Best of Brooklyn: NYPD vet is advocate for hearing-impaired

A 20-year veteran of the NYPD is being honored as a role model and advocate for the hearing-impaired community.
Deputy Inspector Dan Corione lost partial hearing while working at the 72nd Precinct in 1996.  Corione was involved in a shooting with armed suspects, and as a result, his partner shot a gun inches from his right ear.
He says the discharge caused severe and permanent damage to his inner ear, resulting in central neural hearing loss.
The NYPD tried to force him into early retirement in 2011, claiming a ban on hearing aids. He had to sue, and it took until 2015 for him to return to the force.
Corione says he waited 12 years before deciding to get a hearing aid because he was afraid of being viewed as older and being looked at as if he had lost something that was vital.
Hearing aid maker Beltone awarded the first-ever Safe & Sound award to Corione for his work in removing the stigma around hearing aids.