Making Guided Meditation More Accessible for People with Hearing Loss

Welcome to This Week in Hearing. I’m Shari Eberts. Do you meditate? Sometimes. People with hearing loss find it challenging, especially if the meditation is guided, meaning that we must follow along while someone is speaking and if we close our eyes, we might miss the meaning. And while Bluetooth connections allow for some guided meditations to broadcast directly into our devices, this might not be relaxing for some people. So recently I discovered a new option, a guided meditation that was created specifically for people with hearing loss. And I really enjoyed it. And today we are talking to Janaki Zaremba, the creator of this meditation. So thank you so much for being here. Yeah, thank you for having me. Thank you so much, Shari. Absolutely. So maybe we can talk just a little bit about what inspired you to create this meditation for people with hearing loss. Yeah, so I have hearing loss myself since early childhood. Like on the low, low frequency is all right, but then in the middle frequencies, kind of mild to moderate hearing loss. And then in the higher frequencies, getting that. And so I have been meditating also from a young age. My parents taught me meditation and I especially looking back, I feel meditation has helped me a lot. Dealing with the stress, emotional stress that can come with hearing loss. Like the feeling of. Yeah, feeling kind of behind because I, when I grew up, I was the only person with hearing loss I knew. I did not know anyone else and so felt sort of alone with that and, and it was hard for me to kind of fit in. And so, so dealing with that emotional load, the insecurity. But then also there’s like when we have hearing loss, it takes extra energy to follow conversation and that can tire us out. And so the meditation I feel, has helped me a lot in navigating all this to become more resilient. Yeah just find like a reset at the end of the day or in the morning. But just in general, I feel like meditation, the benefits are accumulative. So so yeah, it has helped me a lot, lot. That’s wonderful. And I want to make this accessible. So while I, I, I personally can still follow, like my hearing is just still good enough to be able to follow along meditation audios, for example. But but, but not always actually. And so I want to make meditation accessible for people with hearing loss. That is bad enough to not be able to follow along, just audio guided meditations. So yeah, that’s the inspiration. Absolutely. That’s a wonderful inspiration. And I agree with you. I think meditation is such an important tool for people with Hearing loss to deal with a lot of just the frustration sometimes and the stress that could come along with hearing loss. And I know it’s also helped me to manage my tinnitus, I think, by just giving me an outlet in terms of a way to calm myself down and to refocus my brain on my breath rather than the sound. And I know that meditation can work in that respect as well. So how did you get into meditation? Is that something that you just learned in school, or how did you, you know, find your way to meditating? No, well, actually my parents as I mentioned, they. They taught me meditation, and they were interested themselves in meditation. And so. So somehow something just clicked for me. I have two other siblings. I also tried to teach them meditation and somehow didn’t click. But for me, for me, some, I think, because I really needed it, you know, I noticed, like, wow, this is really, you know, helping me. Because also my other two, my two sisters, they. They don’t have hearing issues. It has changed over time. I. I have explored many different kinds of meditation, have learned from many different teachers over the years, you know, in. In India, in Thailand, in different monasteries. Yeah, that’s wonderful. Do you have a certain type of meditation that’s your favorite? Yeah, basically it’s Yeah, mindfulness meditation. Because that is also something that we do. We can do off the meditation question. You know, I value a lot your formal meditation seated, you know, and all the focus is only on the meditation. But there’s also such a beauty in bringing a sense of awareness in everything we do. This mindfulness, it’s. I feel there’s a great power in it, too. Yeah. No absolutely. So, as I talked about, we both talked about a little bit. It’s. It can be hard for people with hearing loss to follow a guided meditation. Right. Only with the audio cues. So can you talk a little bit more about how you tailored your meditation to make it accessible for people? Yeah, so the number one thing is to have extra large captions centered in the YouTube video and that are, you know, just easy to follow along. The background is very soothing. It’s like nature background. So it’s. It’s very easy to follow the captions while also taking in the sense of calm and peaceful. Because, of course, you know, many people think meditation needs to be with closed eyes. And it definitely has its benefits. But there is a way you can definitely benefit greatly from a meditation with open eyes when. When you, like, have a softer gaze and when your awareness, while you’re reading the captions aware. The awareness is still going inward. And so, yeah, so the, the YouTube meditations are designed. I think the main thing are the captions. There’s also other things I want to add in the future, but that would be outside of YouTube. And I think we will talk about that also in a moment. Its you know, for example, creating an app where there’s