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From the chronicles

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Technology Rocks!

People with hearing loss who have ineffective communication strategies (such as pretending to understand) are more likely to be lonely and introverted. This has been proven in adults with profound hearing loss. I’ve often wondered if this also applied to people with milder hearing loss. Then I read an interview with Peter Stelmacovich, an audiologist, […]

Multi-tasking, Listening, and Auditory Training

Are we Digital Dummies? is an eye-opening documentary that points out the very real dangers of multi-tasking. In October, 2009, on a flight from San Diego, two Northwest airline pilots overshot the Minneapolis airport by 240 kilometres. They were on their laptops scheduling their hours as the plane flew past its destination! Passengers and the […]

Sir Winston Churchill Was More Open About Depression Than Hearing Loss

Mr. Chartwell, a book by Rebecca Hunt, was listed on the prestigious Top 100 books by the Globe and Mail for 2011. I picked it for my holiday reading list. Mr. Chartwell is actually the Black Dog, which is how Sir Winston Churchill referred to his depression. In Hunt’s novel, Churchill’s Black Dog is also […]

Musicians Offset The Effects of Aging

It is challenging to have a conversation with noise in the background. For anyone. It is more challenging as we age—even for people with normal hearing. A research study conducted by scientists at Northwestern University asked the following question: do musicians who are older adults have an advantage? Does musical experience offset the effects of […]

Start With Small Changes

Over a third of people over the age of 65 have hearing loss. And yet, 60% of people who need hearing aids don’t get them. Why? The short answer: it’s complicated. The long answer: read the research study. I am struck by a recurring theme of indecision, feeling overwhelmed, and procrastinating. This theme is reflected […]

Diet and Hearing Loss: Is there a Connection?

Can your diet protect you from hearing loss? Good question. It turns out that diet is one of the few modifiable risk factors for age-related hearing loss. The Blue Mountains Hearing Study, conducted in Australia, looked at whether diet can prevent or slow the development of age-related hearing loss. Researchers found that people who had […]