Blog
Welcome to the Hearing Loss LIVE! blog. With hearing loss, we lose access to communication. In this blog, we share the strategies and tools (technology) to improve communication outcomes when hearing loss is involved.
We promote self-advocacy and show you how to be proactive for your communication needs, whether you are Hard of Hearing, or the hearing partner. Communication takes two; we can’t do our part unless they do part. It’s important for all of us to learn about communication needs. We seek to create an atmosphere of acceptance and growth through hearing loss. Let’s add a touch of inspiration to the blog because hearing loss needs inspiration.
There are many Hard of Hearing community members who inspire us that we want to introduce you to. We will share posts about them too because they create art through their hearing loss. One person makes music accessible and several others share their captioning advocacy journey. We find so many wonderful people in the community who inspire us to accomplish new goals. Community is important and we often refer to ours as the ‘tribe’. Meet the tribe here.
When we have hearing loss, there’s a tension between doing what is polite –the normal thing– versus what needs to be done to participate. Following social norms actually limits a hard of hearing person’s experience. Some social norms we are taught as children… Sit still. It’s not polite to stare. Avoid drawing attention to us/yourself. Be respectful of personal space. Don’t interrupt. Speak quietly. Normal is conforming to a standard, or a typical pattern. While ‘normal’ is different for each person, most of society stays within the spectrum. With hearing loss, social norms are inverted—what is considered polite or typical in the hearing...
Sensorineural hearing loss (the most common kind) tends to wipe out specific sounds of speech which doubles listening processing time. While we listen, our brain processes what we can see and hear to ensure we follow the conversation. We aren’t listening with the intent to reply. No. We are listening intensely to pick up what we can, filling in missing sounds of speech. Sometimes it’s more than missing sounds of words, it can be whole words missing. To keep up, several processes are working in the background to piece the conversation together. (Think Wheel of Fortune.) When the speaker finishes, it takes few extra seconds to let the...
The book, 61 Days of Hearing Loss is built around four categories for hearing loss: technology, awareness, strategies and emotions. In the last post, we shared one day of strategies and another for awareness. In this post, we’ll share a day about technology and another on emotions. With hearing loss, we experience a lot of frustration. People get tired of repeating. We are equally tired of asking for a few small changes in communication habits. Chelle and her husband have been together for almost 20 years. The first night she met him, she told him, “If you plan to hang around me, you’re going to have to keep that mustache...
“61 Days of Hearing Loss” became a book because I wondered how many times a day I managed communication. When we live with hearing loss, we live with it all day, every day and several times a day. Even though I’ve worn hearing aids for over 30 years, I never tracked my daily experiences. In the last two months of 2025 – through the holidays – I kept track. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing to keep it real. When people know what’s going on, they will be on their best behavior. Most days had two issues and some days had up to four. Many days, it was the same issue, like asking people to face me when talking. To...
Hearing Loss LIVE! created this self advocacy checklist because it’s so hard to know what do. What’s right, what’s polite and what goes too far? It’s amazing how far we’ll go to advocate for others, but for ourselves it somehow it feels wrong. What holds us back? Fear is a big obstacle. Someone in our past treated us badly is often a part of it. Chelle: Someone who “loved” me took advantage of my hearing loss. (Watch this short reel on that subject.) This ex-husband wasn’t cooperative in communication so I learned to be ashamed of it. After my divorce, I was pushed out of my comfort zone...
We talk about “Monkey Mind” in our Lipreading Strategies class but not everyone understands it so let me ask you…have you noticed that the more upset you become, the harder it is to hear? Then, the harder you try the worse it gets? It is probably because we’ve spun out in our head and took a dive into our emotions. Example: I see Mindy coming toward me with purpose in the office hallway. My inside thoughts start and so does my anxiety. “Oh no, it’s Mindy! She’s coming straight at me. It’s too late to turn around and pretend I didn’t see her. She’s so hard to hear with her soft voice ” Then as she’s talking, more thoughts bubble up. “There...
The first time I took a lipreading class in 2009 as a student, I didn’t see the benefits. Instead of giving me confidence and hope, it felt alien and out of my reach. I did not take the class again for another four years. The second class happened only because I worked for the state and was expected to teach the class. To teach that class, I followed the instructions for the same class I took in 2009, telling the students we were learning together. We got through it and it was enough so I kept teaching it and improving on it with experience. There is no formal education or requirements for teaching lipreading to Hard of Hearing and deaf...
When people ask me what strategy I use most for lipreading, I answer with “anticipation skills”. People seem surprised. I see that in their body language after I answer them. While body language helps me a lot, I stand firm with anticipation. It’s the mental framework of lipreading and hearing loss. Last month we talked about the importance of Planning Ahead. This is one form of anticipation that smoothes out most communication difficulties. While we can’t plan for everything, we are able to plan around common mishaps. This strategy helps to be proactive instead of reactive. We control the situation vs it controlling us....
Direct sound helps everyone, but it is especially important to those with hearing loss. People tend to think sound is omnidirectional, their voices filling the room around them. Yes and no. Their voice fills the room without direct sound – but clarity is reduced. For someone with damaged hearing, direct sound is the most important factor of communication. Every little bit helps us. Sound travels in waves so voices do too. (See resources at the end of the article.) When someone is talking, their voice spreads out…but the strongest signal comes out in front of them in the shape of a 60 degree cone. It also depends on what kind of sound it is...
Planning ahead for lipreading, and hearing loss, is actively managing your communication and ensuring your participation. When we plan ahead for events and social gatherings, we are less likely to be at the mercy of circumstances. You are empowering yourself with better outcomes. I don’t know about you but showing up and hoping for the best hasn’t worked out so well for me. I learned the hard way it’s not just what I’ll wear but how I’ll hear. If I haven’t planned ahead, I’m continually trying to catch up and that’s no fun. Planning ahead falls under the anticipation strategy. This is the process of identifying and assessing upcoming...
Do you want to learn more? Listen to, or watch, our companion podcasts. Visit our YouTube channel for video shorts and captioned video podcasts. Because we care about accessibility, you can find a transcript, and the audio version, to all our podcasts on BuzzSprout.
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