Gael Hannan

Gael Hannan is an author, speaker and advocate on hearing loss issues. In addition to her weekly blog at the Better Hearing Consumer, which has a passionate international following, Gael has written two acclaimed books, “The Way I Hear It: A Life with Hearing Loss”and “Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss”, written with Shari Eberts. She is regularly invited to present her uniquely humorous and insightful work to appreciative audiences around the world. Gael has received many awards for her work that advocates for individuals to become more knowledgeable and successful at dealing with their hearing loss and a more inclusive society for them to live in.

Featured image for “The Hand – And What It Means for People with Hearing Loss”

The Hand – And What It Means for People with Hearing Loss

I’ll be honest – I have a love/hate relationship with ‘the hand’. A hand is the body part at the end of a human arm used for grasping, touching, and feeling. I’m good with all that. I can pick things up with my hand. I can touch your face or punch you in the arm. And, a new skill

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Hearing Technology: Our Visible Traces of Healing

What do our hearing aids tell other people about us? It should be just one thing – the devices help us hear. Not that we’re broken, or lesser than – in fact, just the opposite. Using hearing aids should indicate that we have identified a problem and have taken steps to address it. The adjective ‘broken’ means damaged or

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What Gets Your Goat About Having Hearing Loss?

Is this you? On the surface, you appear to have this hearing loss thing nailed. You wear the technology, you self-identify without shame, and you can, in 30 seconds flat, rearrange a room and group of people to your hearing and speechreading advantage! Yet, day after day, aspects of hearing loss make you mad. If so, you’re not alone. For

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How Should We Self-Identify with Hearing Loss? It’s Personal

I’m feeling a touch grumpy. I get this way when I see people telling other people how they should self-identify with hearing loss or deafness. And I get grumpier when they start shaming. “You can’t call yourself THAT! Because you’re NOT that! I am THAT! You’re THIS, because I say so (based on my own limited knowledge of the full

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Say, How’s Your Tinnitus Today?

Yesterday, my tinnitus was bad. Loud and constant. It roared and rolled, swooped and yelled, filling every corner of my cranium, wanting to escape to the outside world. I wish it could, so that people could better understand what I, and millions like me, go through. Tinnitus isn’t painful, in the way that stubbing a toe hurts like heck or

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Go Where the People with Hearing Loss Are

I’ve got my annual June blues – the feelings that always follow my time at the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) convention. As much as I love my Hearing Husband and my wonderful Hearing Friends, after attending the conference I miss the connectedness of being with people – lots of people – who get each other. We understand

Featured image for “Tips for Presenting on Hearing Loss: Part 2”

Tips for Presenting on Hearing Loss: Part 2

Do you want to be a speaker on hearing loss? Yay! Whether you dream of being on a national stage or connecting with people in your community, there are people who need to hear from you. But if you’re new to public speaking, especially about hearing loss, I suggest you “start small”. At the start of my 30-year (so

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Got Something to Say About Hearing Loss? Let People Hear It

If you have hearing loss, have you thought about giving a talk or presentation in your community? Even if the thought of public speaking makes you nervous, or if you think you might not be good at it, you may still have an itch or even a burning desire to talk to other people about hearing loss. If so,

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Seen, Heard, Understood, Appreciated and Connected: SHUAC in Hearing Loss

What do a bad haircut and poor communication with hearing loss have in common? In a recent FaceBook reel, Mo Barrett, a humorist, corporate strategist, and author, spoke about the terrible haircut she had just endured. I thought it looked fine, although I would not have chosen that particular highly spiked, crispy-gelled look. Neither did she, apparently. The cut

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Seeing Ourselves Reflected On the Big Screen

Living with hearing loss is seldom addressed in film, but when a new documentary premiered last week – Heard, by Vancouver cinematographer Brian Ceci – there was an excited buzz in the local hearing loss community. How often do we get to “see ourselves” on film? Heard is an exploration of Ceci’s relationship with his lifelong hearing loss, stemming