They only found out when he decided to apply for medical school and required letters of reference.
Many of his fellow students may still not realise.
Mr Taylor completed the required health sciences papers and this year became the first student with a cochlear implant to begin studies at the University of Otago Medical School.
This month, he scored another first: the first New Zealander to receive the Graeme Clark Scholarship for Australia and New Zealand, which awards him $5000 a year for three years.
The scholarship, first awarded in 2002, is available to cochlear implant and bone conduction implant recipients, and honours Australian surgeon, Professor Graeme Clark, the inventor and pioneer of the modern-day cochlear implant, which is now 30 years old.
The son of Ian Taylor and Liz Grieve, and of Ngati Kahungunu descent, Mr Taylor was born with profound hearing impairment.
Until the age of 11, he used hearing aids.
He has always communicated through speech and has spent much time undertaking speech therapy.
He did not enjoy the repetition required, but acknowledged the work paid off, giving him a fluent, modulated speaking style.
He could lip-read, but was not always conscious of doing so.
When he was in year 7 at school, he got a cochlear implant for his left ear.
While it took him a while to get used to it, the implant had a huge impact on his life and he doubted he could have contemplated a medical career without it, Mr Taylor said.
