Better Hearing Consumer

As a user of hearing technology, do you ever catch yourself looking at other people’s ears? With the popularity of earbuds, headphones, and AirPods and other “hearables”, we don’t have to look too long find someone with something in or on their ears. But then, there it is! A glint of silver behind the ear, an almost imperceptible bit of

Do you live in a mixed marriage or relationship – where one person has typical hearing and the other has hearing loss? How’s that working out for you? For years, I have been writing about my Hearing Husband. (His given name is Doug, but he responds reasonably well to “Hearing Husband”.) The man has supported and cheered me through years

Do you ever go online looking for advice from other people? And have you ever shifted your way of thinking about your hearing loss or tinnitus because of something you read there? There is some seriously life-changing information out there, folks! I’m not talking about the stuff that hearing science is still trying to work out – such as how to scientifically get

For readers of my weekly column, some of you may have noticed my absence for the past few weeks. If you haven’t – well, I’ve missed you! I’ve been busy – being sick with Covid. There, I’ve said it. If you’re like me, you’ve spent the entire last year trying to do everything right. You’ve followed the guidelines, sorting through

by Abha Sharma There is no first memory of the barter beads. But they were the constant buddies in my school bag. A fistful or so was all that was needed. The protocol was simple: a casual remark, and my list of questions on the classes, preceded or followed by an offer of beads. Colorful beads! “Can I ask you

A few years ago, one of my colleagues at HearingHealthMatters.org wrote a column encouraging new hearing aid clients to make notes on their experiences. I wrote a semi-fictional article and this is an updated version. Hearing aids improve all the time, but the breaking-in experience doesn’t. However, the day does come when you realize you can’t even feel the devices

As we work to find ways to make the hearing loss life more do-able, we often turn to social media to express opinions and ask for advice. When we share stories or anecdotes on FaceBook or other social media, it’s understood that we are writing our own opinions, our own experiences, unless we indicate otherwise. I’m a writer who has hearing

Let me clarify the title of this article: hearing loss is not an ingredient in the recipes for good food, it’s often an ingredient in the cook. Since first writing on this subject a few years ago, I’ve received a cochlear implant (CI) and it’s time to review just how well—or not—this technology has helped me in the kitchen. Like

Hearing loss is a two-sided problem. Having it, is on one side. Effectively explaining it to others is on the other. We wonder—why is it so challenging for them to understand the way hearing loss manifests itself in us? It’s not that we haven’t shown our audiogram to the people who need to know—the people with whom we communicate the

Being deaf means different things to different people, and so they describe themselves in different ways – a little deaf, Deaf Culture, oral deaf, deaf-deaf, cochlear implant. But to a person who uses hearing aids or cochlear implants, there is a special kind of deaf. It’s similar to when you wake up in the morning, and you can’t really hear