When routine checkups missed our daughter’s hearing loss, we realized how families navigating an invisible disability can fall through the cracks. So we started to build the tools to help them.
Shifting Perspectives
Eventually I discovered something different: Living with chronic illness is about adapting to a new rhythm with your body. Here’s what I’ve learned.
A Primer on Buying Hearing Aids
While you can buy OTC hearing aids without a test, or use free online screening tools, I strongly recommend a comprehensive, in-person exam. A professional evaluation includes a physical inspection of your ears to catch hidden medical issues.
A Letter to My Son Turned Into a Children’s Book
One of the biggest sources of encouragement during those intense months after getting Shepherd’s diagnosis was hearing the stories of other families who had walked a similar path.
Single-Sided Deafness, Cochlear Implantation, and Psychological Conditions
Cochlear implantation (CI) has become an increasingly common audiological solution for children with the most significant degree of unilateral hearing loss—that is, single-sided deafness (SSD)—however, highly variable outcomes are being observed with alarming rates of device nonuse.
Are String Telephones the Answer?
In theory, advanced hearing aid features are laudatory for sure, but what about affordability? Aren’t advances in technology supposed to lower prices, not increase them?
What If a Rare Bone Disorder Could Help Explain Why Some People Develop Ménière’s Disease?
A new study suggests that variants of a single gene may alter inner ear development decades before symptoms begin.
A Model for the Human Inner Ear, Built on a Chip
Researchers are developing an organoid-on-a-chip system to model inner ear development and explore how damaged sensory hair cells might be regenerated.
Hearing Is the Glue That Holds Families Together
I encourage families to pay attention not only to whether a loved one can “hear,” but whether they are fully participating in life.
Scrappy and Determined From the Start
When the doctor confirmed I had a hearing loss, I felt like a failure. Years later, my older sister pointed out our mother felt the same way. “How did I miss that?” my mother had wailed.