Better Hearing Consumer

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
Featured image for “The Outrageous Realities of Hearing Loss”
Apr. 29, 2020

The Outrageous Realities of Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
A few years ago, I wrote The Shocking Truths About Hearing Loss. I decided to revisit it and to see if these ‘truths’ still have the power to shock – even me, a lifelong bearer of hearing loss. They do. But they also bring gifts. Hearing loss is one of those ‘forever things’. It reveals itself to you every day,
Featured image for “Did You Love Your First Hearing Aids?”
Apr. 21, 2020

Did You Love Your First Hearing Aids?

Gael Hannan
“I can hear better than when I could hear!” My friend Alex messaged me yesterday with the news; he had finally succumbed to the reality of his hearing loss and got hearing aids. I understood what he meant – he was amazed at how clearly he could hear. I’m not sure what degree of hearing loss Alex has or what he
Featured image for “You Know What They Say About Hearing Loss: Wisdom from the Weary-Eared”
Apr. 14, 2020

You Know What They Say About Hearing Loss: Wisdom from the Weary-Eared

Gael Hannan
Until humans can grow another set of lips at the back of their heads, you need to face me when you talk to me. I’m always one dead battery away from hysterics. No number of fresh batteries will make a hearing aid work, if its wax guard is filled to overflowing, We can lipread only when your lips actually move
Featured image for “Me vs. The Mask: A Pandemic Hearing Problem”
Apr. 07, 2020

Me vs. The Mask: A Pandemic Hearing Problem

Gael Hannan
As we crawl our way through this global pandemic, I understand the need for masks. But that doesn’t mean I have to like them.  People with hearing loss are not good at masked communication because it cuts off the vital information we get from lipreading. Before the pandemic, my suffering was limited to trying to understand a mask-wearing aesthetician giving
Featured image for “When There’s No One to Say “Pardon” To”
Mar. 31, 2020

When There’s No One to Say “Pardon” To

Gael Hannan
 “Socially distant and Spiritually Connected.” I heard this attributed to Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of New York State whom I’ve decided will be my husband in my next life, but it doesn’t matter who said it first. online pharmacy buy imodium online with best prices today in the USA They are words to accept, right now, to help us through