If you follow our social media accounts, you’ve probably seen our popular themed posts for #FurbabyFriday, which often highlight hearing dogs. Because we get a lot of questions on those, National Service Dog Month provides the perfect opportunity for a deeper dive on this topic!

“My life used to be like the first part of The Wizard of Oz movie, very sedentary and gray,” says Amy, a young bilateral cochlear implant recipient. “Since Mindy, my world has exploded in Technicolor!”

Mindy is Amy’s certified hearing assistance dog, who was trained by Dogs for Better Lives, a service animal training nonprofit with facilities in Medford, Oregon and Falmouth, Massachusetts.

“As my ‘second half,’ she makes me so much more aware of the world around me. All I need is to see her ears twitch to know if there’s something that requires a reaction. With Mindy by my side, I have the confidence to go out and enjoy life.”

Service Dogs in America

The modern use of dogs to assist individuals with disabilities dates to World War I, when guide dogs were trained to support visually impaired veterans. Over time, service dog functions expanded to assist people with various disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Specially trained hearing assistance dogs were first introduced in the United States in the late 1970s to enhance independence by providing essential auditory alerts as well as emotional support and companionship.

Today, a range of programs around the U.S. specialize in training and placing hearing assistance dogs with individuals in need—many at no cost to the recipient. This article highlights three organizations and provides additional resources you can visit for more information if you are considering the possibility of getting a hearing dog.

Saved By a Prince

When Alex, an accomplished young baseball player with hearing loss, felt increased anxiety about missing important sounds and communications, he started withdrawing from activities and staying home, where everything was safe and familiar. His concerned family reached out to a regional office of Canine Companions and service dog Prince soon came into Alex’s life.

With Prince there to alert him to visitors at the door, a beeping alarm clock, friends calling his name and other sounds, Alex became more relaxed and regained his outgoing personality.

“The level of confidence and reassurance I feel with Prince is so impactful,” he says. Today, Alex is focused on coaching and encouraging other young athletes on the diamond.

Is a Hearing Dog Right for You?

If you, or a family member, are interested in obtaining a trained hearing assistance dog, start by learning about specific issues related to service animals, such as Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) laws, where they are allowed, and more from the ADA National Network Service Animal Resource Hub. This can help you decide if a hearing dog is the right option for your specific needs and lifestyle.

If you choose to move forward, continue your research about various programs to find one that best fits your needs. Visit Assistance Dogs International for a comprehensive, searchable database of accredited service dog organizations. Each has different eligibility criteria, locations served, training procedures, dog breeds, waiting periods, etc. You should also decide if you require a Home Hearing Dog or a Certified Hearing Dog that is trained to support its partner in public environments.

As an alternative, some people choose to train their own service dogs, as described in this recent Healthy Hearing article, typically with the support of an organization such as Atlas Assistance Dogs.

Choosing Where to Apply

Here are a few suggested questions to consider as part of your decision-making process:

• Does the organization serve your area?
• What are their qualifications for a hearing dog?
• Is the individual in need an adult, child or veteran?
• How much is the financial commitment, if any?
• What is the training process? Is travel required at the client’s expense?
• How long is their waitlist?
• What are your veterinary and ongoing care responsibilities?
• Who retains ownership of the service dog?
• What size and type of dog do you prefer: large or small, purebred or shelter rescue?
• Which specific tasks are the hearing dogs trained to do?
• What is involved with their client matching process?
• Is the organization accredited?

The table below has basic information to get you started; visit each organization’s website for more details. Most provide hearing and other service dogs at no cost to the client, although some require a financial commitment that can be met through fundraising. Please note that this is not a comprehensive list; there may be additional organizations serving your area, and some information may have changed.

 

Merlin’s Magic

For most of his life, Stuart managed to get by with his progressive bilateral otosclerosis—until he couldn’t hear at all anymore, following several unsuccessful surgical attempts. After he inadvertently locked his wife out of the house for hours, and couldn’t hear her pounding on the door or calling on the phone, they started the search for a hearing support dog.

The southern California couple was delighted to discover The Sam Simon Foundation Assistance Dogs nearby in Malibu and soon three-year-old Merlin, a black Labrador retriever, joined their home and Stuart’s daily life.

“Merlin is a great comfort to me as my hearing loss has become profound,” Stuart shares. “He is basically an extension of me, acting as my ears. Prior to Merlin’s arrival, I was very isolated, and the difference in my life with him is huge. Now he is part of my family and I love him.”

Has a Hearing Dog Changed Your Life?

We want to hear from you, whether you’re just starting your hearing dog journey now or you’ve already invited a hearing service dog into your home. Send us some photos of you and your companion with their name, age, breed and how they have made your world better and easier to navigate…and you may both be featured in one of our future Furbaby Friday social media posts!

