Bachelor in Paradise alum Abigail Heringer has revealed what caused her hearing loss and whether she anticipates her future children with boyfriend Noah Erb will be deaf.

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Abigail, who shared on The Bachelor's 25th season starring Matt James in 2021 that she was born deaf but got cochlear implants as a toddler, has been educating her social-media followers about being deaf since appearing on the ABC franchise.

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Abigail opened up about what caused her hearing loss and the likelihood it could be passed on to her children as part of her "Hear Me Out" series late last week.

"I realized I never actually shared what exactly caused my hearing loss, so let's get into it!" Abigail wrote in the Instagram video's caption.

"Plus -- we'll chat about what the probability is of our future child being deaf and what I think about genetic testing."

While putting on her makeup, Abigail shared in the video, "Both my sister and I have hearing loss due to what's called connexin 26. While my mom and biological dad were hearing, they both carried this recessive gene. With this recessive gene, there was a one in four chance of Rachel and I being born deaf. And the odds just happened to work that way twice in a row."

Abigail explained how connexin 26 "is the most common cause for a profound hearing loss."

"It's non-syndromic, meaning that there's usually no other medical issues with this mutation except hearing loss," she noted. "My mom didn't do any genetic testing before I was born."

But Abigail underwent genetic testing in kindergarten to determine if she had Usher Syndrome, which is when she discovered connexin 26 was causing the hearing loss.

"When it comes time that Noah and I are ready to start a family -- not anytime soon -- he would also need to have the connexin 26 recessive gene in order for our child to have the one in four probability of being born deaf," Abigail explained.

"Some of you guys asked if we would do the genetic testing beforehand, and we just decided that it wasn't necessary for us. A lot of parents opt to do it to help relieve any surprises or to even help them better prepare, but it was a personal choice to not do it."

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Abigail shared that no matter how their future child is born -- "deaf or not" -- they plan to "handle it as a family and go from there."

Earlier this month, Abigail figured out what her dream engagement ring would look like in a TikTok posting.

Abigail, who fell for Noah on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season and currently lives in San Diego with him, apparently seems ready to take their relationship to the next level, and Noah took note that Abigail would like an oval solitaire.

Abigail and Noah recently reached the two-year anniversary of their first date on Bachelor in Paradise.

In June 2022, Abigail told Us Weekly on its "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast that she and Noah "talk a lot" about an engagement in their future and they feel pressure from Bachelor Nation "to move quickly."

"And I don't blame them," Noah quipped. "We'd make a great married couple. But yeah, we have conversations ourselves. I think we're on the same page."

Noah confirmed that he and Abigail were "pretty happy" with the pace they were going and it was shocking how many DMs and/or comments he received on a daily basis "from middle-aged women or married couples about proposing." He said "at least 20" a day.

Noah shared, however, that he and Abigail were "having fun" and "a blast" just dating.

Abigail and Noah were smitten with each other on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season in Summer 2021, but they broke up before Fantasy Suites because Abigail had struggled to be vulnerable and so Noah lost his confidence that he and Abigail were meant to be together.

But after filming ended, Noah and Abigail reconnected and reconciled, and Bachelor in Paradise's October 2021 finale later revealed how the couple planned to take things "slowly" going forward.

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Abigail -- an Oregon native -- proceeded to announce on Instagram in late March 2022 that she'd be relocating from New York City to the West Coast in order to be close to Noah -- who's originally from Oklahoma -- and her family.

"It's definitely been an adjustment," Noah told Us, later adding, "But it's been good. It's been fun."

Abigail and Noah began spending a lot of time together once Noah's nursing contracts were up and he could take a break from traveling for his job.

Looking back on their Bachelor in Paradise breakup, Noah said last year that his brief split from Abigail made their relationship "more real."

"You step away -- no cameras, no production, just you and somebody you like that were in a crazy experience in the real world," Noah explained.

"I think it's good. It makes it more real. You get to say, 'Okay, where am I at in real life with my own thoughts and my own time?' And all that."

Noah dubbed his The Bachelorette stint on Season 16 starring Clare Crawley and then Tayshia Adams in 2020 as well as his journey on Bachelor in Paradise's seventh season in 2021 "a distant, fond memory."

"And now I'm like, 'Where are we at now? What are we doing now?' Our focus is on our relationship, you know, the date nights... We're trying to go try new restaurants all the time. We travel a lot. It was a good experience, but now it's [the] real world," Noah said.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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