Eventually I told my boss that I would have to resign. As it turns out, that was the best decision I could have made. The enormous stress of my job had been a large contributing factor to the severity of my disease, and letting that responsibility go was decidedly the medicine I needed. 

As a person with hearing loss, you can alert the airline to this at the point of booking, or before you fly. This is usually covered in a special assistance section of the booking, or you can email the airline and let them know. 

After years playing water polo without my hearing aids because it’s a must, I’ve figured out my own game. I’ve got my own tricks.

It has now been 13 years since my vestibular neurectomy, and it ended up being the best decision I ever made for my Ménière’s. I’m back to a somewhat normal life, although I’ve lost about 80 percent of the hearing in my right ear and have high pitched tinnitus in the same ear 24/7. 

When I was obtaining my doctorate in audiology, I started noticing some telltale signs of hearing loss when talking to my grandmother.

My firsthand experience with hearing, speech, and language development challenges, both personally and as a parent, helped shape my writing.

The brain may help regulate the ear’s sensitivity to sound and compensate for hearing loss by sending signals to the cochlea, a structure in the inner ear. This discovery could pave the way for new treatments for challenging hearing disorders such as hyperacusis and tinnitus.

As a clinician and university professor, I’ve worked with hundreds of people who hesitated to seek help—not because they couldn’t afford it, or didn’t have access to care, but because doing so meant admitting something they weren’t ready to accept: that something fundamental had changed.

These findings provide essential insights into hearing loss, related perceptions, and strategies to enhance awareness and promote conversations about hearing health.

In audiology, we describe listening environments using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The signal is what you want to hear—like your conversation partner—and noise is everything you don’t want to hear.

While significant challenges remain, ongoing efforts in genetic research, immunology, and clinical trials offer hope for better management and potential cures for Ménière’s disease in the future.

“Mara Hears in Style” is the book I wish my three children had when they were young and newly diagnosed with hearing loss. I wrote the book so that children who wear hearing aids will see themselves in a book and be seen, but I also wanted Mara's character to be relatable to all children.