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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How to Tell Your Mother (She Has Hearing Loss)

Hi, Mom, how’re you doing? Fine, darling! This is a treat – are you staying for dinner? No, I just dropped in for a coffee chat. You usually phone, but this is nicer, face to face. Well, that’s what I wanted to talk… Sorry, dear, I didn’t catch that? …Mom, I didn’t call you, because talking on the phone is

On Waking Up Deaf

When I first met other people with hearing loss, I was fascinated by their stories, often inspiring but also heartrending. Other people had great difficulty in expressing their emotions, and I realized I could help do it for them, by creating a dramatic, spoken-word depiction of life with hearing loss. I turned to my friend Dalene Flannigan, a fellow actor and a

Thoughts on a Pole Walk: A Sentimental (Hearing) Journey

Warning: Some readers may find this blog a bit too gushy and mushy for their taste. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, a holiday based on the English harvest festival of pumpkins and hymns. The earliest North American Thanksgiving was celebrated by the explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578 when he and his men managed to escape the fate of becoming human

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We, The Battery-Operated People

I am totally driven by battery power. A battery houses one or more electric cells that produce electricity from a chemical reaction. Cells make things work, including people. The human body is composed of 100 trillion cells that turn food nutrients into energy that allows people to move and function. So as a human being, I am a battery; I

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When Strangers Speak: A Hearing Loss Challenge

If I want to understand speech, I have to hear it, or see it, or use an exquisitely-performed marriage of the two. How I decide on the ratio of hearing-to-seeing depends on the speaker and the medium. For example, the telephone uses 100% hearing because I do well with the voice coming directly into my ear, and with the volume control

The Easy Lessons of Hearing Loss

It’s EASY to convince ourselves that we’re doing ‘fine’ with our hearing loss: That we’re catching most of what’s said, Well, at least the important stuff – the rest’s not really worth listening to And no, we don’t intend to do anything about it Like getting a hearing aid or cochlear implant – Those are for other people, who have

The Dark-and-Dirty Secret of People with Hearing Loss

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 that I’m a bluffer. Yup, I pretend to understand

Whoop-Whoop! Is That Music Too Loud?

It finally happened. The most significant, life-changing, tear-duct emptying, hallelujah-raising event in the life of parents finally arrived for the Hearing Husband and me. Yesterday, we delivered our baby boy, Joel, all 6 feet 5 inches of him, to university for the first time. On top of being both exciting (for the child) and emotional (for his parents), it was

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Wow Moments – A Heart Grateful for Hearing

Wow! WOW! As of this week, wow has taken on a new meaning, thanks to a book called Help, Thanks, Wow. I picked up this short and unusual book on prayer simply because it’s written by one of my favorite, funniest authors, Anne Lamott (to whom I’m eternally grateful for this new life-dimension). She describes wow as: “… often offered

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What the Hearing Husband Really Thinks

“You want me to WHAT?” he asked. I tried again. “For this week’s blog, I would like you to answer some questions about what it’s really like being married to a woman with hearing loss.” “ANY woman with hearing loss – or just YOU with hearing loss?” “Well, since you’re married only to me, and I’m hard of hearing, feel