Last week, I introduced the topic of self-esteem and hearing loss. One of the reasons why it’s difficult to maintain a sense of self-esteem with hearing loss is that this invisible condition is so often misunderstood. People see the behaviors of a person with hearing loss and erroneously guess that the person is senile, snobbish, or inattentive.... Read More
Are you hard of hearing and comfortable about it? If you’re embarrassed rather than comfortable, you’re not alone. For the most part, people who are hard of hearing see their hearing loss as a sign of aging and reduced mental functioning and choose to keep it invisible. But silence and invisibility go hand in hand with powerlessness.... Read More
Someone asked the question “What is the greatest sacrifice that comes with having a hearing loss?” People flooded the hard-of-hearing message board with various answers such as “Not getting the promotion” or “Feeling misunderstood.” Finally, a grandfather wrote, “Missing what my granddaughters are saying.”... Read More
Mary, my neighbor, has a hearing loss. While we waited for our steaks to grill, we sat on the deck and talked about the problems of hearing on the phone. Mary says that her father had his vintage jazz recordings restored to their original clarity using modern signal processing technology. This technology removed the crackle and hiss from the music and bought it back to its original clarity. She wonders why this technology can’t be used to make phone conversations clearer.... Read More
When my husband and I lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, we often entertained out-of-state family members by taking them to a centuries-old Acoma Indian village located about 40 miles west of Albuquerque.... Read More
Sit back, relax and pretend for a minute that you’ve lost most of your hearing. Now imagine that you have to participate in a telephone interview for a job you desperately need and want. Imagine struggling to understand the interviewer’s garbled, distant voice. Within minutes you realize that all is lost – not because you aren’t highly qualified, but because you can’t hear the interviewer.... Read More
Difficulty communicating over the telephone is the leading reason people with hearing loss leave a job. They quit, take early retirement or are fired. Here is a question from someone who wants to know how she can hear more clearly on the office phone:... Read More
For most people, watching TV is a pleasure. You’d have to pry the remotes out of their cold, dead, popcorn-flavored hands before they’d give them up. Yet, it’s different for people with hearing loss; trying to follow TV dialog is fatiguing rather than fun. Eventually, they give up this relaxing past time.... Read More
Years ago, my dad lay dying. His voice was so faint that it was difficult to hear. We purchased a small bell so that he could ring it if he needed us. During the night, I worried that my mom and I might not hear the high frequency tinkle-tinkle sound of the bell. During the day, I felt exhausted because of the nighttime vigil.... Read More
Hearing Loss Issues, hearing aids | admin | 
June 5, 2009 8:04 am | 
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