haptic cues. Haptic. Or, you know it’s like like a vibrational cue. So it’s like the buzzing of the phone. So for example, then I could get some guidance with captions or also audio. Well, like a combination sometimes is really helpful too. And then there will be a pause, there will be a moment of silence, and then I can invite everyone to close their eyes and then they have the cue. The buzzing of the phone, for example, would then be a cue to open the eyes again. So now, you know, I can give some more meditation guidance. So that’s something I, I’m looking into developing as well. I love that idea. And, and I love that in this meditation you give people permission to keep their eyes open. Because a lot of times, like you said, people expect, well, I’m going to meditate now. I’m going to need to close my eyes. And that can be very stressful for people who use their eyes. Right. We all use our vision and visual cues to communicate. And are we going to miss something when our eyes are closed? And so I love how this meditation invites you to keep your eyes open. And because the captions are there and so large, you know, that you’re able to see them and you’re supposed to be seeing them. So it really, I think, just takes that stress to level down about meditating and really invites you to be a part of it in the way that you can. So that was one of my favorite pieces of it as well. And I wanted to add one more thing about what I did to make the meditation more accessible. Like, for example, in mindfulness, we also bring the awareness to our senses sometimes. Or actually I, I’m doing that too, but I’m intentionally not bringing the awareness to the sounds, you know, because that is in some cases just not, not really a thing to do. And so that’s just another thing I wanted to point out that’s just like, that’s kept in mind. But yeah you know, it’s very seamless. Like, if you like, I designed the meditation so anyone can participate, you know, because there’s also beauty in meditating together. So like, like a hearing person and the person with hearing loss can meditate together at the same time. I love that. Yeah, because I, I think that’s very good point. I remember a lot of times in meditations, maybe at the end of a yoga class and they’ll say so listen to the sounds that are around you in the room and then listen to the sounds a little farther away. And I’m like, yeah, good luck with that. So this doesn’t give that, that, that sort of dialogue and you know, I just sort of let it roll off me when that happens and just, you know, you do what you can do. But I love that this is really tailored to people. So they don’t have to worry about that type of feeling. No. Yeah. So what’s the reaction been so far to the meditation. What’s the feedback then? Yes, very good. I’m. I’m very happy to hear that there’s people really appreciating the meditation specifically tailored for hearing loss, for people with hearing loss. And. Yeah, so you, you published a blog post about it recently and yeah, that was a very good reaction. Very good feedback. Very encouraging to keep going in that direction. Well, that’s wonderful. That’s wonderful. So are there more meditations that you’re planning, you know, what’s sort of next for this? Yeah, yeah, so definitely more meditations like the one that was published on YouTube. Some You know, like, I’m planning on putting out meditations for, you know, de stressing after a long day of work or, or which you can turn on before you want to go to sleep, you know, for like just calming down the nervous system You know, the. There’s so many beautiful meditate, like different focuses you can have for a meditation. And I would love to address them all always with the hearing loss and mind. And then I also would like to do certain meditations that, you know, just like just something with the ears, you know, like just bringing awareness to the ears maybe, you know, just some appreciation for the ears, just having like, sort of an internal dialogue with our ears. And yeah, we have a very unique relationship with our ears. We do, yeah. And yeah, so things like that. And then that’s for YouTube. But I also would love to offer live meditations because now with AI, it’s making it possible. The live captioning is possible in Zoom, and I would love to see how that would feel to the hearing loss community if that would be of interest. Because I personally believe there’s a power in coming together live like as a group and meditate together. There’s like, yeah, there’s just something special in the air, I feel. And also there’s more of a. I feel when we show up for a group meditation, there’s more accountability so we are not like distracted. Oh, you’re meditating and the phone is ringing. Someone friend is sending a message and you’re like, oh, let me check. Doing a group meditation, that’s less likely to happen, you know. And so, yeah, especially when you start out with meditation, like this group dynamic can be very helpful and they can be also like some questions that can be answered. And yeah, the live captioning makes it all much easier. And so that’s. That’s the life of meditation. And I would, if you are interested, would love to collaborate with you. Let’s see what wants to happen there, you know. And and then, and then I’m also developing an app or you know as I briefly mentioned earlier, that has these haptic cues. Because that I feel is also really powerful to, you know, to, to bring the meditations to the next level where you, you have the option like, you know, we all have preferences. Some