Better Hearing Consumer

Featured image for “Help! I Can’t Hear My Doctor (Or Nurse, Or Technician…)”
Dec. 03, 2019

Help! I Can’t Hear My Doctor (Or Nurse, Or Technician…)

Gael Hannan
I recently wrote about the nerve-wracking experience common to people with hearing loss: Waiting For Your Name To Be Called. To people who can hear (well), this might not seem like a big deal. But in medical situations, or at an airport for example, waiting for audible information is a real source of anxiety in the hearing loss world. But
Featured image for “Dear Family: A Holiday Hearing Letter”
Nov. 26, 2019

Dear Family: A Holiday Hearing Letter

Gael Hannan
Dear Family, Every year, before Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah and all the other traditions observed in our fabulous extended family, I give you the same pep talk. You know the pep talk I mean – the one where I urge you to put some pep into how you talk with me so that I can follow conversations. Every year,
Featured image for “Was That MY Name They Just Called?”
Nov. 19, 2019

Was That MY Name They Just Called?

Gael Hannan
I write about hearing loss, it’s what I do. Since 2011, I’ve written weekly articles on hearing loss for this site, and a blog from that year is one of my personal favorites: Speak Up Doc, I’m Hard of Hearing. In the article, I moaned and whined about the challenges that people with hearing loss experience at the doctor’s office,
Featured image for “Invite a HoH Into Your Life”
Nov. 13, 2019

Invite a HoH Into Your Life

Gael Hannan
If you have hearing loss, do you have someone in your circle of friends who also has hearing challenges? What I’m asking is, do you have a HoH for a friend? (For those new to my writing, relax. “HoH” is an acronym for Hard Of Hearing, another term for a Person With Hearing Loss and….isn’t it just easier to shorten
Featured image for “People With Hearing Loss – Are You Open to Inspiration?”
Nov. 04, 2019

People With Hearing Loss – Are You Open to Inspiration?

Gael Hannan
Because you’re reading this article – or at least its first line, so far – I assume it’s because you have hearing loss. And if you’ve gone on to this second line, perhaps you already know that the impact can be profound, even if your hearing loss is mild. You also probably know that by reading other people’s experiences with
Featured image for “How To Cheat At Hearing”
Oct. 30, 2019

How To Cheat At Hearing

Gael Hannan
Some days, people with hearing loss get tired. Tired of doing everything we should in order to communicate as best as we can. We’re tired because it takes all our patience, energy, technology and know-how to navigate this world of communication challenges. So some days, when we’re just not up for another round of hearing loss show-and-tell, we deliberately ignore
Featured image for “The Many Gifts of Hearing Loss”
Oct. 24, 2019

The Many Gifts of Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
Optimists see the silver lining in the dark clouds.  Creative people  people make lemonade out of lemons.  Determined people make that lemonade – then sell it and share it. Meet my friend Laura Mather.  by Laura Mather Noisy workplace Sudden onset hearing loss Family genetics predisposed to more hearing loss Cochlear implant Near-total bilateral deafness The above is the bare bones
Featured image for “Why Should I Learn to Speechread?”
Oct. 23, 2019

Why Should I Learn to Speechread?

Gael Hannan
I’m a huge fan of speechreading. I have to be – because if I couldn’t speechread, the hearing I do have would fall below the floorboards. (That’s why I’m trying so hard, in the above picture, to speechread my friend Ray Wathen and his full-blown Texas drawl.) Actually, my hearing would be the same as always – not good –
Featured image for “Taking the Scary Out of Hearing the Holidays”
Oct. 15, 2019

Taking the Scary Out of Hearing the Holidays

Gael Hannan
Uh-oh. The holiday season is coming. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Remembrance Day, Milad un Nabi, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, and a few others.   At this point in the calendar, most people are, like, yay-hooray! But others, the ones who have hearing loss, may have a little dread and nervousness mixed in with the excitement. It’s not that we don’t love the decorations,
Featured image for “Move Your Lips, Dammit!”
Oct. 08, 2019

Move Your Lips, Dammit!

Gael Hannan
Hey girlfriend! If there’s one thing I’d like you to do for me It’s to move your lips more, so that I can see What you’re trying to say.   We’ve been friends forever and I can tell what you’re thinking, It’s the way your mouth says stuff that confuses me, Because they don’t move. Not much. Except when you