, who has impaired hearing, is the community relations coordinator for the city of Aiken's Neighborhood and Development Services Division. RON COCKERILLE/STAFF

By choice, Mrs. Clemons doesn't know or use sign language; she would rather read the lips of those she deals with in person.

In the absence of face-to-face contact, she prefers e-mail. She can access it with a personal computer or a pager she carries with her.

But she does have a special telephone in her second-floor office in the municipal building downtown. It amplifies sound and provides a text option through an operator relay service. She can read what the caller has to say and then provide a verbal response.

Because of her ability to adapt using modern devices and her own smarts, it isn't always obvious to the many people she assists each day that she is almost deaf.

Only something slight in her tone hints that she spent a few formative years of her life not knowing the sound of her own voice.

And although she is a busy advocate for the disabled outside of work, she's rather proud that her deafness isn't the first thing people notice.

''Some people would look at me as limited in what I can do, so I work harder to get things done,'' Mrs. Clemons said. ''I guess you would say my drive is stronger than most people's.''

Mrs. Clemons said the cause of her hearing loss and its timing in her childhood are a mystery to her family. By age 3, she was using some words - but had yet to form complete sentences.

That concerned her parents, Allen and Gail Bonnett Thomas. They took their only child to several doctors, until the hearing loss was diagnosed.

The cords and box associated with hearing aids of the early 1970s weren't a burden in light of the tradeoff, she said. For the first time, she could hear her own laughter in response to jokes and her own shrieks of delight at each new fascinating sound.

''My parents said at the time I got them, I smiled and started talking more, and when I sat in front of the TV, my face just lit up.''

She said the many challenges associated with her hearing impairment didn't cause her to shrink away from others, but rather inspired her outgoing personality and fueled her achievements.

Mrs. Clemons fondly recalls some of the defining moments.

''In first grade (at Aiken Day School - now Aiken Preparatory School), I got in trouble for talking,'' she said.

''My father was very proud of me.''

She also likes to tell the story of the time she went out for the cheerleading squad at the former St. Angela Academy. Her mom expressed reservations.

''She didn't want me to try out because she was worried I wouldn't get it and be crushed,'' Mrs. Clemons said.

But the teen-ager came home without disappointment. She later became co-captain of the squad.

Mrs. Clemons shares these anecdotes because she feels too many ''disabled'' people accept the label as a sort of all-encompassing brand, as if all aspects of one's life are necessarily hindered by the one impairment. She said such people often cheat themselves by hiding away from society.

Click on graphic for a larger image. STAFF

But she said the flip side can be true for persons who, by all appearances, have no infirmities.

''In a way, we all have disabilities,'' she said.

Mrs. Clemons' mission is to make as many disabilities as possible less of a burden for as many people as she can.

To that end, she is involved with a number of civic groups and social service organizations. She is on the communications committee of the Aiken County United Way, and she is a member at large on the Aiken County Disabilities Commission.

She also serves two groups with names that might not fully give away their philanthropic functions: Palmetto Sertoma Club and AMBUCS of Aiken County.

Sertoma, which is short for Service to Mankind, makes classroom sound systems available to hearing-impaired pupils in the Aiken County area. Teachers wear a microphone and transmit lessons to pupils through audio speakers.

AMBUCS, the American Business Clubs organization, also raises funds to increase independence in the lives of the disabled. The group is known for its AMTRYKEs, which provide mobility for children unable to walk.

Mrs. Clemons says her own disability gives her more effective access to those she endeavors to help.

''I have come across a lot of people, and the parents will talk to me,'' she said. ''I can tell they feel a lot better to see me working with their child.''

Mrs. Clemons received the 2000-2001 AMBUC of the Year award for her contributions to the club. The plaque, she says, is the most meaningful piece of artwork to her on her office walls, which feature some of her own photographs of Aiken.

She was asked to become president of the club, but declined because of her many involvements.

But she's never too busy to stop and talk for a moment. Recently, a man from New York heard about Mrs. Clemons through Sertoma. He is struggling with his own hearing impairment and sought her advice via e-mail.

''Everywhere I turn there is somebody, and I'm amazed how many people who are out there who just want to talk to somebody,'' she said.

Mrs. Clemons is out there, too, and she is listening.

Reach Eric Williamson at (803) 648-1395 or eric@augusta.com.