Chronicles of a deaf Audiologist
Rehabilitation beyond hearing aids and cochlear implants: lipreading instruction, brain/auditory training and communication strategies.
Success for Hearing Better
HEARa is dedicated to the idea that people need the right information, at the right times, to be successful with hearing loss. HEARa’s mission is to reach out to adults with hearing loss and say—keep going. Learning about your hearing loss should be a lifelong process.
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From the chronicles
My Hearing Aids Don’t Work So Well Anymore
If your hearing aids worked well for several months or years, and now something has gone wrong, this post is for you. Dr. Bob Martin, audiologist, started off this conversation. He pointed out that the first thing you need to do is find out if the problem is with your hearing aids or if your […]
Be Direct About Hearing Loss
You may have heard of JR Martinez. He joined the army after high school, and at 19 years old, was deployed to Iraq. The Humvee he was driving hit a land mine, and he was trapped inside the burning vehicle. JR suffered severe burns to over a third of his body. JR was in the […]
Why Do I Need Auditory Training?
Hearing aids are a good first step in hearing loss rehabilitation. But hearing aids are not the only step. If you have hearing aids, auditory training is critical to help you meet your potential. If you don’t have hearing aids yet, auditory training is just as important. Auditory training has been described as physical therapy […]
How Does Auditory Training Help?
How does auditory training help? Research has shown that there are three key factors in our ability to understand each other: processing speed, memory, and the presence of distractors. Let’s take a closer look at each one and examine how they impact our ability to understand what’s happening around us. Processing Speed: A key change […]
Lipreading Is A Critical Skill
In 2002, when the Olympics were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, Wayne Gretzsky was the head of the Canadian men’s hockey team, and they won a gold medal. After the game, the crowd went wild, and Wayne and Janet Gretzsky were watching with pleased grins on their faces. I followed a part of their […]
Hear Better at Holiday Gatherings
Holidays can be a difficult time for people who have hearing loss. Social situations with challenging levels of background noise, cocktail party babble, and music in the background can be frustrating. Here are some tips for holiday gatherings: Meeting friends at a restaurant? Seven tips for eating in restaurants may help. Do you forget people’s […]
Train Your Brain to Hear Better in Noise
Your brain is constantly changing. There’s no “off” switch—even when you’re sleeping! Everything that you do in your day-to-day life will affect how the brain changes. The notorious study of London cab drivers found that their intensive on-the-job training resulted in larger-than-average memory centres. Likewise with practicing the guitar or other musical instruments. “Everytime you […]
Hearing Loss: There Are No Universal Truths
Why are we more likely to believe something if it’s in a bold type face? The answer is in the book, Thinking Fast and Slow, by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman. According to Kahneman, there are many common biases that play a role in shaping our view of people and of situations. Another one is the […]
Disclosing Hearing Loss Can Help
In her blog post, Getting Hired, Gael Hannan talks about the importance of disclosing hearing loss in a job interview. This took me back to my university days. I showed up for my first day of work at a summer job, where I would be a chambermaid at a Bed and Breakfast. A main appeal […]
Are Restaurants Way Too Loud?
A friend of mine recently came back from Vegas—with a sore throat. The cause? Having to talk over the loud music in a bar, for several nights running. The New York Times published an article about the trend for bars, restaurants, health clubs, and even shops to play loud music. Why do they do this? […]