Better Hearing Consumer

“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

If you have hearing loss, there are times you want to cry.  If you’re related to someone with hearing loss, there are times you want to cry. All because of that awful, 11-letter F-word. FRUSTRATION.  Tears may flow from the eyes, sobs escape from the throat, our face becomes a scowling, grumpy mask—how we handle hearing loss frustrations is an

Does a relative’s hearing loss cause challenges in your family?  If so, you’re a member of a very large club. No matter how much love there is, when hearing loss interferes with the easy flow of communication, it’s easy to get irritated, annoyed and tired, over and over and over.  And it’s a shock when hearing aids don’t completely remove the

The news station on TV in the hospital waiting room wasn’t captioned.  I wasn’t terribly interested in the news as I waited for my cochlear implant surgery but still, I felt the familiar emotion:  “Oh for heaven’s sakes, how do they expect people with hearing loss to understand!”  A little bit of access would have improved the experience.  What about

Imagine, people with hearing loss—what will life be like a half century from now?  The technology, the attitudes? I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s still early January of 2017 and this year I’m not even bothering with resolutions. Any I’ve ever managed to stick to, have been achieved purely by accident—like, you lose those five pounds because you had the