Better Hearing Consumer

Featured image for “It’s YOUR Hearing Loss – Own It!”
Jul. 11, 2020

It’s YOUR Hearing Loss – Own It!

Gael Hannan
If someone asked me today who I am, one of my answers would be:  I am a person on a long journey with hearing loss, who is still learning things along the way. And most of what I now know, came after the age of 40. Meeting other people like me for the first time, I started to morph from
Featured image for “Where’s Your Sense of Hearing Loss Humor?”
Jul. 01, 2020

Where’s Your Sense of Hearing Loss Humor?

Gael Hannan
People with hearing loss – are you finding things funny during the pandemic?  I don’t mean the pandemic itself, just things that may not be funny in normal times, or wouldn’t even happen in normal times. But now, in this insane world, some things just tickle us into a smile. For example, what do some people look like when they’re
Featured image for “The (Not-So) Easy Lessons of Hearing Loss”
Jun. 24, 2020

The (Not-So) Easy Lessons of Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
Does any of this seem like you, sometimes? Ever? Always?   It’s EASY to convince ourselves that we’re doing OK with our hearing loss: That we’re catching most of what’s said,  At least the important stuff – the rest’s not really worth listening to And no, we don’t intend to do anything about it Like a hearing aid or cochlear
Featured image for “I Hear What I See: The Mask-Hearing Loss Dilemma”
Jun. 16, 2020

I Hear What I See: The Mask-Hearing Loss Dilemma

Gael Hannan
I met and became friends with Anne Sjökvist on a 2018 trip to Scandinavia, where I was giving presentations. Anne is a passionate advocate and works as the Communication Director of the Swedish association for hard of hearing people, Hörselskadades förening i Stockholm. Here is her story of how a simple walk in the woods put into play the challenges
Featured image for “Yes, I’m Young – Yes, I Have Hearing Loss”
Jun. 10, 2020

Yes, I’m Young – Yes, I Have Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
My guest writer this week is Karina Cotran. Karina lives in Toronto and works in communications at Loblaws. She is the author of Hearing Differently: Growing Up With a Cochlear Implant and blogs on Hearing Differently.    “You have hearing loss? But…you’re not…like…old.” This is a common response that I, a 25 year old, usually get when I tell other
Featured image for “10 Fab Things My Cochlear Implant Tells Me”
Jun. 02, 2020

10 Fab Things My Cochlear Implant Tells Me

Gael Hannan
I’ve had a cochlear implant (CI) for three years and I don’t regret my decision. How could I, when the cochlea it was replacing was only contributing to 2% speech recognition in the right ear? And I’m sure I only got that score because I guessed correctly. (When you’ve been taking hearing tests for as many years as I have,
Featured image for “Could You Use a Hearing Loss Friend?”
May. 27, 2020

Could You Use a Hearing Loss Friend?

Gael Hannan
If you had only 5 minutes to make a difference in the life of a stranger, how would you use it? online pharmacy buy prograf online no prescription pharmacy I asked this question in an article a few years ago and in this insane time of masks and distancing, I’m posing the question again. It’s a chance meeting – perhaps
Featured image for “Reading the Mask: Speechreading Basics”
May. 19, 2020

Reading the Mask: Speechreading Basics

Gael Hannan
I’m as tired of this pandemic as the next person. But if anything good comes out of this, it could be the world’s OMG moment about the difficulty in communicating with masks. This speechreading nightmare is not limited to people with confirmed hearing loss; mask-reading is proving to be a challenge for good-of-hearing people as well. Even the Hearing Husband
Featured image for “Finding the Hearing Tech Stuff You Need”
May. 13, 2020

Finding the Hearing Tech Stuff You Need

Gael Hannan
People with hearing loss today understand that we thrive at the mercy of technology. We are battery-operated people. We need electricity to charge our devices. Technology rules! I’m no tech wiz but I’m OK with the basics – the microwave, for example, although last night I did manage to crack the glass plate, and I know what buttons to push
Featured image for “I Want The Silence That Other People Hear”
May. 06, 2020

I Want The Silence That Other People Hear

Gael Hannan
Tinnitus can be a cruel and constant companion. Some people who have tinnitus (very few, I suspect) have been able to consider their head-sounds as music. If what I hear every second of every day is music, then I want to put another quarter in my head’s jukebox and play something else. And the music I’d pick is silence. When looking