Our partner Hyperacusis Research recently hosted a webinar that highlighted both the human impact of hyperacusis—pain triggered by everyday sounds—and the scientific progress being made to understand and treat it.
What Does Hidden Hearing Loss Feel Like?
There was a lot of confusion in the mid-’80s between hearing and understanding. I was 14 years old so hearing loss was the furthest thing from my mind and nothing my parents thought of either. I could hear but I had trouble understanding what I heard.
The Sound of Home
What moved me most was not just the science. It was the joy. I will never forget an older man who heard his grandson’s voice clearly for the first time in years.
The Marvel of Hearing—and the Blessings, and Mishaps, of Not Hearing
As one who inhabits the worlds of both hearing and deafness, I am amazed by what you likely take for granted—the gift of hearing. And I experience the benefits, the misfortunes, and the humor of not hearing.
The Silver Lining
Advice I’d Give My Younger Self
Looking back over each grade when I felt embarrassed, I wish I could have told myself that even when people ask questions about the FM, by the next day they have usually forgotten about it. Most of the time I cared more than other people did.
To Hear or Not
Cochlear implants were never on our radar, and the topic arose what felt like out of the blue while talking to his audiologist who said hearing aids could no longer improve his ability to better understand speech.
Music Can Be a Strategy for Managing Tinnitus—and Aging
There’s a lot of overlap between managing tinnitus and dealing with the challenges of aging. Socializing, paying active attention, learning new things, and physical activity are all things that can help with both.
Access Isn’t One Size Fits All
Even within the d/Deaf and hard of hearing umbrella, our access needs and identities vary widely. That in-between space can feel like nowhere—not “hearing enough” for the hearing world, not “Deaf enough” for Deaf spaces.
Megan Beers Wood: How I Got My Start With ERG
My focus is studying pathologies following noise overexposure. This includes noise-induced hearing loss and pain hyperacusis. I specifically look at how the immune system interacts with the neurons of the ear after noise.