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
Hearing in Noise: The Holy Grail
In a recent Final Word article by Dennis Van Vliet, called “Technology Bites Back,” Dr. Van Vliet said, “Dealing with the noise problem is the Holy Grail of hearing aid fitting.” “[Hearing aid] technology will not solve our problems. It is a tool that helps us do our job better…If we expect to provide better […]
What? Pardon? Sorry?
Three Times, You’re Out! In a Hearing Strategies class recently, I gave the class some homework. I asked people to observe why and when they wing it (pretend to understand). A week later, when the class re-convened, one of the class members said, “I had no choice. What else could I do? I said […]
Can’t Hear When People Mumble?
Get help from the chameleon effect! Is there a person in your life who talks way too fast? Or mumbles? Or becomes practically inaudible at the end of the sentence? There is a way you can influence them to do otherwise. It’s called the chameleon effect. The chameleon effect is at play when you […]
Do Other Skills Compensate For Hearing Loss?
Is your eyesight more highly developed if you are deaf? Do blind people have a highly developed sense of hearing? Intuitively, most of us know that can’t be true. I know people who are blind that have hearing aids. People with hearing loss wear glasses. My normally-hearing husband can spot bald eagles long before I […]
Paying Attention Leads to Better Hearing
As we get older, there are some key changes in the brain, that make it harder to hear in noise. This is true even for people with normal hearing. LACE training can reverse these changes by changing the brain. How does your brain change? One of the key ingredients to brain change is attention. When […]
Which Ear Do You Use on The Cell Phone?
During a case history, the hearing care professional often asks if the client notices a difference between ears. (It is critical to know if there is a difference in hearing sensitivity between ears before starting a hearing test.) If not, the next question usually is, “Which ear do you use on the phone?” The reasoning […]
Dear 16 year Old Me: What I Would Tell My Younger Self About Hearing Loss
Did you see the YouTube video clip “Dear 16 Year Old Me,” about skin cancer awareness? To date, it has over 10,500,000 views (as of July 2022). It makes people think: What would I tell my younger self? The first thing that comes to mind for me is–don’t worry about being taller than all the […]
I Don’t Have Hearing Aids. Will Auditory Training Help Me?
In a word, yes. In fact, I would argue that auditory training is even more important for you than for someone who has hearing aids. Anyone who has difficulty communicating or listening will benefit from auditory training. As we get older, there are key changes in our brain, that affect our ability to hear in […]
Adjusting to Hearing Loss
Six Things to Consider Hearing loss due to age has a subtle beginning. Day by day, the difference is hardly noticeable. Over a period of years, though, there’s a significant change. How do you adjust? How do people around you adjust? Researchers at the University of Montréal say that you, and the people around […]
Small Improvements Lead to Exceptional Results
Just finished reading The Secret Letters of the Monk who Sold his Ferrari—a reflection on happiness and leading a remarkable life. Sharma talks about small daily progress. He writes, “The truly wise recognize that small daily improvements always lead to exceptional results over time.” This applies to living a remarkable life, but also to living […]