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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He Says Something, I Hear Something Different

Some days, hearing loss can drain a lot of our energy. We have to work hard at hearing and understanding. “Hearing” people don’t put any effort into hearing. It just happens. A sound happens – and they hear it, registering it as a cough, a bell, a voice, whatever. What they do with that knowledge is something else, but the

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The Sounds I Heard this Year

When the end of the year rolls around, we are pummeled with Best of the Year lists from the media: top movies, tv shows and books of the year, most amazing events in 2019, people who changed the world in 2019, and of course “the most important things that you may not have heard about in 2019 but should have

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Do Your Cats Help You Hear?

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade! There’s something catchy-sounding about ‘2020’, don’t you think? And speaking of catchy, that reminds me of my cats – who love to catch mice. And on the very rare occasion a mouse does break in, I find out about it only when I see the true-life game of cat and mouse, a gruesome

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Stop Trash-Talking Telecoils!

Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. Our Readers’ Choices featured this week are the posts

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Have Yourselves a Better Hearing Holiday

Dear Readers, This week in the Better Hearing Consumer, I write simply to wish everyone a holiday season that is stress-free and communication-joyful. When our family and friends speak with us in a way that is absolutely, perfectly easy to understand, we should let them know. We don’t have to grovel with gratitude, but we can share our pleasure in

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Yes, Virginia, You Will Hear Music Again

When hearing aids are no longer strong enough, a cochlear implant (CI) can be life changing. For some people, it’s an easy decision to be implanted. For others who may still have some residual hearing, it’s not a slam-dunk next step. What if I get a balance problem or tinnitus? What if it just doesn’t work for me? What if

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What I Believe as a Person with Hearing Loss

When I was young and went to church more regularly than I do now, I thought the Credo was a nice poem that we recited to express what we were supposed to believe as Canadian Presbyterians. This Credo was especially helpful when, if you weren’t sure of what you were supposed to believe, you could look it up at the

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Help! I Can’t Hear My Doctor (Or Nurse, Or Technician…)

I recently wrote about the nerve-wracking experience common to people with hearing loss: Waiting For Your Name To Be Called. To people who can hear (well), this might not seem like a big deal. But in medical situations, or at an airport for example, waiting for audible information is a real source of anxiety in the hearing loss world. But

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Dear Family: A Holiday Hearing Letter

Dear Family, Every year, before Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah and all the other traditions observed in our fabulous extended family, I give you the same pep talk. You know the pep talk I mean – the one where I urge you to put some pep into how you talk with me so that I can follow conversations. Every year,

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Was That MY Name They Just Called?

I write about hearing loss, it’s what I do. Since 2011, I’ve written weekly articles on hearing loss for this site, and a blog from that year is one of my personal favorites: Speak Up Doc, I’m Hard of Hearing. In the article, I moaned and whined about the challenges that people with hearing loss experience at the doctor’s office,