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.

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Asking Someone to Repeat Themselves (Is OK!)

It irks me when people with hearing loss, including me, are reluctant to ask someone to repeat themselves. But I understand the many reasons – and the consequences. If you don’t ask for a repeat of something you didn’t catch, that immediately puts you into the bluffing hole – which can quickly turn into a deep, dark bluffing pit. When this

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Before I Got My Cochlear Implant

I’ve had hearing loss all my life and it’s been a journey of shocks and triumphs, steps forward and steps backward. A life marked by steadily worsening hearing, but also of consistently evolving hearing technology that improved my ability to hear. One of the biggest changes in my hearing loss life has been receiving a cochlear implant (CI) in January

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Why Hearing is Important to a Person with Hearing Loss

I like to hear – because with help, I can. And I can because I want to – and I want to because I’ve known what it’s like to hear reasonably well. I know the world of sounds, in all its deliciousness and its hideousness, and I understand the magnitude of sound’s ability to empower and connect. That’s why, living

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I Can’t Hear Small Children!

Finally, the months of not seeing the grandchildren were coming to an end. There were guidelines on physical interaction to be followed, but at least we were going to be with them. And talk with them! Umm, that last activity actually works best if you’re a hearing person, like a Hearing Grandad, but not so well if you’re my kind

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Do You Have an Inspirational Hearing Loss Quote?

If you were to Google “inspiring words about hearing loss”, not much is going to come up. There are quotes but none of them are what one could call uplifting. Hearing loss can impose significant challenges to the easy flow of life. It changes how we do things, from simple conversations to how we carry out our work. For many

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Why We Need to Keep Writing & Talking About Hearing Loss

Happy 10th anniversary to me! This summer marks a full 10 years that I’ve been writing the Better Hearing Consumer (BHC) column for the Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) website. Ten years! That’s longer than a lot of my past relationships (although going 30-years strong with the Hearing Husband!). Soon I will have posted my 500th blog! When HHTM was started by

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Do You Have Any Hearing Loss Relationship “Complaints”?

Regardless of who you live with, if one of you has hearing loss, communication is going to be affected. It can be tough to navigate, or not so tough, depending on a few key factors applicable to all parties. How well do they communicate in general? How patient are they in dealing with challenges? Most importantly, how much do they care

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What Kind of Person with Hearing Loss Are You?

We’re not all the same, you know. You can’t assume that if you know one person with hearing loss (PWHL) well, then you understand how all of us operate. Even if our audiograms (the graph/picture of a person’s hearing loss) look the same on paper, how we actually live with, handle or consider our individual hearing losses is as individual as how

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When You Can’t Hear Nature’s Sounds

Have you ever gone on a walk and wondered what, because of your hearing loss, you are not hearing? Or you hear sounds but you’re not sure what you’re hearing, so you ask the person you’re hiking with – what’s that? Now, ‘that’ could be one of several sounds a hearing person can hear at that moment, so you might

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How to Deal With Behind-the-Mask Blabbling

After a year, I’m changing how I deal with masked communication difficulties. I still don’t like wearing masks. It unnerves me that they are going to be a standard facial accessory for a long time to come. But I will continue wearing them, because I don’t believe being asked to wear one is an infringement on heaven-sent rights. Anyone who’s