Author: Gael Hannan

Gael Hannan is a writer, speaker and advocate on hearing loss issues. In addition to her weekly blog for HearingHealthMatters.org, which has an international following, Gael wrote the acclaimed book "The Way I Hear It: A Life with Hearing Loss". She is regularly invited to present her uniquely humorous and insightful work to appreciative audiences around the world. Gael has received many awards for her work, which includes advocacy for a more inclusive society for people with hearing loss. She lives with her husband on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Hearing Fitness-for-Work Protocols

by Mike Metz Compensation for hearing-impaired workers has been sort of on the back burner for many years. Audiologists are occasionally called upon to measure and compute the hearing disability associated with hearing injuries resulting from workplace noise exposure. A potentially larger issue of workplace hearing loss involves “fitness for duty” decisions. Audiologists are…

Why Advocates Like Me Welcome the New Hearing Aid Ruling

December 12, 2016December 13, 2016Gael Hannan 3 Comments FDA / Hearing Aids / OTC hearing aids

by Katherine Bouton People with hearing loss got a bit of a break last week when the US Food and Drug Administration announced that it is considering creating a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids. The aim, it said, would be to encourage “new, innovative, lower-cost products to millions of consumers.” Thirty million Americans…

Metz’s Medicine and Audiology – Part 2

November 22, 2016November 17, 2016Gael Hannan Leave a comment Medicine and audiology / PCAST / PCAST / PSAPs

by Mike Metz Getting back to our roots, James Jerger’s editorial in a recent trade publication (Jerger, J, Audiology Today, Is It Time to Panic? Sep/Oct, 2016), raises some issues that may prove pivotal to the field. And impending changes to the scope and practice of audiology may get some help from a peculiar…

Does Medicine Need Audiology? Part 1

November 14, 2016November 14, 2016Gael Hannan 5 Comments Amyn Amlani PhD / Audiology / ENTs and Audiologists / Hearing tests / Medicine and audiology / Patient care / PCAST / PSAPs

By Mike Metz A friend recently asked me for an audiology referral because he had a unilateral hearing problem along with some other rather vague symptoms. I sent him on but then began thinking of the differences in audiology now versus audiology in years past. Many audiologists work in a medical office setting, overseen by…

Locked Hearing Aid Software — Additional Comments

October 18, 2016October 18, 2016Gael Hannan 3 Comments Audiology / Best practice / Consumer advice / Ethics / Hearing aid fitting / Hearing aid industry / Hearing aid programs / Hearing Aids / Mike Metz

by Mike Metz A short time ago, I wrote a post regarding lack of access to the software of some hearing aids. My comments arose from conversations with other dispensing audiologists. They saw patients that were having problems with hearing aids purchased from large distributors — Big Box stores primarily. Evidently, patients believed that they were…

The Boomers are Coming! Part 2 – Ideas to Think About

October 11, 2016October 11, 2016Gael Hannan Leave a comment Audiology / Practice management / private practice / selling hearing aids / Steve Eagon

by Steve Eagon, MA In part 1 of this two-part series, I mentioned how we’ve all heard about the Baby-Boomers flooding our offices, and the unique challenges they bring. In this article, I’m going to make suggestions based upon what I’ve seen from various hearing care professionals around North America who are addressing these…