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.

Best of Hearing International: Sonic Warfare – Noise as a Weapon

I am off on holidays this week, but hope you will enjoy this top post from 2015. Audiologists have long known that noise damages the auditory mechanism and that high level noise over 85-90 dBA for a long period of time can cause deafness. But what does it take in sound levels to produce a truly

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Best Of The Better Hearing Consumer: WHAT A HOH NEEDS TO KNOW

I am off on holidays this week, but hope you will enjoy this top post from 2015. (Note: Person with hearing loss = hard of hearing person = HoH) She did it again—she started talking to me from another room. His baseball cap shades his eyes, and I always have to ask him

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When the Christmas Music Changes

I adore Christmas, especially the tingle-inducing music. But this holiday season, I’m wondering—when did I lose the ability to sing it? (Some in my family would tell you that I never had that ability, but they’re such kidders. They know I can sing well—if I manage to stay on key.) Growing up, I sang in Christmas choirs (being flanked fore and

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You Have to Read This! Books on Hearing Loss

Katherine Bouton is a renowned writer on hearing loss issues. This week, she looks at books that make great gifts for people affected by hearing loss. You Have to Read This by Katherine Bouton The holidays are upon us – and that means gifts. For your friends and family with hearing loss, I’d like to suggest a gift

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When Hearing Changes, So Does Life

“Gael, we’re going to give you a cochlear implant!” I looked at the doctor blankly for a moment. Then, “You are?” “Yes, we are.” He paused, “Do you want a CI?” And that was the moment my life changed – again. How did I really feel about getting a cochlear implant (CI)? For years I’d been told that in spite of

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Can YOU Hear a Burp?

I have a small bone to pick with people who can hear well. It’s not that I begrudge them their hearing—but do they have to be so show-offy about it? These people let you know when they hear a pin drop. They can understand what’s being said way over there. They can understand speech in noisy situations—on a roller coaster, for example. And that’s

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“Dad, Wear Your Hearing Aids!”

It’s probably not an easy thing to learn that your two year-old daughter has permanent hearing loss. You worry, because she is also a sensitive child for whom the sky will be always bluer and the grass always greener than for some other people. That’s how my father, a few years ago, described my mother’s discovery that my willful behavior

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Don’t Tell Me What to Call Myself

Have you ever been tossed on the stormy seas of hearing loss nomenclature? That’s the term or terms applied to someone or something, and in the hearing loss and deaf worlds it’s what you’re called if you have it, if you are it, if you have some of it, or if you ain’t got none of it. Deaf. Deafened. A

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My Alphabet Sound Soup

I am not usually a fan of alphabet lists. You know the kind – M.O.T.H.E.R is spelled out starting with M is for the Milk you made me drink, O is for the Overcoat that was ugly but you said who-cares-it-will-keep-you-warm …and so on. But on a long cross-country flight, I was thinking about blog topics and started doodling with

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How to Bluff Like a Pro

People with hearing loss bluff. It’s what we do, a basic fact of our lives. We pretend to understand what’s being said and what new direction the conversation is heading (if we got it in the first place), whereas in reality we have lost the connection and so we fake it. It’s not that we want to bluff. Exactly the