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Follow HLAA on our social channels to catch Furbaby posts and lots of other great content:

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Just in time for National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) will present its next quarterly employment webinar on Thursday, October 19, 6–7 p.m. ET, presented by HLAA’s Task Force for Accessible Inclusive Employment. The online event, “Mission Possible: The Sky’s the Limit for Disability Workplace Inclusion”—based on the cover article of Hearing Life magazine’s spring 2023 issue—features a panel of astronauts and other professionals with hearing loss.

Pioneering zero-gravity space flight

It’s rare to see people with disabilities depicted as astronauts or rocket scientists, but one innovative nonprofit program is aiming to change that. AstroAccess takes a groundbreaking approach to promote accessibility in space exploration and increase STEM opportunities for people with a wide range of disabilities.

REGISTER FOR WEBINAR

AstroAccess selected and trained more than a dozen “Ambassadors” with disabilities for a first-of-its-kind parabolic space flight that launched in December 2022. Participants included professionals and students with deafness, hearing loss, low vision, prosthetic limbs and mobility issues. As the spacecraft ascended to 25,000 feet and experienced zero gravity, the crew conducted in-flight experiments to investigate how space travel could be made accessible to future generations of astronauts, regardless of disability.

Disability exclusion in STEM and other fields

Why is this initiative so important? A 2023 report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics found that, while 24% of the U.S. workforce is employed in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines, workers with disabilities represent just 3% of the STEM workforce. Causes may include a lack of role models for aspiring scientists with disabilities, negative perceptions about disability and inaccessible workplaces that limit opportunities for a person with a disability to succeed.

Although the situation has recently improved, these numbers reflect a wider trend in the U.S. workforce at large. In 2022, only 21.3% of the population of people with disabilities was employed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and unemployment rates for people with a disability consistently remain close to double those in the general population.

Shattering misconceptions in aviation

Sheila Xu is a pilot who is deaf and participated in the December AstroAccess flight. In a 2021 blog post for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on its Medium channel, she described the challenges she’s faced as a person with hearing loss in the STEM sector.

“Despite having a cochlear implant…I still encountered misconceptions and stereotypes of the deaf, much to my frustration. I also never had opportunities to connect with people in aviation, including pilots,” she wrote. “It never occurred to me that deaf people could be pilots.”

Xu will be a panelist on October 19, along with two other AstroAccess flight crew members who both have hearing loss and work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): systems engineer Victoria Garcia and space launch engineer K. Renee Horton, Ph.D., who was the keynote speaker at the HLAA 2023 Convention. Also participating will be Larry Guterman, a film producer with hearing loss who serves on the HLAA Board of Directors and the AstroAccess Advisory Board; he authored the article on AstroAccess ambassadors for Hearing Life magazine that inspired this webinar.

No limits for disability workplace inclusion

The panelists will discuss their career journeys as people with disabilities, their roles in AstroAccess and how the initiative is forging a path forward for workplace disability inclusion. Moderating the panel will be Theodore Shomsky, CPACC, a business systems analyst and disability access professional who volunteered with the AstroAccess team on the ground helping ensure the December flight ran smoothly.

“It was an honor to share a piece of an incredible and historic journey to bring universal access to the universe,” Shomsky said.

Shomsky is a member of the HLAA Task Force for Accessible Inclusive Employment, which organizes quarterly webinars that share success stories and provide employment-related information and resources to people with hearing loss. The webinars not only empower job seekers with hearing loss to find and thrive in fulfilling careers, but also help employers tap into their knowledge, skills, and abilities.

As the AstroAccess panelists will demonstrate, when workspace accessibility is a priority, people with disabilities can soar to new heights and change the face of space exploration.

For information on upcoming webinars, subscribe to Hearing Life e-News.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) is a vital touchpoint for many people with hearing loss, providing not only national support, but face-to-face connections through a nationwide network of chapters and state associations. People often realize after attending a meeting or event, “I am not alone!” This feeling of connection can be life-changing for anyone who may have experienced denial or exclusion due to their invisible disability. Annual in-person HLAA Conventions offer live support, collaboration and inspiration, bringing together hundreds of members from all over the U.S. to one city for three days of events. The following story from our Director of Development Marilyn DiGiacobbe is a testament to the HLAA power of connection—a hallmark for this 44-year-old organization that advocates, educates and empowers the 48 million people with hearing loss in the U.S.

Did you hear about our development team’s wild 24-hour road trip to the HLAA 2023 Convention in June? When faced with the possibility of missing the convention, our determined group sprang into action to make it work. The first roadblock was severe weather, which canceled our flights. After waiting for hours at the Philadelphia airport, as helpful ticket agents tried to rebook us, we learned that, unfortunately, no alternative would get us to New Orleans in time.

We were crushed, as none of us wanted to miss this highlight of the year! But it didn’t take long for our can-do spirit to kick in and we pivoted to create a Plan B.

