Better Hearing Consumer

As much as we would like to forget it, 2020 will be talked and written about for a long time. It was simply annus horribilis—the horrible year. People with hearing loss (PWHL) didn’t have it any worse than anyone else who was separated from loved ones or who suffered economic hardship or who ran out of things to watch on

Today, I had a minor thing done to my two front teeth which had chipped, and from start to finish it was an accessible and pain-free experience. That made it an unusual experience. A few years ago, I wrote an article in the form of a letter to a different dentist, who had given me a root canal, a process

Silent night…all is calm….sleep in (heavenly) peace…. These phrases from “Silent Night”, the beautiful Christmas carol, are the goal for anyone who lives with tinnitus—especially the rough, unrelenting tinnitus that prevents us from getting to sleep, staying asleep, or getting back to sleep when we awake at 2am and the whooshes and whines roar into our heads like trains. We

Have you been shocked at how masks seem to muffle the sound of what people are saying?  Are you amazed at how, when someone puts on a mask, you can’t understand everything they say? You’re a hearing person (that’s how we people with hearing loss refer to you people who don’t have hearing problems). Or so you thought up until

We need to see what we cannot hear. When people who are deaf, people who have hearing loss, can’t hear the words, we need to see them being made through speechreading. But that only helps for about half the words, because many speech sounds and words occur out of sight – behind the lips, back in the throat, the tongue

Thank goodness that people with hearing loss are kind and supportive of other people with hearing loss. Aren’t we? Like almost everybody I know – and the millions of people I don’t know – I’ve been struggling with the fierce polarization of views in this challenging time of politics and pandemic. We all think: how can people not see things

One of the annoying things about hearing loss, for many people, is having to depend on things and other people to help them hear. Adults may be reluctant to admit their developing hearing loss because it threatens their independence, so they dismiss suggestions from their family to get help. But they don’t want help—from hearing professionals, from technology, from family,

(Note: HoH = Hard of Hearing = Person with Hearing Loss. HoH is snappy and easy to use – as long as you don’t say “I’m a HoH” out loud to the wrong person. Like your mom.)   Virtual meetings – the pandemic’s go-to communication lifesavers! Can we even remember a life before Zoom or Google Meets? FaceTime seems so

After a virtual meeting or two, do you ever feel like the above picture? When the pandemic sent us into isolation, whether forced or voluntary, we were rewarded with the beyond-amazing capabilities of modern technology. Through Zoom and Google Meets and other platforms, we were able to connect virtually in online meetings with family, friends and business associates. Soon we

I have a question: what do you do with the sticky tabs you’ve removed from your fresh hearing aid batteries? This question was on Facebook the other day but I didn’t pause to read the responses. Now I’m curious – what do people do with them? Someone told me that whenever she changes her battery, she puts the sticker on