Author: Katherine Bouton

Tools for the Workplace

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing , , , , ,

Even the smallest meeting can pose challenges. There’s been a revolution in hearing technology over the past decade. A recent presentation on hearing loss in the workplace at our HLAA Chapter reminded me how far we’ve come. What a difference these tech advances would have made in my own workplace experience. Whether you work at … Continue reading Tools for the Workplace

Treat the Patient, Not the Audiogram

Katherine Bouton Audiology , ,

In an effort to provide better hearing health-care, the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a three-day meeting recently. The academy had appointed a committee of 14 hearing professionals, and invited a panel of six patients to testify about their own experiences. Your audiologist is your most important partner in hearing healthcare. … Continue reading Treat the Patient, Not the Audiogram

Do You Have a Hearing Partner?

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing , , , ,

The term “hearing partner” is often used in the context of aural rehabilitation. Your hearing partner is a spouse or someone close to you who will be part of the process of adjusting to a new hearing aid or cochlear implant. They might go through a course of regular listening exercises with you to help … Continue reading Do You Have a Hearing Partner?

A Poignant Memoir of Hearing Loss and Music

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

John Cotter’s memoir “Losing Music” is full of unanswered questions. The cause of his loss may be Meniere’s disease, but no one really understands Meniere’s and he may not have it. His disabling vertigo may be related to migraine, or it may not be. His tinnitus drives him crazy, then goes away, and inevitably returns. … Continue reading A Poignant Memoir of Hearing Loss and Music

The Golden Bachelor and His Hearing Aids

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

Can the hugely popular TV show “The Golden Bachelor” make hearing aids cool? When the spinoff of ABC’s “The Bachelor” premiered on September 28, the audience saw Gerry Turner, 72, a handsome widower from Indiana, getting ready for his big night, putting on his tuxedo – and his hearing aids. In an interview with USA … Continue reading The Golden Bachelor and His Hearing Aids

Cochlear Implants Then and Now

Katherine Bouton Cochlear Implants, Healthy Hearing

I’ve had a cochlear implant since 2009. If you’ve read about my initial experience with the implant (in my book "Shouting Won’t Help" and elsewhere), forget everything I said (about cochlear implants... I stand by the rest of it). It’s a whole new world out there. The October meeting of the New York City Chapter … Continue reading Cochlear Implants Then and Now

Excellent, Positive Article on Hearing Loss!

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

Thanks to reporter Neelam Bohra and The New York Times for this informative and upbeat article on hearing loss. "Hearing Aids are Changing. Their Users are Too." Zina Jawadi, pictured, is on HLAA's National Board of Directors. Let's spread this far and wide. If you can't read the article because it's behind a paywall, put … Continue reading Excellent, Positive Article on Hearing Loss!

Making Art Accessible to All

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

A reader of my previous post pointed out that the Times paywall makes the article itself inaccessible to many. Here it is, copied and pasted. Please go back to the previous post for the challenges I faced, as a person with a disability, in reporting it. Visiting a museum is still a challenge for someone … Continue reading Making Art Accessible to All

Making Art Accessible for All

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

One of the most interesting parts of my role in New York’s hearing-loss community is interacting with the larger disability community. Through committees like the MTA’s Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility (ACTA), I see first-hand the obstacles that people with other disabilities face. When The New York Times asked me to write about how New … Continue reading Making Art Accessible for All

Talking About It

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

I've been open about my hearing loss ever since my first book was published 10 years ago. "Shouting Won't Help: Why I and 50 Million Other Americans Can't Hear You" was a memoir and it announced my theretofore secret hearing loss to the world. Years of shame and denial didn't disappear in an instant. It … Continue reading Talking About It