Going From Hear to Beyond

I’ve had hearing loss all my life. Literally. But just because you’ve lived with a condition for a long time, doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re good at it.

The typical hearing loss journey is filled with communication challenges. Sometimes the solutions come naturally; we know that people must face us so that we can speechread. But other necessary strategies such as learning how to effectively self-identify and becoming a good self-advocate, take knowledge and practice. We need to learn about these practices – and the best answers will sometimes come from hearing health practitioners or, more likely, from other people with hearing loss. 

I became involved in hearing loss advocacy at the age of 40, when I was expecting a baby and needed the practical advice of other moms with hearing loss. This reaching out to other people like me, for the first time, changed my life. I learned that I was not alone. I learned about amazing technologies, strategies and supports that transformed my daily life.

In 2015, I wrote my first book, The Way I Hear It: A Life with Hearing Loss. My humorous memoir/survival guide was well received but a few years later, amidst a sea of other memoirs, I knew it was time for a back-to-basics book about how to live better with hearing loss.

I reached out to Shari Eberts, another writer/advocate and we started writing what became Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss, published in May 2022. 

Our book is based on our respective real-life hearing journeys – and thousands of people like us. We both had learned the hard way that there is an easier way. We can become better at living with hearing loss. We can become more skilled at getting the most out of conversations. And we can take charge of our own communication success – as people who deserve to hear and be hears. This is what we share in the book, along with anecdotes that are both funny and poignant. 

Our philosophy uses a three-legged stool – the kind that never wobbles even on uneven ground – of critical strategies.

• The first leg is learning to change how we view our hearing loss and adopt more positive attitudes.

• The second leg is a comprehensive array of technology and the third leg is called “communication game-changers”, the non-technical behaviors that improve our interactions.

• The book’s last section is called Hearing Hacks for Every Occasion that offers tips and tricks for every activity of our life – exercise, leisure, relationships, etc.

As they did for us, the strategies outlined Hear & Beyond have changed the lives of many people and we’re proud to share what we learned in our decades with hearing loss. The book is available anywhere books are sold, both online and in bookstores.

Gael Hannan is a public speaker, humorist and hearing health advocate who grew up with a hearing loss that is now severe to profound. She writes a weekly blog on hearing loss for HearingHealthMatters.org, and is the Consumer Editor for two Canadian professional hearing-related journals. Gael’s articles have appeared in many North American publications and she is a sought-after speaker for her funny and insightful performances on living with hearing loss. Gael lives with her husband and son and divides her time between Ontario and the west coast.