Insights To Living With Hearing Loss

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Hearing loss can impact all aspects of a person's life, from work to social situations and relationships. And, while many people don't know what it's like to live with hearing loss, it's likely that someone you interact with regularly has the condition. Here's what it's like to live with hearing loss, according to people who have it. Please CLICK on the following link: Life With Hearing Loss

Learn about personal preparedness tips for people with disabilities in the event of a disaster. The PSA emphasizes the Ready Campaign’s four building blocks of preparedness - Be Informed, Make a Plan, Build a Kit and Get Involved. Please CLICK on the following link: Personal Disaster Preparedness

Addressing the psychological aspects of hearing loss should be a part of every hearing health prescription. Your doctor or audiologist may recommend a hearing aid, but that is just the beginning. Though often considered a "normal" part of aging, hearing loss does not mean it is easy to accept or endure — the psychological impacts are also critical to address. Please CLICK on the following link: Living Well With Hearing Loss

Reading someone else’s story can be a comforting way to learn and to be inspired for your own hearing loss  journey.  Hearing loss can feel less lonely when we can see someone walking with us in spirit. Please CLICK on the following link: You're Not Alone

There’s a moment in the movie CODA that shocked me – after all these years – with the visceral understanding of how similar and yet how different the experience of deafness is to someone who is culturally Deaf and to someone like me who is functionally deaf and oral. Please CLICK on the following link: Coda

Tree pose requires both stability and ease, concentration and comfort, strength and flexibility. It is a posture of opposites that when skillfully combined, create balance. It teaches us to build a strong and stable foundation upon which we can grow. These are the same skills I use to manage living with a hearing loss every day, but especially during a pandemic. Please CLICK on the following link: Tree Pose And Hearing Loss

Watch our dogs make their own choices in their training and how they interact with our staff. Please CLICK on the following link: Training Hearing Dogs

Service dogs are working partners for people with disabilities. Hearing dogs are specifically trained to support the needs of severely hearing impaired people. They serve as their masters’ ears and provide the added benefit of companionship. Please CLICK on the following link: Canine Companions

Six videos guaranteed to make your day! Sit back and enjoy watching our ridiculously cute hearing dog puppies learn, play and have lots of fun. Please CLICK on the following link: 6 Cute Hearing Dog Videos

Recently I wrote that I would post soon the Consumer's Guide to Hearing Aids statistics on hearing aids currently available with telecoils. After compiling that information I began work on contact information for the various brands so that those who were so inclined could email the companies to either thank them for making telecoils available or register their disappointment at the number of that company's models that did not offer a telecoils option.

My first disappointment in this endeavor was the reduction in the availability of telecoils in HAs and the next one was the difficulty in finding accurate contact information (including a CEO or other top executive) for the companies listed in the 2020 Consumer's Guide to Hearing Aids. These mostly privately owned do not post much management info and some outright refused to give it up over the phone. For some like Rexton even finding a phone number was problematic. News releases etc. on Google were some times several years old so their accuracy was questionable. That being said, I've attached a document with what contact information I was able to compile with no claim to its complete accuracy: Hearing Aid Brands Who's Who

In regard to the telecoils statistics, in 2017 71% of all listed hearing aid models in the Consumer's Guide had (or could be fitted with) telecoils. If completely in the canal hearing aids were taken out of the equation, 83% of the HAs were telecoil capable. Manufacturers or the Guide editors have dramatically reduced the number of models they offer since 2017, going down from 409 to only 303. Because most of the models dropped were telecoil capable devices, the 71% figure noted above for 2017 is now only 58% - a huge disappointment. The most useful statistic now would be that 75% of hearing aids that are capable of containing them have or can be fitted with telecoils.

Attached are the statistics for both 2020 (black, bold face) and 2017 (blue): Statistics On Hearing Aids And Telecoils 2020

Consumer's Guide, for some reason, chooses not to list some purveyors of hearing aids such as Sam's Club, Zounds and MD Hearing Aids or such OYC providers like Otophonics or Audien. Were they included the stats would be even more disappointing as none of those brands are big on t-coils.

The apparent lack of interest on the part of manufacturers for input from the end users of hearing aids is distressing. Maybe we can pique that interest by reaching out to them with requests that they review their policy on telecoils and by thanking those firms who do offer telecoils in all or most of their HAs.

Stephen O. Frazier, Hearing Loss Support Specialist

People with hearing loss have difficulty hearing and understanding speech. Despite significant advances in hearing aids and cochlear implants, these devices are frequently not enough to enable users to hear and understand what is being communicated in different settings. Please CLICK on the following link: Understanding HAT

Our traditional classrooms were shifted to online platforms in early March. Since then life has changed in many ways. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended wearing face masks in public, I’ve learned just how much I actually relied on lip-reading and seeing people’s faces to communicate effectively. However, there’s one aspect I didn’t quite think about: school and the classroom setting. It didn’t cross my mind that when school starts up again, many of us will be back on campus but face masks in school will pose increased challenges for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Please CLICK on the following link: Face Masks In School

Now that school has gone virtual, kids who are deaf and hard of hearing are adjusting to the new classroom. What challenges are they facing, and what are the solutions? Please CLICK on the following link: Challenges And Solutions

Jane Madell, PhD, talks about her experience of running a support group for middle school age children with hearing loss, the insights she gained, and the benefits of such groups for children and their families. Please CLICK on the following link: Support Groups For Children With Hearing Loss

Couples with long term relationships, like Barbara Reese, are affected heavily by the onset of hearing loss, because it involves adjusting to a new relationship dynamic. One spouse can begin making assumptions about the person with hearing loss, assigning them characteristics that seem purposefully angry and judgmental and uncooperative. Please CLICK on the following link: Hearing Loss And Relationship Stress

My recently deceased husband wore hearing aids in both ears. I’m serious when I say they likely saved our marriage. And to be honest, since he lost both of them in the nursing home where he spent his final few weeks, I can’t even be sure he heard me when I told him      that I loved him for the last time. Please CLICK on the following link: Hearing Loss Is The Silent Killer Of Relationships

When first dealing with hearing loss our emotions bounce all over the spectrum.  Yet, we often remain very stoic and do not express what we feel or fear. Please CLICK on the following link: Setting Free Your Hearing Loss Emotions

Communicating with someone with hearing loss takes some work, especially in a group situation like a meal. Here Shari Ebert shares her best practice tips for effective communication with someone with hearing loss. Please CLICK on the following link: When Dinner Is A Disaster

The following testimonial on video originated from Hearing Link (www.hearinglink.org), an organization based in the United Kingdom that serves the hearing loss community in a similar manner as the HLAA does in this country. Please CLICK on the following link: VIDEO

The following testimonial on video originated from Hearing Link (www.hearinglink.org), an organization based in the United Kingdom that  serves the hearing loss community in a similar manner as the HLAA does in this country. Please CLICK on the following link: VIDEO

The following testimonial on video originated from Hearing Link (www.hearinglink.org), an organization based in the United Kingdom that  serves the hearing loss community in a similar manner as the HLAA does in this country. Please CLICK on the following link: VIDEO

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