Better Hearing Consumer

Happy New Year and Happy New Decade! There’s something catchy-sounding about ‘2020’, don’t you think? And speaking of catchy, that reminds me of my cats – who love to catch mice. And on the very rare occasion a mouse does break in, I find out about it only when I see the true-life game of cat and mouse, a gruesome

Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. Our Readers’ Choices featured this week are the posts

Dear Readers, This week in the Better Hearing Consumer, I write simply to wish everyone a holiday season that is stress-free and communication-joyful. When our family and friends speak with us in a way that is absolutely, perfectly easy to understand, we should let them know. We don’t have to grovel with gratitude, but we can share our pleasure in

When hearing aids are no longer strong enough, a cochlear implant (CI) can be life changing. For some people, it’s an easy decision to be implanted. For others who may still have some residual hearing, it’s not a slam-dunk next step. What if I get a balance problem or tinnitus? What if it just doesn’t work for me? What if

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

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,

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,

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

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

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