Better Hearing Consumer

If you have hearing loss, do you wish that your partner did, as well?  Communication would still have its challenges, but at least the frustration wouldn’t include “you don’t understand what I’m going through”. It would be more like, “if you can’t hear me through walls, what makes you think I can?”   I’m in a mixed marriage myself; my husband is

Jerry Russell is an online friend in the community of people with hearing loss who share their common challenges, frustrations, and words of encouragement.  Jerry tells his story of when hearing loss is a family affair.   I’m rehearsing in my head what I’m about to say to my dad as I approach him. He’s sitting in his favorite chair

“…keep going.” I came across this delicious bit of inspiration on a particularly bad day: tinnitus and hyperacusis were battling for supremacy inside my cranium.  It was hard not to focus on the hellish noise, but these words caught my attention. They even made me smile, because they reflected exactly how I felt at that moment—hellish. And ka-ching! Suddenly my

I’m taking a short break this week.  But before I go: last week, I re-posted the first blog in a two-parter about navigating the health system.  Last week’s was about waiting to see the doctor.  This week’s follow up, first published November 1, 2011, is what happens when your name is finally called.    Having escaped from the waiting room

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. I plowed through the delights of turkey, stuffing, veggies and pie, just two days after a visit to the dentist. His advice to “enjoy your feast, but chew very carefully”, made me nervous eating anything thicker than gravy.  And since it was a holiday, I decided to repost an article, slightly updated, but which still  resonates today: navigating

Note: I first posted this article five years ago to the day. I’ve made only a few minor changes, but the info is the same and even more important today because, presumably, there are now a lot more people with hearing loss. That means there are a lot more people who need to know how to talk with ‘us’: family members, friends, law enforcement

In the hearing loss world that I live in, there are HoHs and there are Pros: HoH: Refers to a person who has hearing loss and who may also identify as hard of hearing, hearing-impaired, or hearing aid/cochlear implant user. (This term does not refer to all those affected by a person’s hearing loss, such as the moms and dads, life

    This fall, I’m honoured to be featured in the Hearing Loss Association of America‘s magazine ‘Hearing Loss’.  HLAA has given me permission to share the article here. It’s a bit longer than my usual blogs, so feel free to stop reading if you get bored, or to read it in ‘bits’.  And it’s really not that long…   Keep

   By Kathi Mestayer   Last week, Apple unveiled their new iPhone 7  in their usual product development process.  First come the rumors, then the second wave of rumors, then the unveiling, then the buzzfest, until, finally, it arrives in the stores.  I went to a Verizon store last week, and they told me it would be this Saturday, September

  Sometimes I moan and groan about my hearing aids, but every once in a while I see them as they are: little technical gifts that take me from hearing almost nothing to being able to perceive the sounds of the world. Not perfectly, but well enough to be grateful.   A couple of years ago, I wrote “Ode to