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 “Turning Off Taps & Putting Out Fires”

Turning Off Taps & Putting Out Fires

Hoo-boy! Hearing loss can sure change a girl’s life. It transforms you into a pardon-me-parrot. You become an ear-poker, making sure your hearing aids are there and working. You turn into a vigilante, looking for rule-breakers of the Gospel of Good Communication; heaven help the husband or friend or child who doesn’t face us, speak up, or repeat themselves, graciously, upon demand. Fines

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Practice Management Principles: A Culture of Leadership, Part 1

Dentistry has experienced many of the same issues facing dispensing audiologists and other dispensers of hearing aids – namely, large competitive organizations and their encroachment into independent practices. Hearing Health and Technology Matters approached Dr. Howard Ong, DDS, MAGD to find out how he and others have managed and flourished in the face of such competition, knowing that the issues

Featured image for “The Pains of “Pardon Me?””

The Pains of “Pardon Me?”

Everybody asks for things to be repeated. Whether you can hear people whispering in a noisy restaurant or have trouble understanding even your own mom on the phone, everyone needs to say pardon me on occasion. Maybe a person is talking with a mouth full of food, munching words beyond recognition. More than one person is speaking at once, and your

Featured image for “PCAST, PSAPs, and Likely Possibilities”

PCAST, PSAPs, and Likely Possibilities

By Michael Metz On May 12th, Brian Taylor placed a post on this website about Samsung and Apple perhaps influencing the hearing aid field. By now, everyone can probably discuss disruptive innovation. If you don’t know about this concept and its application to the “P-stuff” in the title, you have probably been off the grid a little too long. And,

Featured image for “If I Were A Hearing Person (Revisited)”

If I Were A Hearing Person (Revisited)

Two years ago, I wrote about what it might be like to not have hearing loss—to hear perfectly, unaided by either technology or other people. We all dream, from time to time, about living a different life. And there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as we avoid getting stuck in the mud of self-pity, rather than about our hearing loss or

Featured image for “Tipping Points: When I Knew Hearing Aids Weren’t Enough”

Tipping Points: When I Knew Hearing Aids Weren’t Enough

My guest writer this week is buy cenforce online https://justinsportsmedicineteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/cenforce.html no prescription pharmacy Marge Cohen who writes about the long slope – in this case, a ski slope – from hearing aids to a cochlear implant. By Marge Cohen For my family, skiing is one of our beloved winter activities. We love to hit the slopes as often as

Featured image for “Dispelling the Myth About Old Telecoil Technology”

Dispelling the Myth About Old Telecoil Technology

by Juliette Sterkens Only a few weeks ago, a hearing aid user stood up in a local Hearing Loss Association of America group meeting and told of his first “hearing loop moment” and how it almost made him cry. He spoke of how he encouraged two hearing aid using friends to have their telecoils activated, so they too would

Featured image for “Dirty Laundry: Removing Hearing Aids in Public”

Dirty Laundry: Removing Hearing Aids in Public

Is it poor taste to take your hearing aids out in public to change the battery or scratch your ear? Who decides whether an activity is ‘acceptable’, anyway? Society? The Law? Individual people? Some women would love to run bare-chested, as men do, through the park on Sunday mornings. It would draw stares, frowns and comments. Possibly a ticket for indecent exposure.

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Trade Shows, Manufacturer Symposia, and Other Professional Dilemmas

by Mike Metz In April 2016, at the Phoenix Convention Center, the American Academy of Audiology held its 27th annual meeting. The web site promised a large gathering of audiologists and lots of education. It got me wondering. Meeting duration is shortened. Exhibitors were fewer. Statistics on attendance are obscure. What does all this mean for Audiology? I recall

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Why Me?

I recently read an article about a woman who was suffering from some sort of chronic problem. On the scale of horrific issues with “10” being a fatal disease and “1” being ugly (but functional) feet, this woman’s problem ranked around a 3, in my opinion. “I ask myself, why me?” she says in the article. “It’s hard to accept