But it sums up perfectly the way she has refused to let lifelong deafness hold her back.

If all goes to plan, and it has so far, Kirsty could well be diagnosing hearing problems and other ailments in Edinburgh patients in the not-too-distant future.

After completing her basic education at mainstream schools in the Capital - attending first St George’s Primary and later Fettes College - and enjoying the traditional gap year travelling the world, Kirsty is now studying medicine.

There are still hurdles ahead - such as how to use a stethoscope to listen to people’s hearts when she can’t hear.

But after overcoming all obstacles in her path so far, Kirsty remains confident.

The 19-year-old has taken time out from her studies at Cambridge University to discuss her life during National Deaf Awareness Week in a bid to inspire other young people with hearing problems.

She says: "Maybe because I have always been around hearing people, I have never really acknowledged myself as being different to others.

"I’m sure my mum and dad were disappointed at first but they have been very positive and supportive.

"They were determined that I would go to school as normal so I could get a job and lead an independent life."

Although born deaf, Kirsty was not diagnosed until she was two, when her investment manager father David, now 48, and mother Angela, a career consultancy PA, now 46, moved from London to Murrayfield in Edinburgh, and her little brother, Douglas, now 17, was born.

"My parents had noticed that I was not speaking, did not respond to the sound of doors closing behind me and I was always pushing people’s faces to make them look at me," she says.

"The day I was diagnosed I was given a pair of hearing aids."

Kirsty has relied primarily on lipreading, which she picked up automatically, and hearing aids ever since.

While she struggles to think of examples of deafness making life difficult, she acknowledges that cumbersome old-fashioned aids drew unwelcome attention to her disability as a child.

"I was the only pupil at both my schools who was deaf. I had a radiowave [device] which I never wanted to use because it was embarrassing. It was like a big pack strapped to my front with wires connected to my hearing aid. The teachers had the other half [of the device], which acted like a direct link so that they could speak directly to me."

She adds: "Meeting new people there were only really one or two incidents where [being deaf] was an issue. When I was seven or eight, I remember some children were playing in the playground and I wanted to join in but they would not let me. That’s the only time I’ve been excluded from anything [because I am deaf].

"I’m quite a loud person, quite outdoorsy, so being deaf has not really bothered me that much."

She credits both her parents, schools and university for helping to ensure that her disability caused few problems, adding: "My parents went to see staff at each school before I started, to explain what I needed, for example, telling them if they wanted my attention to touch me, not shout across a room. My university lecturers have been good, checking I have not missed anything, and making sure I can see them clearly.

"People on my course are happy to sit near the front in lectures with me so I can see to lip-read and I have used the loop system [where she can link her hearing aids into a sound system in a room to hear better]."

Kirsty’s only real problem so far at university has been getting funding from the Disabled Students’ Allowance, which she says was delayed.

At first she had thought she would need money to pay for people to take notes for her, but she no longer needs any thanks to her friends’ willingness to help her out.

She has since received two new digital hearing aids costing £5000, paid for by the DSA.

As for future challenges, Kirsty says: "I was nervous about how I would deal with some things.

"I was concerned about using stethoscopes, for example, but I spoke to a deaf doctor who told me there are digital ones.

"I’m also concerned about how I will hear patients and their families on ward rounds with all the background noise, but I think I can pull the curtains round and sit close to them.

"It could even be better for them, because people like to be listened to properly."

While some deaf people and their families are keen to stay within the deaf community, Kirsty has no deaf friends.

She says: "I don’t know any deaf people, which I probably should and maybe I do regret that, but I don’t believe parents should stop their [deaf] children from [taking] hearing opportunities or the chance to hear."

She has only one other regret, but simply shrugs her shoulders and reiterates that being deaf needn’t hold anyone back.

"There are things that you are not going to be able to do to the extent of others. For example I can’t sing. If I had one wish it would be to sing.

"But it’s not going to happen. There are far worse things. I know being deaf is a disability but I don’t see it that way."

By Julia Horton, Scotsman News