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.

Hearing Loss – A Family Affair

Yo, hearing care professionals! Hey, hearing loss groups! In your area, where can a family sign up for a communication strategies course? (And I’m not talking about mandatory programs involving a psychologist or the police.) It’s tough enough for a hard of hearing person to find access to effective aural rehabilitation, let alone a program that includes communication partners like

Why I Speak, Sign and Speechread

I am a talker, a gesturer and a reader of faces. Put another way, I speak, sign (a little) and speechread. As a hard of hearing person, my language is a spoken one with heavy dependency on visual cues and expressions. I often punctuate my speech with signs picked up through a few years of exposure to American Sign Language

Featured image for “Sleeping with Hearing Loss”

Sleeping with Hearing Loss

I woke up with a snort and for a brief moment I wasn’t sure where I was. Then the noise reached my brain – I was on a plane heading home. But – had I been snoring? Most other passengers were wearing headphones, so it was difficult to tell if anyone had been ready to reach across the aisle and punch me.

Featured image for “The Victory of An Impatient Patient with Hearing Loss”

The Victory of An Impatient Patient with Hearing Loss

The fruits of advocacy are both bitter and sweet. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you advocate your little heart out (I need captioning! The music’s too loud!), but nothing changes. The winds of change hardly stir the leaves. It can drive an impatient advocate crazy. Then one day, a door shuts in your face because there’s no communication access

Some Shocking Truths About Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is one of those gifts that keeps on giving. Once you have it, your hearing loss presents itself to you, every day, in different ways. You never know what you’ll be treated to – an uncaptioned TV show, a sales clerk whose lips point to her computer, a conversation with friends that spins out of control into incomprehension.

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On the Road with a HoH (and Her BFFs)

Best friends share things through the years – secrets, money, boyfriends, etc. And if one of you has hearing loss, you share that, too. If your friend is truly your best friend, she will gladly embrace the communication challenges, the irritations, and the daily impact of your hearing loss. I’m writing this from Florida, where I arrived yesterday after a three-day Girl’s Road Trip with

Featured image for “A HoH in the Dentist Chair”

A HoH in the Dentist Chair

A Letter To My Dentist, Having just escaped from your dentist chair for the second time in a week, I am writing while the experience is still painfully fresh in my mind. Actually, the pain wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected – the drugs helped a lot. As you know, Doc, I have hearing loss, and you’ve always

Featured image for “Fast Food Fury: Hearing Loss and The Drive-Thru”

Fast Food Fury: Hearing Loss and The Drive-Thru

It was early one morning at a Tim Hortons drive-thru, a few years ago…… “Mpray uh paken udda, heesh?” “Oh yes, hi…I’ll have a double-double, one apple juice, and 20 Timbits, please.” “Mprhhh?” “Pardon me?” “Mom, she’s saying….” “Shh, honey, mommy’s trying to hear….sorry, what was that again?” “MM-PRHH!?” “I’m sorry, I have hearing loss, I’m not quite getting…”

I’ve Lost My Hearing and I Want It Back

When it comes to my hearing, I have a grateful soul. I’m thankful for technology, the support of others and the passion for advocacy that my hearing loss has given me. But – and I don’t know if this is true of other people who live successfully with their communication challenges – every once in a while, I have a

Featured image for “Tips for the Hard of Hearing Shopper”

Tips for the Hard of Hearing Shopper

I’m no mathematician but there’s one equation I figured out a long time ago: Shopping + Hearing Loss = Communication Challenge I enjoy shopping, but don’t want to spend a lot of time doing it. Online shopping is an almost barrier-free alternative, but I prefer the old-fashioned way where I can look at, do some touchy-feely, and breathe in the product