This Memorial Day, as we honor veterans with parades and flags and, yes, barbecues, we should remind ourselves of the toll that war takes on hearing. Two and a half million veterans have service-connected hearing disabilities. Tinnitus is the number-one claim for all service related disability, with more than 1.5 million veterans receiving disability benefits … Continue reading The Noise of War
Debunking the Stigma of Age
Whenever I give talks, there’s one Power-Point slide I use that surprises people. That’s because it directly contradicts the notion that hearing loss is something for the elderly. As this graph shows, hearing loss is for all of us, male or female, at any age. The majority of people first realize they have hearing loss … Continue reading Debunking the Stigma of Age
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Not Much of a Joiner?
“I’ve never been much of a joiner.” I was encouraging an acquaintance with hearing loss to come to one of our HLAA Chapter meetings. I told her about our informative programs and guest speakers. I also said the meetings were a chance to meet other people with hearing loss. She agreed to give it a … Continue reading Not Much of a Joiner?
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Learn How to Listen
One of the ways I've learned to hear better with my severe hearing loss is by working with Geoff Plant, of the Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation, just outside of Boston. Over the course of a couple of summers, I would drive to Boston from my house in Western Mass. for a two hour session with Geoff. A … Continue reading Learn How to Listen
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Thank You Dan Rather
Sharing Mary Grace Whalen's recent blog post. via An Open Letter of Thanks to Dan Rather for Bringing Hearing Loss to the Forefront of a Discussion
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What Does a Hearing Aid Cost?
What does a hearing aid cost? At the moment, nobody really knows. We've heard anecdotally about cheaper hearing aids, more places to buy them, non-traditional hearing aids, and unprecedented insurance coverage. Hearing Tracker, HLAA and I put together this survey to see if we could spot some trends. Please fill out this survey so we … Continue reading What Does a Hearing Aid Cost?
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For Better Care for Older Adults, Think Hearing Loss.
Two scholarly papers published this month discussed the impact of hearing loss on patient communication in older adults. Both found that unrecognized hearing loss may have a serious negative impact on health care in the elderly. In the first, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on January 18, researchers Jan Blustein, a professor of … Continue reading For Better Care for Older Adults, Think Hearing Loss.
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Hats, Hoods and Other Hazards to Hearing
Winter is most definitely here and that means taking special care on icy sidewalks and slippery driveways, and keeping those fingers, toes and noses warm. For people with hearing loss, there may be other safety issues. Wearing a hat that covers the ears affects how well you hear. It’s like putting your hands over your … Continue reading Hats, Hoods and Other Hazards to Hearing
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In Rural Areas Where Audiologists are Rare, Telemedicine Can Help
In November, the FDA issued a ruling that will make life easier for cochlear implant recipients living in rural areas. Implant surgery and immediate follow-up for mapping and programming must be done at a medical center or specialized clinic, but the new FDA ruling would allow remote programming for later adjustments. The audiologist and patient … Continue reading In Rural Areas Where Audiologists are Rare, Telemedicine Can Help
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One Step Closer to Prevention of Hereditary Hearing Loss
Almost half of all hearing loss has an underlying genetic cause. Late-onset hearing loss, which occurs after the acquisition of speech, may appear in generation after generation, often progressing to a severe or even profound loss. Or it may skip generations, passing the faulty gene along to unsuspecting offspring. Those affected, even if they were … Continue reading One Step Closer to Prevention of Hereditary Hearing Loss
Katherine Bouton: Smart Hearing 