Healthy Hearing

Back to Basics

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing ,

I sometimes forget how surprised and dismayed people are by the loss of their hearing, how much of a hidden disability it remains. I was reminded of this when I attended a virtual meeting this week of the New York City Chapter of The Hearing Loss Association of America. The speaker was Michael A. Harvey, … Continue reading Back to Basics

Seeing Hearing Loss

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing ,

This week I'm going to refer you to a post by my friend and colleague Shari Eberts: A New Take on the Audiogram Designed by Someone with Hearing Loss. Her post is about Jay Alan Zimmerman's new way of measuring hearing. He calls it the Hearing Visualizer. Jay's idea is brilliant, simple, and emphasizes the … Continue reading Seeing Hearing Loss

“Crip Camp”: When Disability Rights Became Civil Rights

Katherine Bouton Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Healthy Hearing

Last July I wrote about the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law by President George Bush in July 1990. I wrote about how dramatically it changed life for people with disabilities, and how fortunate I felt to be a beneficiary of this act. My post was called What the ADA … Continue reading “Crip Camp”: When Disability Rights Became Civil Rights

The Return of Social Anxiety?

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

Tips for Post-Pandemic Life. On the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization’s declaration of Covid as a pandemic, we are beginning to see the light ahead. Vaccine numbers are soaring, restaurants are offering indoor dining, people are traveling. Pandemic “pods” are expanding to include more than the two or three friends or family that … Continue reading The Return of Social Anxiety?

Defining Disability

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing , ,

Do I have a disability? It depends on when you ask. If I am alone at home with no noise except my breathing and quiet tapping on the computer keyboard, and I’m wearing my hearing aid and cochlear implant, then No, I don’t. Or at least I don’t perceive the disability. If the phone rings … Continue reading Defining Disability

A Question About Sound

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

If a tree falls and I’m not wearing my hearing aids, does it make a sound? One morning last week I was sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee when I noticed something odd out the window. We have a large, old, beautiful and very decrepit barn. From where I was sitting, a tree trunk … Continue reading A Question About Sound

Gratitude

Katherine Bouton Coronavirus, Healthy Hearing, HLAA Webinars, Michael Harvey

I have my curmudgeonly side and I don’t always like being told to see the bright side of things. I enjoy a good wallow in misery. But the misery of the Covid pandemic is sustained and severe. We share funny things to lighten the day – jokes, cartoons, animal videos, kids doing kid things. We … Continue reading Gratitude

Coronavirus Got You Stuck at Home? It’s a Good Time to Improve Your Hearing.

Katherine Bouton #HLAA., auditory rehabilitation, Healthy Hearing

Social Isolation can get awfully boring. Many of us find ourselves with not much to do except anxiously watch TV. Here's a suggestion: make the most of house arrest by tackling one the online auditory rehabilitation programs. Working on hearing better during this period has an added benefit. Since you are probably isolated and not … Continue reading Coronavirus Got You Stuck at Home? It’s a Good Time to Improve Your Hearing.

I Take It All Back!

Katherine Bouton Healthy Hearing

  Well, not all of it. But some of what I said last week -- "Coronavirus Concerns for People with Hearing Loss. It’s not just the disease" -- is already out of date. This is a very fast-moving story.   Resist isolation. Get outside. Take a walk, I said. Wrong. A week later, it's clear that's … Continue reading I Take It All Back!