The plan: three volunteers, two staff members, one husband and 24 hours on the road from Philly to New Orleans! My optimistic colleague Ronnie Adler, HLAA’s Walk4Hearing senior manager, sparked the idea, then the quick sense—and minivan—of Beth Ann Rejonis, Walk Day co-chair of Pennsylvania’s Walk4Hearing, made it happen. Within 90 minutes, we picked up the van, grabbed sandwiches for the road, and arranged for family to collect our luggage at New Orleans airport and deliver it to our hotel. I still can’t figure how our luggage got a flight but not us!

We laughed, talked endlessly and worked while on the road. We ate more fast food than we’d care to admit and shared our adventure with everyone we met along the way. I gained an even greater appreciation for the dedication of our staff and volunteers, as well as the truck drivers we joined at a rest stop to catch a few hours’ sleep. My husband would have driven all night if I didn’t force him to stop, and once Ronnie had the wheel, she wouldn’t give it up.

Our group rest stop photo and #PhillyStrong hashtag even went viral on HLAA’s Facebook page.

Thankfully, we arrived safe and sound in New Orleans at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, just in time for the convention start! And we all agreed that we would happily make that drive all over again.

We hope you were able to join us in New Orleans, as it was worth the extra effort getting there. Workshops, social events, the Exhibit Hall and inspiring presentations gave us much-needed in-person rejuvenation. Start planning now for next year’s convention, June 26-29, 2024, at the beautiful resort setting of Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix!

In the meantime, we invite you to consider ways you might get more involved in HLAA’s nationwide community of support. Joining a local chapter can help you feel connected, encouraged and understood. Often, the next step is volunteering and taking on leadership roles with a chapter and the Walk4Hearing, to be of service to other people with hearing loss.

By getting involved in this movement HLAA has created, you will not only help yourself, but also set an example for others. HLAA is built on community spirit and empowerment. Your participation demonstrates that people aren’t alone with this invisible disability, and helps spread important hearing health messages to the growing number of people now at risk of hearing loss.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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All the hype surrounding the new Barbie movie, which grossed $155 million in its opening weekend, has me flashing back to simpler days. Afternoons spent holed up with my besties searching for matching outfits for the lanky, hair-laden dolls, creating make-believe towns and endless searching for tiny shoes. Barbie, Skipper, Ken and dream house filled my childhood. What amazes me is that this 11-inch plastic doll is still teaching us new things!

Seeing the Barbie movie with my youngest of three grown daughters reminded me of their childhood as well as my own. When they reached Barbie age, I pushed aside my concerns of unrealistic body image and sexism when I observed the creativity the dolls unleashed in them. We talked about the fact that no one really looks like Barbie, do they?

My worries seemed unfounded, when for hours on end, our family room was transformed into Barbie world. My daughters’ Barbies had jobs and dreams and faced big-girl issues, opening a window into their futures—albeit one with tiny feet and impossibly big hair! Seeing beyond her exterior allowed us to look outside of ourselves and dream of possibilities.

The dolls, and their endless stream of accessories, gave my daughters an outlet for make-believe and imagination beyond other toys, which lasted for years.

Barbie popped into my life again last year, just after I began working as the director of strategic communications for the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), a leading organization that has been working to break down the stigma of hearing loss for more than 40 years. During my first weeks in the new position, Mattel released a new Barbie doll with a bright pink hearing aid! This decades-long icon suddenly did what others couldn’t: she showed the world that she was proud to wear her behind-the-ear hearing device. It was like nirvana—a childhood icon and a PR tool!

At the time, we shared a social post touting the new doll—a cultural icon helping to break down the stigma associated with hearing aids—and the post got good traction.  HLAA knows that most people who could benefit from hearing aids, don’t get them, so seeing Barbie celebrated for wearing one was a real win! HLAA’s Executive Director Barbara Kelley did an interview celebrating Barbie’s new look for an online magazine.

During the recent excitement, we decided to do a Flashback Friday social post going into Barbie movie weekend, showing hearing-aid Barbie, and linking to the same magazine interview from 2022. At this writing, the viral Facebook post was up to 64,000 views and 222 shares, and is still gaining traction! Could it be that Barbie is helping us bring hearing health into the mainstream?

Hearing loss affects nearly 50 million Americans, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), numbers worldwide are expected to double by 2050. Yet many of us don’t pay attention to our hearing, even though it’s part of our overall health and wellness.

Here’s a test…I bet you know your weight, give or take a few pounds. Likely you know your cholesterol level, blood pressure and vision score, right? Now, what about your hearing number? Chances are, you don’t know much about your hearing. Most of us don’t get regular checks, even though one in seven individuals has hearing loss and treating it could affect our overall health and well-being.

