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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One of Those (Hard of Hearing) Weekends

Have you ever had one of those hours, or days, or weekends when hearing loss seems to play a starring role as the bad guy? If you’re like me, your hearing loss is constant – it’s always there, like the air you breathe, the clothes you put on. It’s inescapable, and we live with it the best way we know

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Vibrations – The Words of Youth with Hearing Loss

In April 2006, I was invited to St. John’s, Newfoundland to present at a special weekend symposium for hard of hearing and oral deaf youth, hosted by the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, Newfoundland & Labrador chapter. The youth were transitioning from high school to the big world beyond and I was supposed to share my expertise as a ‘mature’ person

The Hearing Loss Whisper Game

There are some things that people with hearing loss are not particularly good at, generally speaking: taking the minutes at meetings, hearing a pin drop, working as a UN translator, and playing the Whisper Game. In this game, also known as ‘Telephone’ or ‘Chinese Whispers’, a group of people sits in a circle or around the room. A written message

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Why People with Hearing Loss Should Meet Other People with Hearing Loss

If you have hearing loss, do you know any other people with the same issues? Beyond your grandma, have you ever met another hard of hearing or late-deafened or deaf person – swapped notes, shot the breeze, commiserated, shared battle stories and laughed at all the crap that goes along with hearing loss? If not, perhaps you’re happy being the

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Meet Birgit Meyer – Hearing Health Advocate

Editor’s Note: Entering the world of hearing loss, I felt like Alice going through the looking glass; I was immediately immersed in a new universe populated with a large and expanding cast of people – interesting people who shared my issues and understood my challenges. Some have become close friends. Many have inspired me with their curiosity and passionate commitment

The Power of the Hard of Hearing Bodybuilder

Editor’s Note: This week, I’m pleased to offer this powerful story from Jonathan Nicoll, a teacher, a natural bodybuilder, and a positive thinker extraordinaire! Jonathan, a Canadian, was diagnosed at age 5 with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss and wears bilateral digital behind-the ear hearing aids. He is a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing children, a caregiver

A New Year of Hearing Health

Are you tired of reading other people’s resolutions for the coming year? Personally, I’m saturated with the chest-thumping declarations, no matter how brilliantly written, that have been popping up everywhere – in the newspaper, on Facebook and LinkedIn and other social media. I just can’t do any more new year’s resolutions, including mine. So I’ve decided to scrap my original

Readers’ Choice 2012: What I Didn’t Know About Hearing Aid Batteries

When considering a blog about hearing aid batteries, I thought “What’s to write? When I put them in, I hear. When they sputter out, I don’t. I put in new batteries. End of boring story.” On second thought, I’ve been “doing” hearing aid batteries for 37 years (I started young), and I don’t usually think about them until there’s a

The Sounds of a Christmas Cyclone

As a person with hearing loss, there are many sounds I’d love to hear well again, like the sibilant ‘s’ and Christmas bells. There are other sounds that I’m happy not to hear well any more – a person blowing their nose, comes to mind, or a cat expelling a fur ball. But the sound I hope never to hear again

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A Hearing Loss Letter to Santa

Dear Santa, First of all, may I say that you are looking spectacular these days – a little trimmer around the belly and – even better – a trimmed moustache around the mouth. We’ve never met, you and I, but if that great event were to happen, it’s nice to know that I would be able ‘speechread you’ without interference from