Better Hearing Consumer

Recently, on a walk in the woods, I sensed a half-forgotten fragrance. It was the smell of tall cedars, firs and undergrowth warming up after the winter – earthy, sweet, green. I hadn’t smelled it for a long time, and it came with a jolt of pleasure. Over the next couple of days, I experienced similar smells that I felt

  HoH = Hard of Hearing = Person with Hearing Loss = (Or, However You Choose to Identify!) I’m a HoH. I like the term because it’s snappy and takes less time to say than “I’m hard of hearing” or “I’ve got hearing loss”. But I use it only with like-minded people, the ones with hearing loss, because other people (the hearing

A hearing parent hears warning sounds that a hard of hearing parent cannot, leading to some Frightening Mommy Moments. And when my son Joel was small and even when looking directly at me – which was one of his early life lessons – it took work to understand him as his speech developed. (Eventually, as a child of a mother

  “Honey, what’s that sound?” “A bird.” “What kind?” “You’ve got to be kidding. I dunno, one with feathers.” On the hiking trails, spring wildflowers are popping up, and I’m grateful for these silent beauties of nature. Hearing sounds out of doors has always been a challenge for me. Nature has no walls to contain sound and no light switch

The hearing care professionals joke about us, the people with hearing loss, among themselves. (They do, I know they do!) We’re the people who delay doing anything about our hearing loss for years, yet once we’re used to our hearing aids and cochlear implants, we can’t do without them for a moment. Mysteriously dead batteries cause panic. Hearing aids that

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty damn critical about myself. I think everyone is, to a certain extent, but I’ve noticed a pattern where folks with disabilities are more self-critical than folks without any disabilities. It’s almost like we put ourselves up to a higher standard because we don’t meet society’s typical standards. Society doesn’t explicitly say we

Note: “HoH” is a term that some people with hearing loss use occasionally to describe themselves – usually to other HoHs. It’s an acronym for ‘hard of hearing’, a term that ‘hearing people’ (how HoHs describe people without hearing loss) tend to understand. Sort of, sometimes. (Are you still with me?) I’ve had hearing loss my entire life. I became

I once was lost, but now I’m found…. These words of renewal from the old hymn can also describe people who have found a new way to live with their hearing loss, free from the tyranny of stigma and frustration, fear and isolation. And when that happens, they often want to share what they’ve learned by paying it forward. Obviously,

For people with hearing loss, nature is a different experience than for the ‘hearing people’. For us, many outdoor sounds – rustling, whistling, babbling, chirping and whatnot – don’t travel successfully through our auditory system. Traveling with Hearing Loss On a recent hike at the Pinnacles, our favorite California park, the Hearing Husband and I came across a sign that

It’s not a university level course, or even a highly specialized skill. It simply shouldn’t be that difficult for ‘hearing’ people to communicate well with people like me, the ones who have hearing loss. After all, WE have the hard job – trying to hear and understand what people are saying, especially those with less than stellar communication skills –