HLAA wants to educate the public and spread basic messages about the importance of protecting your hearing in loud environments. The WHO estimates that 1 billion young people are now at risk of noise-induced hearing loss, a condition that is irreversible yet preventable. What’s more, 80% of those who need hearing aids, don’t get them, due in part to the stigma that hearing aids are for old people. Enter Barbie with bright pink hearing aids to stir things up!

Although hearing-aid Barbie doesn’t make an appearance in the movie—that would’ve been double nirvana—we’re riding the wave of even the indirect attention and lessons she brings. HLAA would like to see hearing health awareness rise to the level of wearing sunscreen and seatbelts. Decades ago, those safety measures were also not mainstream habits, but now are commonly adopted.

Besides Barbie, hearing loss has made a lot of news lately, with the opening of the over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid market in October 2022—an event that brought millions of media impressions. It got people talking about the prevalence and common signs of hearing loss, and potentially easier to obtain treatment options. Other recent pop-culture phenomena, like CODA’s Best Picture win, Paul Simon revealing his own single-sided deafness, the young Emmy-nominated actor who is deaf and the new Golden Bachelor with visible hearing aids, all collectively help raise awareness of hearing loss—a positive step for all of us.

A prevailing theme of the Barbie movie is that sameness doesn’t work—the all-Barbie world was caught in misconception and the all-Ken world was chaotic and violent. The usual criticisms will abound, but I take away a message of diversity and celebrate as the clicks on our post climb. Although we don’t see it in the film, we know there is a Barbie who revels in acknowledging and treating her hearing loss, and kids now have more opportunity to see a range of disabilities reflected in the dolls they use to imagine their futures.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Planning ahead and knowing your rights can help 

A recent news story about a senior woman’s air travel nightmare highlights problems many of us with hearing loss may experience when we fly. Often announcements and even safety information aren’t accessible. How can we stay safe, remain informed and minimize issues while traveling? 

Airport nightmare in Austin

According to the Austin Chronicle, Karen McGee, a 71-year-old woman with hearing loss flying alone for the first time last September, missed her connecting flight during a layover at Austin–Bergstrom International Airport in Texas when she didn’t hear a gate change announcement. She reportedly became agitated when airline personnel couldn’t communicate with her.

Austin news station KXAN reports that police were called but had trouble communicating with her. The details aren’t clear, but in the end, McGee was apparently arrested for trespassing, handcuffed, taken to the local jail, detained for two nights, and ended up with a broken wrist.

What happened in Austin—however elusive—brings up some of our worst fears as travelers with the invisible disability of hearing loss. Regardless of the details in this particular case, we can learn from it and make our own travels less distressing with a bit of preparation.

Discrimination against travelers with disabilities is illegal 

The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) is a 1986 law—predating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by four years—that makes it illegal for airlines to discriminate against passengers because of their disability. The Department of Transportation is responsible for enforcing the ACAA, which applies to all flights to, from, or within the United States.

One of its provisions is that anyone self-identifying as a passenger with a disability, who needs additional time or assistance, must be allowed to board the airplane before other passengers. Hearing loss is considered a disability under the ACAA, just as it is for the ADA.

Self-identifying can help  

I once almost missed a flight because I did not hear the boarding announcement at a very busy area with multiple gates at Reagan National Airport. Another time, I missed an important safety announcement about the plane’s potential landing gear issue during a flight descent. Luckily, in both cases, I was able to avoid serious complications, but since then, I have self-identified at every point in the travel process: when purchasing my ticket, at the ticketing counter, at TSA security, at the airline gate, when boarding the plane, and if needed, at baggage claim.

By staying alert to my surroundings, I have never missed a flight. I also make sure the airline knows in advance I am flying with my hearing dog, Shine, and complete all the required service animal paperwork. Gate personnel often help me understand the preboarding announcements and ensure I get on with those in front of the line.

Airline agents responsible for providing accommodations 

Had McGee been aware of the ACAA, she could have disclosed her disability and requested preboarding at her first gate. At that time, flight agents would have been required to ensure that she receives the same information as everyone else. She would have learned about the gate change, found the new gate, and been allowed to preboard successfully.

McGee may not have known her rights under the ACAA, which is not uncommon for the millions of us who now have hearing loss. Had she known and self-identified, what could the gate agents have offered as accommodation? One option might have been hearing loops, an assistive listening method provided by a growing number of public spaces including airports. Hearing loops can feed sound directly into a person’s hearing aid or cochlear implant when equipped with a telecoil.

According to the Accessibility page of its website, the Austin Airport has a loop installed between Gates 1 and 12. If her hearing aids had an activated telecoil, a mechanism to receive the input from a hearing loop, and if the agents knew how to use the hearing loop, it’s certainly possible that McGee could have communicated more effectively and made it to her connecting flight.

