Better Hearing Consumer

Featured image for “Doctor, Ask Me How I’m Hearing”
Sep. 28, 2020

Doctor, Ask Me How I’m Hearing

Gael Hannan
In our healthcare system, who is responsible for flagging hearing problems that could negatively impact a senior’s health and safety? Apparently, it’s the person with the actual hearing loss. My sister and I worried about our father. He was elderly but still had a razor-sharp mind and a killer sense of humor. He was proud, stubborn and fiercely independent. He
Featured image for “My Bonnie: A Hearing Loss Love Story Across the Years”
Sep. 22, 2020

My Bonnie: A Hearing Loss Love Story Across the Years

Gael Hannan
For the first four decades of my life, I was alone with my hearing loss. I didn’t know anyone else who was ‘hard of hearing’ except, when I was young, my 90-odd-years-old great-grandmother, Bonnie. Bonnie’s hearing loss was probably age-related. But back then, I didn’t know or care what caused it; I was only a kid and she could be
Featured image for “Yes, It’s Right to Ask For Our Communication Rights”
Sep. 14, 2020

Yes, It’s Right to Ask For Our Communication Rights

Gael Hannan
I’m scratching my head. Also, a little miffed. Why has it been so hard to get our leaders to include sign language interpretation in daily updates on the pandemic that has upended our world?! I’m Canadian and back in March, I was shocked to see that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s daily updates did not, at first, include sign language interpretation.
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Sep. 07, 2020

‘Reading’ the Eyes Above the Mask

Gael Hannan
We’re doing a lot of eye-reading these days. Eyes and their eyebrows and forehead are all we can see on the face in these days of pandemic. And, as everybody should know by now, that’s a problem for people with hearing loss. Mask-wearing hides our lower faces, leaving only the eyes to help speechreaders decipher what’s being said. The muffled
Featured image for “Only a Person with Hearing Loss Can Tell You This”
Sep. 01, 2020

Only a Person with Hearing Loss Can Tell You This

Gael Hannan
If you have hearing loss, you probably know a lot about it. Most of it you may not like online pharmacy buy lexapro no insurance with best prices today in the USA , but the more information you have about your hearing loss, the better you will deal with it. It helps to know, or at least be aware, of
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Aug. 26, 2020

What They’re Saying About Tinnitus on Facebook

Gael Hannan
I have tinnitus – badly. For five years it has been my constant companion, the one thing that I can count on to be there for me at every moment. But if I manage to forget about it, a Facebook alert that someone is posting about their constant companion, brings mine back to front of mind. My tinnitus – or
Featured image for “Who Cares What We Call Our Hearing Loss?”
Aug. 11, 2020

Who Cares What We Call Our Hearing Loss?

Gael Hannan
I’ve shocked myself. For the first time ever, I’ve told someone that I’m deaf. Deaf – I’ve  never used that term to describe my hearing levels – or lack of.  For the first two thirds of my life, I described myself as hard of hearing. In the most recent third of my life, I use the term hearing loss, as
Featured image for “The Divide Between Being Hearing and Hard Of”
Aug. 05, 2020

The Divide Between Being Hearing and Hard Of

Gael Hannan
In a recent article, “Are Hearing People Finally Getting It?”, I wrote how the pandemic’s use of masks have given hearing people a sharp glimpse into what it might be like to have hearing loss. Specifically – what it means to be dependent on speechreading to understand. The world has been brought face-to-partial-face. While some people are outraged at being
Featured image for “Hearing Loss and COVID-19: The Ultimate Game of Trust”
Jul. 28, 2020

Hearing Loss and COVID-19: The Ultimate Game of Trust

Gael Hannan
  By Bowen Tang   Imagine if you are no longer able to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Interference with any of these senses can shake a person’s confidence in navigating their world. For people with disabilities, this is an every-day reality that has turned into a nightmare with the arrival of COVID-19. The barriers and challenges presented by
Featured image for “Are Hearing People Finally “Getting It”?”
Jul. 21, 2020

Are Hearing People Finally “Getting It”?

Gael Hannan
Who thought that it would come to this?  Who knew that it would take an international health crisis for the light bulb to go on? Not me, I admit. I thought that if hearing health advocates around the world just kept at it with our advocacy, the hearing world would finally ‘get’ what it means to have hearing loss. What