Better Hearing Consumer

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Jan. 19, 2015

Getting Caught with Naked Ears

Gael Hannan
Sometimes when people want to communicate with us, we may not be fully functioning, hearing-wise. In the shower, for example, or when we are abruptly awakened from sleep. Or when going down for breakfast at a weekend house party, and realizing you’ve put on all your clothes and all your makeup, but have forgotten the minor detail of your hearing
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Jan. 13, 2015

Breaking My Own Communication Rules

Gael Hannan
Last week, I flew from San Jose, California, to Ottawa, Ontario, a three-flight trip that was scheduled to take 10 hours.  But because of one delayed departure, the journey ultimately included the three flights, an unexpected hotel layover, lost luggage, a few tears and a total of 28 hours.  And if that’s not bad enough, I broke a lot of
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Jan. 05, 2015

How to Make Hearing Aid Popsicles

Gael Hannan
I have a question for those of you who wear things in your ears.  And I don’t mean on your ears like earrings and hats and such, I’m talking in online pharmacy cozaar for sale with best prices today in the USA your ears—hearing aids, specifically. Have you ever put them in when they were cold?  Really, really cold? If
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Dec. 30, 2014

The Shape of Things to Fight For

Gael Hannan
What is the shape of things to come in 2015—what does the year hold for people with hearing loss? Beyond manufacturers introducing their increasingly fantabulous hearing technology, darned if I know.  But shape is an active verb—we have the power to shape and influence new standards for our own lives. When we look forward to the year ahead, we make both resolutions and
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Dec. 22, 2014

Readers’ Choice 2014: Stupid Things to Do with Your Hearing Aids

Gael Hannan
Dear Readers: During this holiday season, the editors at Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are taking some time off. However, we are not leaving you without anything to read on our blog this week. Instead, we are publishing a special holiday edition filled with what we call our Readers’ Choices. HHTM has had more than half a million page
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Dec. 16, 2014

Happy Holidays for HoHs

Gael Hannan
Whoo hoo!  Christmas is almost here—and so are Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the Winter Solstice!  The excitement and sparkle, the food and wine, the gifts, the spirituality, the music!  Activities to share, beauty to both see  and hear…. Sheesh, it was all good until that last point—the bit about hearing. The season is supposed to be one of joy, but for some
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Dec. 09, 2014

Things I Blame My Hearing Aids For

Gael Hannan
My love, or at least my appreciation, for my hearing aids is well-documented.  I’ve written about them, talked and rapped about them—I even wrote a love poem to them.  This is more than I have done for my husband.  (I may have written a rhyming love note or two, but I have never dedicated a rap song to my spouse.)
Dec. 02, 2014

I’m Hard of Freezing!

Gael Hannan
In November 2007, I was invited by the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association—Yellowknife Branch to give a public presentation on hearing loss. The city of Yellowknife sits on the shores of Great Slave Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT), just 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle. On that trip, I landed at 2 pm and by 3 pm, I was
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Nov. 18, 2014

A HoH in the Sun

Gael Hannan
Turning 60 has its benefits. 1954 was clearly a bumper year for babies, including Oprah Winfrey, John Travolta and, more importantly, me and my friends. I don’t know how John and Oprah celebrated their big Six-Oh, but I’m sure they didn’t have as much fun as my group of girls who, born in different months of the year, saved up
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Nov. 10, 2014

Ode to an Aid

Gael Hannan
    You’re lying on my bedside table and before I fall asleep I’m looking at you closely for the first time in a long time I’m thinking about how much, to my surprise, I love you—and why.   Well, it’s not because of your looks. One square inch of plastic and wires, Your color referred to professionally as flesh