There are a lot of people with hearing loss out there. We need to come together to tell the world how to accommodate our needs, and why. If we stay silent, we cannot expect anything to improve.
Hearing When You Can’t Hear
A survey of more than 1,500 respondents with hearing loss found that while many look for and request accommodations, they are often not available—62 percent answered “seldom or never” when asked how often they can find accommodations.
Hear Well for the Holidays
Statistically speaking, half of grandparents and great-grandparents have significant hearing loss. So do about one in 10 of the aunts, uncles, or adult friends ages 55 to 64. Plus, we know that among adults exposed to loud noise—at work or in everyday life—about one in five has a hard time hearing speech. This can be a real hindrance to enjoying the holidays when all we want to do is connect with one another and share life’s joys.
Every Day I Advocate
Hearing loss is an invisible disability and people with typical hearing don’t always understand. There are those with some type of hearing loss who just “deal with it” or prefer to keep it a secret. Connecting with individuals who also have hearing loss helps me manage daily life.
Memories and Music: My Life as a Real-Life ‘CODA’
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?”
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.
Distance Learning With a Hearing Loss
In the classroom, Alex has a captionist who ensures that he gets most of what the teacher is saying. He also carries a small microphone, or mini mic, for teachers to talk into so that their speech streams directly into his hearing aid and CI. Together, these two tactics were by no means perfect, but they worked for Alex. Unfortunately, like every other student across the world, Alex’s in-person education routine was interrupted a few months ago.
The Challenge of Communication During the Pandemic and Beyond
In New York City, we are required to wear face coverings in public and practice social distancing to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Non-essential work, like my own part-time job as an educational researcher for a university, must be completed remotely. With these vital public health measures emerge new challenges for people with hearing loss, and I’m advocating for myself and creating solutions when and where I am able.
Action on Captions
I’m a longtime radio broadcaster and after 25 years on the air, I owned an advertising agency where all the work was creating radio and TV ads and video scripts all day, every day. I’ve spent nearly my entire adult life in a studio, wearing headphones.
Close-Minded Captioning
Sound can provide remarkable connections to the world around us. As a Longwood University communication sciences and disorders student, I’ve come to better understand how people with hearing loss experience sound, and that improvements to accessibility are urgently needed.