I cannot tell you how many times in my 32 years people have asked me, “What is it like to have parents who are deaf?” My answer has always been the same, regardless of who is asking or how old I am, “What is it like to have hearing parents?”
Family and Friends Don't Understand Your Hearing Challenges?
If, like me, you have a hearing loss, you know what your hearing challenges are. But what about your friends and family? Do they have challenges communicating with you? I bet the answer is yes. Why wouldn’t they? Hearing loss is a communication disorder that affects all the people in our lives.
How I Cope When They Can't See That I (Sometimes) Can't Hear
I said, “I have a hearing problem. I couldn’t catch what you said. Please can you look this way and repeat that?” It’s amazing how this combination inspires an appropriate and thoughtful response. I almost always find people are pleased to accommodate the differently abled, once you’ve given them the information they need.
Play a Game of Catch This Thanksgiving (for Good Communication)
Successful communication can be compared to playing a game of catch. In a communication exchange there is a sender of the message (the speaker) and a receiver of the message (the listener). In a game of catch, there is a thrower and a catcher. Both the thrower and the catcher are required to work together to make the game thrive.
It Goes Both Ways
I’m always thinking about how hard it is for me not to hear him, which happens pretty often. It’s just constant conversational static that we try to deal with as best we can. Not perfect, by a long shot. But it’s hard for him, too. It must seem like I’m not paying attention, or not trying hard enough.
Impact 2021
Hearing Health Foundation is grateful for the support of our community to advance our mission to find better treatments and cures for hearing loss, tinnitus, and related conditions in 2021. We’re proud to share this list of significant scientific achievements this past year.
Make Your Smartphone Even Smarter
If you are any age and have both a hearing loss and a smartphone, “get smart” is how to educate you and your phone. Smartphones have allowed us a degree of freedom and communication access undreamed of in the not too distant past.
Americans With Hearing Loss Can Receive Free Telephone Captioning Services
Phone conversations can be exhausting and frustrating for individuals with hearing loss. Telephones render the communicators unable to see each other when talking, so they can’t take advantage of important visual cues, including knowing when it’s their turn to talk.
Study Explains ‘Cocktail Party Effect’ In Hearing Impairment
Commonly known as the “cocktail party effect,” people with hearing loss find it’s especially difficult to understand speech in a noisy environment. New research suggests that this may have less to do with actually discerning sounds. Instead, it may be a processing problem in which two ears blend different sounds together.
Do Transparent Face Coverings Help With Communication?
Shortly after the pandemic began, we began collecting various types of face coverings (transparent and nontransparent) to study the sound quality using a broad noise presented through a styrofoam mannequin head with a speaker mounted in its mouth.