Better Hearing Consumer

Featured image for “Why I Won’t Be Taking the Bird Box Challenge”
Jan. 08, 2019

Why I Won’t Be Taking the Bird Box Challenge

Gael Hannan
We finally watched Bird Box, the new Netflix mega hit, because our son talked us into it, and Sandra Bullock has never disappointed us. It gave me the willies. Not a Spoiler Alert! Anyone who has even heard of this movie, or seen photographs and trailers filling up social media, knows that Sandra Bullock’s standout article of clothing is a
Featured image for “Best-Ever Post: The 2 Most Painful Words to Hard of Hearing People”
Dec. 26, 2018

Best-Ever Post: The 2 Most Painful Words to Hard of Hearing People

Gael Hannan
I’m taking a bit of a writing break during the holidays, but I want to share with you the most-read, most widely-distributed article ever on the Better Hearing Consumer. Lauren Sherwood has since  graduated and pursuing a career in communications but her words still ring true and still hit hard since its in initial publication over four years ago.  Enjoy!  
Featured image for “Finding the Silence of the Season”
Dec. 18, 2018

Finding the Silence of the Season

Gael Hannan
“When I get home at night, the first thing I do is whip off my hearing aid and relax.” I was a little shocked at my friend’s comment. Another friend also takes off her cochlear implant sound processor at times during the day just to get the same noise-free peace. I fought hard for the sounds that I now hear
Featured image for “Santa – Can You HEAR Me?!”
Dec. 12, 2018

Santa – Can You HEAR Me?!

Gael Hannan
Dear Santa, OK, Claus, this is IT! buy vibramycin online vibramycin online generic Year after year I write you, asking nicely for stuff, mostly hearing loss-related. And it’s like I’m writing to someone who’s not real! Have you been taking my gifts to someone else by mistake? I mean, how many people with profound hearing loss named Gael Hannan ARE
Featured image for “The Tests of Tinnitus”
Dec. 05, 2018

The Tests of Tinnitus

Gael Hannan
When I tell someone that I have severe tinnitus, a frequent response I get is clearly intended to commiserate, to make me feel better. “Oh yeah, I have that too. A little dinging bell that never stops dinging – it drives me crazy.” A little dinging bell? I would love to have just a little dinging bell, but I don’t
Featured image for “The Amazingness of Hearing Loss”
Nov. 27, 2018

The Amazingness of Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
A human being is an amazing creature, capable of amazing things: we can think, talk, see, hear, feel pleasure and pain, show compassion, move forwards-backwards-sideways and, as the advertisements say, so much, much more. Perfect people would operate flawlessly on this scale of amazingness – but do such people really exist? Surely even the most perfect, got-it-all person has something
Featured image for “How CAN We Reduce Hearing Test Anxiety?”
Nov. 19, 2018

How CAN We Reduce Hearing Test Anxiety?

Gael Hannan
Last week, in my article “Why I Dread My Annual Hearing Test”, I wrote about how hearing evaluations make us anxious even if – or especially if – we’ve had them before. Comments from readers ranged from “yeah, I don’t like them either” to this: “I can’t tell you how much I HATE hearing tests! I live daily knowing just
Featured image for “Why I Dread My Annual Hearing Test”
Nov. 12, 2018

Why I Dread My Annual Hearing Test

Gael Hannan
This week, I’m scheduled for a hearing checkup and I am not particularly looking forward to it. Lekharna-Prague.com Odd, isn’t it, that a person with lifelong hearing loss and who’s had upward of 60 annual checkups can still feel uneasy at the thought of it? It’s not that I don’t like the audiologists who conduct the tests. Far from it,
Featured image for “The Best Time to Have Hearing Loss”
Nov. 07, 2018

The Best Time to Have Hearing Loss

Gael Hannan
Do you suspect you might have hearing loss? Has hearing loss recently been positively, absolutely confirmed? Have you lived with it for some time? Whatever stage of the hearing loss journey you’re at, chances are you’ve hurled these questions at the universe: Why me? What happened? Why now?  These questions are easy to ask, but the answers aren’t always easy
Featured image for “The Cochlea Curl – A Symbol for Life”
Oct. 30, 2018

The Cochlea Curl – A Symbol for Life

Gael Hannan
Sometimes, when my wandering gaze passes over my right forearm, I give a start. “Oh right,” says I. “I have a cochlea tattoo.” I take a few seconds to admire and reflect on the small symbol and then move on. The inky rendering on my arm is actually that of a koru, a Māori symbol for “life, growth, strength and