But an air carrier’s responsibility doesn’t end if one’s hearing device doesn’t work, or if the gate is not equipped with a hearing loop. There are far more options to provide access than even a few years ago. Speech to text apps on a cellphone or tablets provided at gates could be used. A pocket talker, or small sound amplifying device, might have been available. Even old-school pen and paper could be used in a pinch.

A call for more awareness, education and empathy  

Beyond assistive technology, the most important accommodation is simple compassion and understanding for people traveling with disabilities. In this case, communication broke down and gate agents had the police take this 71-year-old woman with hearing loss to jail.

It’s important to note that airports are complex places and accessibility falls under multiple jurisdictions. For instance, in this case, the airport itself is under the jurisdiction of the city of Austin, which must follow ADA regulations as well as Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules. Departure gates, ticketing counters, airplanes and baggage fall under the ACAA for people with disabilities, so Austin has no control over what the air carriers provide.

The ACAA has been law for decades, but still very few people are aware of it. Had McGee or the flight agents been more knowledgeable about this law, her harrowing experience may have been avoided. The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) continues to advocate for more comprehensive training about required accommodations under both the ACAA and ADA, for all airline and airport personnel, and enhanced assistive communications at every airport such as visual messaging, hearing loops and more. HLAA recently sent a letter of support to Congressional co-sponsors of a new ACAA Amendment Act, requiring more text and accessible information. HLAA also wants passengers with hearing loss to be empowered with information before they travel.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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A professional musician in New York City for two decades, Jonathon Taylor retired early due to progressive hearing loss that could not be helped with hearing aids. After receiving a cochlear implant 17 years later, Taylor participated in a week-long adult band camp at Michigan’s Interlochen Center for the Arts in August 2021, an experience he related in the winter 2022 issue of Hearing Life magazine. Last summer, he returned to camp with significantly improved results, as he shares here in honor of Better Hearing and Speech Month.

When I returned to Interlochen’s band camp in 2022, the conductor was using a microphone to address the assembled musicians—likely a result of the Hearing Life article where I mentioned my difficulty understanding him. This announcement was greeted by applause from the entire band, many of whom apparently also had trouble hearing him. This is an important lesson for self-advocacy as encouraged by HLAA—don’t be shy about requesting accommodations! When you need them, you probably are not the only one.

So how am I hearing today? Since implantation, my hearing has dramatically improved, though at a somewhat slower rate in the second year. Before surgery, my sentence comprehension score was 62% in quiet. Within four months it was up to 85%, and at seven months I was able to correctly repeat an astonishing 97% of sentences in quiet.

During the year after my implant, while in the country with my wife, I told her that I had heard a bird, which in and of itself was not surprising. But the fact that I knew it was a bird meant that I was recognizing more sounds, in addition to better understanding speech. Although hearing tests check your ability to hear pure tones, most sounds in the real world, including music, are not pure tones, but a combination of harmonics above the fundamental pitch.

Since I am not a neuroscientist or audiologist, I cannot vouch for the scientific accuracy of my observations. But I believe that my problems with pitch arise from having different degrees of hearing loss at different pitches, making those harmonics off-kilter—not balanced as I was accustomed to before my hearing loss. What distinguishes a bird song from a trumpet, or a trumpet from an oboe playing the same note is timbre, which I think is related to the balance of harmonics. Timbre is “the character or quality of a musical sound or voice as distinct from its pitch and intensity” (Oxford Languages). Essentially, my brain has relearned the pattern of harmonics of birds, oboes and trumpets.

Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University, has written a wonderful book, Of Sound Mind, about the role of the brain in hearing. She gives an example of a ferret, which has a neuron that responds to a preferred frequency of 8000 hertz (Hz). However, when a pitch of 6000 Hz is paired with a reward, the ferret’s brain shifts its preference to 6000 Hz.

Initially, I had assumed that the tuning of the electrodes in my cochlear implant imposed very strict limits on the ability to perceive pitch and timbre—but the plasticity of the human brain, like the ferret’s, is amazing. Although I still believe there are limits on pitch perception with a CI, they are not as rigid as I had thought. I can now enjoy listening to music more than I could at first, and even more than I could with hearing aids alone.

Prior to my implant, an orchestra concert was just a big wash of sound because I could not separate out different instruments. That has improved gradually in the nearly two years living with my CI. I am now able to enjoy live performances at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet and Broadway musicals. I would recommend that anyone with an implant who wishes to listen to music start by listening to small ensembles before attempting larger ones.

It’s difficult to know why I was able to improve so much more than I would have without doing anything special. I suspect that exposure to speech and sounds enabled my brain to process these stimuli and learn to sort them out. Post-activation, I did receive auditory training, which helped me focus on differences between similar speech sounds. This included listening to podcasts and doing homework exercises with my wife.

