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 “How to Serve Diners with Hearing Loss”

How to Serve Diners with Hearing Loss

“Hi, I’m Chelsea. Welcome to the Cacophony Café. I’d like to tell you about our specials tonight.” Our group of six is seated at a round table. This is a good thing, because it’s easy to see everyone. The restaurant is dark-ish and the noise is rising by the moment. This is not a good thing, because noise interferes with

Featured image for “My First Hearing Loss Hero – Cindy Gordon”

My First Hearing Loss Hero – Cindy Gordon

I remember the first moment I saw her. It was hard not to notice her as she mingled at coffee break with other conference attendees who were mostly seniors – she was holding a baby. As she walked towards me, I didn’t know that an amazing woman was about to give me two gifts – peace of mind and friendship.

Featured image for “Can Hearing Loss Make Your Life Better?”

Can Hearing Loss Make Your Life Better?

Ever had a bad hair online pharmacy buy sinequan with best prices today in the USA day? A phrase that once meant you and your hair were living on different planets now refers to an overall cruddy day when nothing seems to go right. People with hearing loss have days like that, but we call them bad hearing days. A

Featured image for “My Wine, My Hearing Loss: The Relationship”

My Wine, My Hearing Loss: The Relationship

The wine-and-martini holiday season of Christmas/New Year’s/University Break is over. Now, at the start of the traditional detox month of January, I have time to think about the relationship between alcohol and hearing loss – not just mine but everybody’s. Spoiler alert – I like wine. It tastes better than beer and it’s a prettier color than coke or pepsi. But

How Did I Hear Last Year? (2013 in Review)

It’s that time again. As 2013 gasps its last breaths, it’s time to review how well we met our personal goals for 2013, no matter how low we set them. My new year’s resolutions about communication and hearing technology were carried forward from the year before. This annual review of the same ol’ resolutions will probably go on for as

Reader’s Choice 2013: The Dark-and-Dirty Secret of People with Hearing Loss

This post is a Reader’s Choice selection for 2013. Hearing loss changes lives. I know this because without hearing loss, I’d be married to a completely different guy and my son would look very different – like a girl, maybe? And I know this because of the secret vice that interfered with my marital selection process. My dark-and-dirty secret is

Happy New Year!

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. The Readers’ Choices are the posts published on each

♪ Do You Hear What I Hear? ♪

Very soon, I’m going to be an angel. Before you reach for the sympathy cards, I can assure you I feel fine; I’m not planning on leaving this earth any time soon. On Christmas Eve, I’m doing my annual gig at my church: as the Christmas Angel, I narrate the Nativity story at the early children’s service. It’s one of

It’s Me Again, Santa – the Lady with Hearing Loss?

Dear Santa, How are you? I am fine. Don’t you just love this time of year? What a dumb question – of course you do. You’re a rock star of the season! Ok, now that all the nicey-nice stuff is out of the way, I’ll tell you why I’m writing again. Yes, that’s right – again. I’m the HoH (hard

Dementia & Hearing Loss: Methinks Hearing Aids Are Not Enough

Note from Gael: I am pleased to welcome Dr. Sandra Vandenhoff as my guest author this week. Her post on hearing loss and dementia contains links to a number of interesting articles and studies. Sandra is an audiologist with hearing loss, founder of HEARa, Hearing Strategies coach, speaker, and Canadian author. She does not remember saying on her first day of wearing hearing aids: “Mom,