Better Hearing Consumer

Featured image for “Their Words Keep Flowing”
Jun. 21, 2015

Their Words Keep Flowing

Gael Hannan
A couple of weeks ago, in my blog The Joy of Writing (About Hearing Loss), I recommended that people who have hearing loss may want to try writing: “…as a way to deal with the frustrations and anxieties of communication challenges.  Write a piece of inspiration that gets you through the hearing loss day and stick it on the fridge. 
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Jun. 16, 2015

The Hearing Loss Competition

Gael Hannan
We all know competition freaks—those people who have to be first, or the best, or win at everything they do.   It’s amazing what people will compete over—who had the most dramatic “I almost died” incident, who lost the most weight and what’s the best way to lose it (dill pickles and coconut water). If you tell a funny story about
Featured image for “The Joy of Writing (About Hearing Loss)”
Jun. 07, 2015

The Joy of Writing (About Hearing Loss)

Gael Hannan
Writing—about hearing loss—is on my mind this week. Here I am surrounded by the fabulous scenery of Newfoundland, as far east in Canada as you can go without falling in the Atlantic, but still, writing is never more than a few seconds away from my mind. Firstly, David Kirkwood, the fabulous and beloved editor of HearingHealthMatters.org (HHTM), has retired after
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Jun. 02, 2015

Selecting What to Hear

Gael Hannan
My guest writer this week is Robin Itzler, a 40-year marketing and communications professional. Robin is a columnist, public speaker and business owner who has a clear vision of her hearing loss identity.   By Robin M. Itzler I have selective hearing, but the truth is that everyone with a hearing loss has selective hearing; it’s just that we’re not
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May. 26, 2015

Hanging Out with the HoHs

Gael Hannan
There’s nothing like an intimate gathering of 150 people with hearing loss. A little bit on the noisy side, but that’s what exhilaration sounds like: people—whose sole, mutual goal is to communicate—connecting to and understanding what’s being said, regardless of who’s saying it. I’ve almost completed 72 hours of recovery from the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association’s (CHHA) annual conference,
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May. 18, 2015

Mama-Nana-HoH!

Gael Hannan
I am delighted to offer this article from my good friend Teri Wathen, a Hearing Resource Specialist in Houston, Texas. By Teri Wathen online pharmacy https://animalhealthdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/elavil.html no prescription pharmacy   We are a family of HoHs—the insider term for people who are Hard of Hearing. I wear two cochlear implants and my husband Ray wears hearing aids—sometimes. He lost some
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May. 12, 2015

The Ecstasy of Seeing the Words

Gael Hannan
It’s difficult to describe. For people who don’t need it, real-time captioning is a very cool thing. Especially seeing it for the first time. It’s awe-inspiring to watch a captioner produce, verbatim, a speaker’s words, often just a hair of a second after each word is said.  “It’s amazing how you do that!” they say.   These same people have
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May. 05, 2015

Sneaky Tricks to Hear Un-Hearable Sounds

Gael Hannan
Oh, those people with hearing loss!  Always going on about how we can’t hear this and we can’t hear that, wailing over the sounds missing in action, like the almighty “S” in speech or breezes in the bushes. One of the bitterest pills of hearing loss is that even if we use assistive technology and even if we faithfully practice good
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Apr. 27, 2015

What You SHOULD Say to People with Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
Recently several articles on what NOT to say to deaf people have been floating on Facebook.  I understand the writers’ exasperation, having been on the receiving end of many of  the comments. Although I’m no longer insulted by most of them, once in a while I have to grab my chin to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. The inane
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Apr. 21, 2015

The Birth of a Hearing Loss Support Group

Gael Hannan
As a person with hearing loss, my life changed immeasurably for the better when I connected with other people dealing with the same issues.  Through the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association and the Hearing Loss Association of America, I learned how to communicate better and to live more successfully and happily.  Recently, I gave a presentation to the vibrant group of people