As for music, I believe that using the Angel Sound^TM app, along with slowly playing scales on a keyboard may have helped somewhat. I would also surmise that starting to practice my instrument and playing in the ensemble at camp may have made even more of a difference than the auditory training. I personally believe that active performance might be more beneficial than passive listening.

Will I ever hear music the way I did in my youth? Probably not. Even if I completely recover my physical instrumental skills, I’ve accepted that I would never be able to resume my professional career. However, with a different set of expectations, I can once again enjoy playing alone and occasionally performing in an ensemble, which gives me a sense of accomplishment. And, of course, I am grateful to be able to resume listening to and appreciating music.

Read more about music and hearing loss in a past issue of Hearing Life magazine.

Want to take a deeper dive into this topic? Attend the HLAA 2023 Convention Research Symposium on Friday, June 30, for an in-depth look at the science behind music and hearing loss. The “Joy of Music/Loving Your Ears” panel will feature four prominent experts in the fields of audiology, science and music performance.

REGISTER HERE for the convention by May 26. Admission to the Research Symposium only is also available for just $20/person.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed nearly 33 years ago to prevent discrimination, but people with disabilities in general—and hearing loss specifically—remain at a disadvantage in the labor force. Disclosing your disability, asking for accommodations on the job or in an interview are common dilemmas.

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) will address this issue at its next quarterly employment webinar on Thursday, May 18, 6-7 p.m. EDT. Part of our Better Hearing and Speech Month programming for May, that date is also Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

Disability and Employment Figures

Recent statistics underscore the need for greater workplace accessibility and equity for people with all disabilities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 21% of people with a disability were employed in 2022, compared to 65% of people without a disability. In addition, the number of people with a disability who filed for unemployment was more than double that of those without a disability.

Hearing Loss and Unemployment

A 2019 report from the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes showed that, in 2017, only 53% of adults with hearing loss or deafness were employed, compared to nearly 76% of hearing adults. (See Figure 1) In addition, 43% of people who were deaf, compared to 21% of hearing people, were not even in the labor force. (See Figure 2) However, they were also more likely to be actively looking for work, suggesting that they were not opting out of the workforce because of a lack of interest, but rather, a lack of options and access.  

As a result, many people with hearing loss are hesitant to reveal their condition to current or potential employers.

Source: National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, 2019

Source: National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, 2019

May 18 Employment Webinar

Knowing what the law says about disclosure, accessibility and other relevant issues, such as protected classes and obtaining reasonable accommodations, can help workers make more informed decisions.

At our May 18 webinar, “The Workplace and the Law—Where It Helps Us, and Where It Doesn’t,” labor attorney and disability law expert John Waldo, Esq., will explain how the ADA applies to people with hearing loss in the workplace: his specialty for 40 years.

Learn more and register. The event will be captioned, and a recording made available for those who cannot attend.

View past webinars covering topics such as workplace accommodations, federal employment for people with disabilities and networking with hearing loss.

The Task Force for Accessible Inclusive Employment

This webinar is the latest in a series that have been organized by HLAA’s Task Force for Accessible Inclusive Employment—established by HLAA in 2021 to address labor disparities and provide employment-related information and resources to those with hearing loss. All Task Force members, who span a wide range of diversity and professional backgrounds, either have hearing loss or work in the hearing loss community, volunteering their time to help career-aged Americans with hearing loss successfully enter, remain and excel in the workforce.

“When people with hearing loss have full communication access, they can work to their potential and be competitive in the workplace,” said David Baldridge, Ph.D., MBA, current Task Force chair and professor of management at Oregon State University, who researches workplace experiences of people with hearing loss. “And by providing communications access, companies have the opportunity to create a more inclusive and productive workforce, particularly as the workforce continues to age.”

Looking Ahead

The Task Force plans to continue presenting quarterly webinars while exploring new ways to increase its reach and impact—not just among people with hearing loss, but with companies working to achieve greater diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Its ultimate aim is to advance HLAA’s mission to empower people with hearing loss through information, education, support and advocacy.

For information on upcoming webinars, subscribe to Hearing Life e-News.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Expert panel convenes at Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) 2023 Convention in iconic New Orleans

The HLAA 2023 Convention Research Symposium on June 30, Joy of Music/Loving Your Ears, will explore different aspects of music and hearing loss, featuring four prominent speakers in the fields of audiology, science and music performance: Marshall Chasin, Au.D., Michael Santucci, Au.D., Karen Chan Barrett, Ph.D. and Wendy Cheng. The panelists will present on topics including music enjoyment and the prevention of hearing loss, resources to protect your hearing while making music, research on music perception and the joy and challenges of being a musician with hearing loss.

This is the 29th annual symposium hosted by HLAA, the leading voice of the growing number of people with hearing loss, at its annual convention—the largest communication-accessible event of its kind, designed to educate and empower people with hearing loss from across the U.S.