are really enjoy just kind of with a gentle gaze, read the captions and others actually prefer to close their eyes. And so that, that would be made possible with the haptic cues. Yeah Or even a combination of the two. Right. So that part of it would be captioned and then. Yeah, maybe there’s a period of time where you say okay. And I think you mentioned we can close our eyes now for a brief period and people don’t have to worry when they need to open their eyes. Are they going to miss that verbal key? Right. Because they would have the vibration that would let them know. I feel like it could also be used for your breathing. Right. So like you would inhale and then you could have some sort of cue to let you know, to exhale. So there’s so many creative things that can be done with the with the haptics. So that’s cool. Yeah, yeah, totally. Right? Yeah. So what do you suggest for people who are just intimidated by meditation in general? Right. I, you know, I can’t turn my brain off or I can’t sit still like that. What are your suggestions for people who are looking to get started with meditation? Yeah, good question. So my suggestion is yeah, to start small, you know, like, but, but keep like start small and regular, like just a few minutes every day. Because what I’m also noticing meditation, it has an accumulative effect. So to also not have high expectations, like to meditate and expect immediately, you know, you are transformed or something, you know, of course, no, the transformation will happen more gradual and over time. And so it’s just, it’s about showing up every day. And the cool thing about meditation, you know, some have like a funny idea of meditation that like that the end, you know, that you have to be, have a quiet mind and then you’re doing it right. You know, and while, yeah, that is one of the things we, we are after, you know, we want to have a quiet mind. But the key is full acceptance, mindfulness, just completely accepting what is right now happening. I have a busy mind. Okay. Keep bringing the awareness back to the breathing. All right. The next thought you know, pulled me somewhere else. The moment I realize it and notice it, I bring the awareness back to breathing. And it’s not a battle or anything. It’s just like a gentle bringing it back, gentle coming back. And and the repeated gentle effort every day is definitely making a big difference. And and many also important to mention, sometimes people might not immediately notice it within themselves. Like, I don’t know if this actually works for me. I’m doing this. But maybe it’s just a waste of time. But like, just subtle changes that come first is like more of a resilience, emotional resilience. You know, there was a stressful situation at work and we didn’t react as strongly as we used to. You know, things like that. So over time, we become more relaxed, you know, just more peaceful. And Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. And then also, what I, what I mentioned earlier, I feel good. Meditation or meditating with someone who has been meditating for a while can be really helpful. That has helped me a lot too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think for myself, I just try and like, forgive myself a little bit too. So if you’re trying to meditate and maybe one day it just doesn’t feel like it’s working to just sort of focus on bringing yourself back to that process. Right. And say, like, that is the meditation. I am actually meditating because I am bringing it back the best that I can in this moment to the end, to the present moment. But it’s never going to be perfect. And so we can forgive ourselves that we’re not perfect at meditating. There’s no such thing as perfection for meditating. Absolutely. Yeah, you’re right. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So how can people stay in touch with you and learn more about your work and the meditations as they come out? Yeah, yeah. So right now the best way to stay in touches on Instagram and YouTube. So YouTube is where I’m going to post the meditations. And Instagram is a place where I would be announcing new releases, announced. I would announce there’s a life meditation happening. You know, anything, you know, any update would, would be announced there. Yeah. So the, the handle is @janakimayazaremba for both channels for YouTube and for Instagram for both platforms. Wonderful. Awesome. All right, well, thank you so much for being with us. Any final thoughts that you want to share for our listeners? Yeah I, I can’t, like, say enough how much meditation has helped me and my life, and I wish the same benefits for anyone you know, who’s interested in also learning meditation. And it’s Yeah, it’s. It’s my purpose, and I’m so happy to share this with others, you know, anyone who’s interested. So I’m looking forward to connect. And then also, if any of the ideas around the light meditation with the live captioning and and the app idea with the haptic cues, I would love to hear, actually, from anyone watching this video. I would love to hear what you think about it. So, you know, if you would love. If you would like to use such a tool or such an app or. Yeah. Or if you have any thoughts you would like to share about it, I would really appreciate it. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much again for being on the podcast, sharing your expertise and your mission, and I wish you lots of continued success. I’m very excited to see what comes next. So thanks so much. Thank you so much, Shari, for organizing this interview.