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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Captioning – Taking the Words Right Out of My Mouth

This is a gushy, mushy love blog about captioning. Speech is a many-splendored and multi-faceted thing for the person with hearing loss who communicates through the spoken word. To understand speech, we must see it as well as hear it, observing speech on the speaker’s face or reading it in its written form. Captioning, or CART, is the exquisite real-time, verbatim

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A HoH On The Road: Hearing Loss Travel Tips

Does your hearing loss prevent you from traveling, worrying about potential problems on the trip? Get over it – communication problems can happen anywhere – at home OR away. Mind you, some situations are more challenging than others. The following is my personal ultimate in bad ‘traveling-with-hearing-loss’ experiences, when I was 20 and living in northern Australia. In the dark hours

Te Ara Ora: A Journey of Hearing Loss-to-Wellness

Gael’s Note: My guest blogger this week is my friend Wanda Gower-James from Gisborne, New Zealand. I met Wanda in 2007 when I was speaking to the New Zealand Hearing Association in Christchurch. A year later she received a cochlear implant, and she shares this beautiful before and after story of her journey. Te Ara Ora is Maori for ‘the

Getting Good Talk: A HoH’s Right

When I first waded into the Sea of Hearing Loss Communication, I didn’t know that its healing waters would soon change how I lived my life. Attending my initial meeting of people with hearing loss, I was astounded – truly flabbergasted – at the different strategies that people were using. As they mingled over coffee and snacks, people were brazenly modeling

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A Dark Night At The Movies

On Saturday night, with nothing else to do, the Hearing Husband and I thought we would go on a date night, maybe catch a movie and dinner. HH: What’s showing? Me: (reading)…hmm, two movies with superheroes saving the world, Finding Nemo in 3D, and a couple of teen romance flicks. Let’s do Nemo, he’s adorable. HH: Just a minute – which

Getting Hired: A HoH’s Perspective

When I’m nervous, my hearing goes south, right through the floor. When crossing the border, for example, I have trouble understanding customs officers even though I have absolutely nothing to hide, the odd shopping spree aside. One of the most nerve-wracking human experiences – with or without hearing loss – is the job interview. And for the hard of hearing person, the

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Lipreading By Campfire

Some of my friends love camping – at Camp Hilton. Others can pack a knife and a match and head happily into the bush. I grew up in a hotels ‘r’ us family, but now I’m a card-carrying camper. I love it, I really do, but camping does present some unique communication challenges. When our son was five, we bought

I’m A Hard-of-Hearing-Working-Being

I have done some dumb things in my life, but one of the most absolutely ridiculous, un-self-aware things that I have EVER done, was to take a job as front desk receptionist for a professional association of chartered accountants. I mean, with my severe hearing loss, how did I honestly expect to successfully work a switchboard?! My only excuse was

Featured image for “I Heard a Bird (I Think)”

I Heard a Bird (I Think)

I Heard A Bird A lovely bird was flying by, I called him to my side, And asked him to sing alone for me And then I told him why. “When you sit high up in trees, I cannot hear you singing, And if, by chance, I hear a bit, I can’t tell where you’re perching.” He looked me in

My Anniversary Blog: The Deep Wells of Hearing Loss

It’s my anniversary! On August 15, 2011, following an invitation to join the editorial team at HearingHealthMatters.org, I posted my first blog as the Better Hearing Consumer – and I haven’t stopped writing since. When people ask how I think of something to write week after week, my answer is that hearing loss touches every corner of our lives and so there