It is a common misbelief that having a hearing loss means you are unable to hear and enjoy music. However, many people with varying degrees of deafness continue to not only listen to but perform music in their favorite genres, with or without assistive technology. At the same time, hearing protection is critical for every music lover—younger and older—to prevent noise-induced damage to the ears. Here’s a preview of what some of our panelists will share.

You can view their full biographies and presentation abstracts on our Research Symposium web page.

Appreciating the Joy of Music

Improving Music for Cochlear Implant Users

Dr. Karen Chan Barrett is an auditory cognitive neuroscientist and researcher at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). An accomplished classical concert pianist herself, she studies the neuroscience of creativity, music as it relates to health and more specifically, music perception in people who wear cochlear implants (CIs). Her presentation is titled, “Current Research Innovations on Music Perception in Cochlear Implant Users.”

Together with collaborator Nicole Jiam, M.D., at UCSF (Jiam et al. 2019), Karen is helping develop ways to improve music perception for individuals with hearing loss who use CIs, through personalized pitch maps and processing strategies.

“Currently, audiologists activate CI users with a generic pitch map, even though individuals vary” she explains. “It’s like giving everyone a medium size t-shirt despite their different weights, heights, and needs. This one-size-fits-all approach can cause significant pitch distortion; one CI user may describe Madonna’s voice as sounding like Darth Vader, while another thinks it resembles Mickey Mouse. In the future, based on our research, CI users may be able to get individualized, tailored programming and processing strategies rather than maps based on averages.”

Karen will also share about the Sound Health Network (SHN), a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Kennedy Center and opera superstar Renée Fleming, which promotes research and public awareness about the impact of music on health and wellness.

The Challenges with Music Performance

Our sole panelist with hearing loss, HLAA Member Wendy Cheng founded the nonprofit Association for Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss (AAMHL) in 2001 and is a passionate amateur musician. Her presentation, “Making Music with a Hearing Loss: Challenges and Progress over the Years” will showcase AAMHL projects that have helped to advance knowledge about this little-studied issue and to assist adult musicians at all skill levels.

“Twenty years ago, there was very little interest in the development of hearing devices that would be suitable for not only music appreciation but also performance. In the past, I struggled to have a fulfilling musical journey with significant, lifelong hearing loss. Today, I am fortunate to have an active musical life after receiving bilateral cochlear implants,” Wendy says.

“At AAMHL, we commonly get questions about the best hearing devices for singing or playing certain musical instruments. But hearing aids and CIs have a limited range, so assistive listening devices of some kind are usually needed to hear the conductor as well as your own section, when performing in ensembles.”

Wendy wants HLAA members to know that it is possible to appreciate and make music with a hearing loss, and to encourage anyone who is interested to learn a musical instrument. “Let go of the mindset that you must have a ‘gift’ or ‘talent.’ Learning to play and read music is just like learning a foreign language—becoming fluent requires patience and taking time to practice newly acquired skills.”

Protection is Key to Loving Your Ears

Factors Affecting Hearing Loss in Musicians

For more than four decades, Dr. Marshall Chasin, the head of audiology for the Musicians’ Clinics of Canada, has worked with performing artists in genres ranging from rock and roll to classical and everything in between. His talk, “Music and the Prevention of Hearing Loss,” will present an overview of factors that affect hearing for musicians and the most effective hearing protection to minimize damage.

Marshall is quick to emphasize that, “Hearing loss prevention can be difficult, because damaging sounds are not necessarily that loud,” even those that have a relatively high decibel measurement. “Loudness … can vary from person to person and change depending on the situation. Humans are basically lousy at distinguishing potentially damaging sounds from others.”

He says the real culprit is based on dosage—the frequency and length of time one is exposed to a potentially damaging sound level. “You can listen to a concert at 94 or 95 decibels, and this is perfectly safe as long as you are not exposed more than five hours each week. As a rule of thumb, enjoy the occasional concert [while wearing effective ear protection]; just don’t go out and mow your lawn the next day…get someone else to do it.”

Marshall will be sharing in-depth about additional environmental strategies and other tricks for safely listening to music.

Preventing Music-Related Hearing Damage

Dr. Michael Santucci is an award-winning audiologist who has helped to protect and preserve the hearing of more than 40,000 professional musicians, technicians, venue staff and music lovers in the past 35 years, so all can enjoy making and listening to music while preserving their hearing. He is the founder and president of Sensaphonics, Inc., a company that creates and supplies ear monitors and earplugs for musicians, while educating them about hearing protection.

Michael’s topic, “Prevention of Music Induced Hearing Disorders: Strategies and Technology,” delves into the causes of and protection from the five most common types of music induced hearing disorders. He will present prevention strategies and technology used by professionals to maintain hearing with as little compromise acoustically as possible.

