Better Hearing Consumer

Writing—about hearing loss—is on my mind this week. Here I am surrounded by the fabulous scenery of Newfoundland, as far east in Canada as you can go without falling in the Atlantic, but still, writing is never more than a few seconds away from my mind. Firstly, David Kirkwood, the fabulous and beloved editor of HearingHealthMatters.org (HHTM), has retired after

My guest writer this week is Robin Itzler, a 40-year marketing and communications professional. Robin is a columnist, public speaker and business owner who has a clear vision of her hearing loss identity.   By Robin M. Itzler I have selective hearing, but the truth is that everyone with a hearing loss has selective hearing; it’s just that we’re not

There’s nothing like an intimate gathering of 150 people with hearing loss. A little bit on the noisy side, but that’s what exhilaration sounds like: people—whose sole, mutual goal is to communicate—connecting to and understanding what’s being said, regardless of who’s saying it. I’ve almost completed 72 hours of recovery from the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association’s (CHHA) annual conference,

I am delighted to offer this article from my good friend Teri Wathen, a Hearing Resource Specialist in Houston, Texas. By Teri Wathen online pharmacy https://animalhealthdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/elavil.html no prescription pharmacy   We are a family of HoHs—the insider term for people who are Hard of Hearing. I wear two cochlear implants and my husband Ray wears hearing aids—sometimes. He lost some

It’s difficult to describe. For people who don’t need it, real-time captioning is a very cool thing. Especially seeing it for the first time. It’s awe-inspiring to watch a captioner produce, verbatim, a speaker’s words, often just a hair of a second after each word is said.  “It’s amazing how you do that!” they say.   These same people have

Oh, those people with hearing loss!  Always going on about how we can’t hear this and we can’t hear that, wailing over the sounds missing in action, like the almighty “S” in speech or breezes in the bushes. One of the bitterest pills of hearing loss is that even if we use assistive technology and even if we faithfully practice good

Recently several articles on what NOT to say to deaf people have been floating on Facebook.  I understand the writers’ exasperation, having been on the receiving end of many of  the comments. Although I’m no longer insulted by most of them, once in a while I have to grab my chin to keep my jaw from dropping to the floor. The inane

As a person with hearing loss, my life changed immeasurably for the better when I connected with other people dealing with the same issues.  Through the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association and the Hearing Loss Association of America, I learned how to communicate better and to live more successfully and happily.  Recently, I gave a presentation to the vibrant group of people

If you have hearing loss, you need hearing access.  And if you want hearing access, you have to ask for it. Most people—grocery cashiers, flight attendants and National Park rangers—are not going to look at you, recognize your issue and say, “Here, person with hearing loss, let me make this easier for you.” Systems might be in place and waiting

I’m deaf in the dark. When I say that, people laugh A bit uncertainly at first, And even after they’ve had a moment to think about it They’re still a bit confused Until I explain that, for people with hearing loss, It’s the light that helps us hear. Without illumination, I cannot see the sounds being made And what I