Better Hearing Consumer

Today, I met with a new audiologist for the first time.  Well, she’s not a new audiologist…she’s been practicing for a while.  But she was new to me, and as I took the ferry to Vancouver from Victoria, I was nervous because there was a lot riding on this visit.  “Breaking in” a new hearing health professional can be as

“Would you mind speaking up, I’ve got hearing loss.” When you say this to a stranger, a barista in a coffee bar, for example, there’s a list of standard replies you can expect. (“Wow, that sucks” is not a standard or acceptable answer.) “Pardon? Yuk-yuk.”  Oh, gosh, I’ve never heard that before, thanks for sharing. 99% of the time, this snappy

I have a confession to make. After a lifetime of hearing loss and two years of head noise I still get stressed about it. To be honest, it’s mostly about the tinnitus and hyperacusis.  I look back to the days before head noise, when I was “just” severely hard of hearing and think, “Wow, life was great back then”. I

Hearing loss advocate and loop installation expert, Reverend Mary Dyer, puts up the passionate cry for political meetings that are accessible to those with communication and hearing issues.   By Mary Dyer    It was with mixed feelings that I recently read about a political picnic where a number of the gubernatorial candidates were to meet with constituents to share

I’m hungover. And not from wine – although I did have a glass or two – but from a fabulous overload of people and information.  Several days of chat, discussion and discoveries about my hearing loss issues have left my tired but content. It’s the best hangover I’ve ever had. The 35th conference of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association

I’m a baby who has just been born. That was some tough passage, but hey, I’m here and breathing.  Well, I’m pretty sure I’m breathing, because I’ve been poked, handled and stared at closely. That Apgar thing about my vitals: appearance, do I have a pulse, do I grimace, am I moving and finally, am I breathing.  Yay, I got

One of the good things you can say about hearing loss is its loyalty – it just never leaves you. It sticks by your side, your insides, no matter how much you beg it to give you some “alone time”. It’s hard to get that kind of loyalty these days but, honestly? I could do without the devotion of chronic

Editor’s Note:  If this blog seems familiar, thank you – it means you’re reading weekly!  This post ran last week – but it was incomplete due to technical problems on my part.  I hope you will read it again, or for the first time.   Service, as defined by online dictionaries, with my additions in italics: A valuable action, deed,

There’s a space between a hearing person and me. An expanse that changes shape and size as it Fills with the sounds and meanings of spoken language.   To the hearing people, this space is invisible. They don’t even know it exists, As they converse easily, crisply, back-and-forth.   But the people with hearing loss, we know something different. Noise

Listicle – my new word of the day.   List + article = listicle.  You’re reading one right now – a hearing loss listicle (go ahead, say that tongue-twister out loud) – about  the little sounds we can hear thanks to amplification. Sometimes a simple sound can make me pause, grateful and surprised, “I wouldn’t be able to hear THAT without hearing aids.”  In