Opening up.

Last August, “Bachelor in Paradise” couple Noah Erb and Abigail Heringer got engaged.

The couple is now settling into their life in Tulsa, Oklahoma, renovating their home, and getting excited about their wedding.

This week, the couple took to TikTok for another episode of Abigail’s series “Hear Me Out” and this time, her fiancé Noah joined her.

The two discussed what it’s like for Noah to be engaged to someone who is deaf.

Abi asked Noah if he was intimidated about her disability or cochlear implant when first meeting her and he said, “I was a little nervous maybe about the unknown. I’m not deaf. I haven’t gone through my life having to use other means for communication and I just didn’t know what it would be like or what things I would have to change that I have no idea about.”

And he shared what has surprised him about having a deaf partner, saying, “How big of a deal it is, but also how it’s not.”

Abigail agreed, adding, “That’s one of the things about being deaf in a relationship is it doesn’t really affect me in a huge way on a day-to-day basis, but it’s all the small things that really do make such a difference in terms of how comfortable I am in different situations.”

Noah shared a comparison of how dating someone who’s deaf feels to him at times.

He said, “To me, it’s like if somebody likes their coffee a certain way, their partner knows that. It’s obviously a little bigger than that because it’s how you can function in your day-to-day, but they do become second nature. I don’t think about it.”

Noah went on, saying, “I was also very conscious with not having expectations of what it would be like to date a girl who is deaf. It is unknown; I didn’t want to fit you into a mold that I already made or had expectations for.”

And Abigail added that she actually doesn’t think about her disability in her relationship very often.

She said, “I feel like it’s so interesting actually having a conversation about it because on a day-to-day basis, I don’t see us as one person’s disabled and the other is not. I’m not waking up thinking that I’m the disabled one in our relationship and here’s how Noah helps me. It’s interesting because you want to help but you don’t want to overstep and you don’t want to be a caretaker but more of a partner and finding balance to it all.”

Abigail continued, sharing, “I talk all the time about how hard it is to be a deaf person in a non-accommodating world, but it’s also a big responsibility for a partner and families because you do have to train your brain to do all these small things.”

Noah agreed with her and said they do a good job balancing in their partnership.