Better Hearing Consumer

When hearing problems start, so does the advice. The first suggestion is usually, “You should get your hearing checked.” But to be honest, when loved ones first start lobbing that advice, most people don’t immediately jump in the car and drive madly to the hearing clinic. And they probably won’t mention a possible hearing problem to their family doctor, either—who should

I don’t know about this “hearing better” thing. Do I really want to hear a nose whistling and stomach gurgling…and I’m talking about my own! The same sounds from someone else are a bit, uh, distasteful and shocking to a person with hearing loss with powerful new technology who has never heard them before.  Taking the next step in hearing improvement

On social media, it’s sometimes tough to tell the difference between clickbait and real posts. Clickbait are the teasing posts that tempt us to click—and then immediately regret it. She opened her front door, and what happened next—I couldn’t stop laughing! Clickbait also secretly gathers information by urging us to reply. “Type yes and share if you agree” or “Can I

How’s my life going with a cochlear implant (CI)? Well, for starters—although I can’t speak for other recipients—it’s a lot LOUDER. All sounds are louder: the ones that I recognize as well as new ones that, without any visual clues, I need help in identifying. Luckily, there are trained people standing by for this job. For years, my family, friends

“Changing Cochleas” is a 7-part series about my hearing journey with a cochlear implant. CI organizations produce the technology and also play an important role in helping recipients successfully adjust to a new way of hearing. So, in writing about my CI experience, I also write about the brand I chose, Cochlear. I know many people who have happily and successfully

A group of geese is called a ‘gaggle’ and cows form a ‘herd’. So what do we call a group of cochlear implant users?  A “cockle”? A “CI-heard”? I don’t know, either, but recently I attended a very large gathering of electrically-operated people who, like me, have electrodes inside their heads and processors on top of them. And every single

I’ve got news for myself—I’m bimodal.  Until recently, I didn’t know that bimodal was a thing. For the last two thirds of my life I’ve been a hearing aid user (20 years unilaterally and 20 years bilaterally). Now I’m a cochlear implant recipient, and the right side hearing aid is history.  (Are you with me so far?)   I’ve written

On January 12, 2017, I received my cochlear implant (CI) at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.  This article is the third in a series, “Changing Cochleas”, in which I share this new segment in my lifelong pursuit of better communication. (Read Part 1 and Part 2.) As a writer about hearing loss, the brand of my hearing aids has

The Big Day—Before, During and After   Are you one of those people who never looks back, who never second guesses a decision?  Well, I’m not. In the 14 months between saying let’s do it and actually having my cochlear implant, I did not regret my decision. But when people asked me if I was excited about the cochlear implant,

It was time. On January 12, 2017, I received my cochlear implant (CI) at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. This was a huge step—one I had never expected to take in my lifelong pursuit of better communication.   This article is the first in a series called “Changing Cochleas”. The series starts with my decision to have a cochlear