“Music professionals from almost all genres are exposed to high sound levels driven by the competing volume levels of others onstage who need to hear what they’re playing,” he explains. “But asking them to alter the sound, including loudness level, is challenging for most. It’s difficult for a musician to change their stage volumes because their auditory brain becomes used to a sound ‘signature’ that they have created by years of practice.”

He believes that much of this cutting-edge information will be new and possibly surprising to both musicians and non-musicians. “My message for the music world is, you can keep creating sound while protecting and preserving your hearing!”

Music and New Orleans, a Fitting Tribute

What better locale to present this year’s Research Symposium theme than New Orleans—the birthplace of jazz—where music has been such a vital thread woven into the city’s fabric and culture for centuries? According to a history published on NewOrleans.com:

“The late Victorian period … saw the emergence of jazz, a revolutionary new musical idiom that would become New Orleans’ greatest cultural contribution to the nation and world. Music has always been a birthright in New Orleans; even before jazz, diverse ethnic and racial groups— French, Spanish, African, Italian, Latin, German, Anglo, Irish—found common ground in making music, and to this day, the city makes outsized contributions in various musical genres, including rap, hip-hop, bounce, and funk.” 

The Joy of Music/Loving Your Ears Research Symposium promises to be fascinating for anyone with any level of interest in music. It takes place on Friday morning, June 30, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in our main venue, the Carondelet room. Each panelist will speak for about 15 minutes, followed by an audience Q&A after the final presentation.

Admission to the Research Symposium is included with the full or daily Friday package and may be attended separately for only $20. Details & Registration

ABOUT THE HLAA RESEARCH SYMPOSIA

Since 1994, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) has provided communication access to scientific talks by leading researchers through symposia at our annual conventions, as the premier organization representing people with hearing loss in the U.S. In fact, these are the only national live, communication-accessible annual events on hearing science aimed at people with hearing loss and their families.

Because hearing loss typically involves difficulty understanding speech, especially in large public spaces, and because venues for scientific talks typically do not offer hearing assistive technology (e.g., real-time captioning, hearing loops, sign language interpreters) people with hearing loss often cannot access scientific talks and benefit from the information provided. Yet, having access to such information is an essential ingredient for self-advocacy. More recently, we have been making these unique symposia available online, through accessible videos, for those who cannot attend our conventions in person.

The HLAA Research Symposium is supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R13DC017913. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Every year, the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Walk4Hearing brings hope and empowerment to thousands of participants with hearing loss, their families and supporters in 20 communities across the nation. The events raise funds and awareness for hearing loss programs and can be very moving for walkers and participants. But for Mark Robinson, 64, of Birmingham, Alabama, the 2019 Walk4Hearing in Washington, DC, brought a significant revelation.

Mark’s daughter Lindsay is program coordinator for Hearing Industries Association (HIA), an HLAA Hear for Life corporate partner. While visiting her, he attended the Walk, and had his hearing screened at the on-site mobile trailer provided by the Lions Community Outreach Foundation—with unexpected results. The exam showed a slight loss in the lower frequency range and significant drop-off in the high frequencies. Later, Mark followed up with an audiologist, who confirmed the earlier outcome.

Mark recalls, “I suspected that I may have had mild hearing loss, but the results were far worse than I believed. This came as no surprise to my wife and family, who had been frustrated for years when I missed what they said. I also noticed that my hearing difficulty caused me to hold back from conversations in crowds and restaurants, which was extremely unlike me. Over time, hearing loss changed my personality from a gregarious person into someone quiet and hesitant.”

An avid music fan and rock guitarist, Mark attributes his hearing loss to attending thousands of live rock and heavy metal concerts over six decades from a very young age without ear protection.

“I killed my own ears,” he admits. “Having been involved with rock music for most of my life, both as a concertgoer and as a performer, I like my music loud and fast. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, no one cared about equalization, and they always had the sound turned up to ‘11.’ Nowadays, I wear heavy duty ear protection when I attend festivals, so I don’t cause further damage.”

Noise-induced hearing loss is an increasingly prevalent global issue for all ages, particularly among youth. According to the World Health Organization, unsafe listening practices may be a risk factor for more than 1 billion young adults and half of young people aged 12 to 35. The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) estimates that nearly 30 million American workers are exposed to hazardous noise levels daily.

Following his diagnosis, Mark was fitted with hearing aids that have made a big difference in his life and relationships. He has been able to resume his normal activities and is once again able to understand and participate in conversations with friends and family members at home, church, and other venues.

He says, “It might be an overstatement to say that the HLAA Walk4Hearing saved my marriage. But I know my wife was getting so tired of repeating herself and facing me so I could understand her. Now, wearing my hearing aids, we can interact more naturally; I can once again take my bride out to dine and talk at a nice restaurant. I can even go to a movie with my children and enjoy the experience with them. As a result, I no longer feel left out of my family’s life.”

Mark encourages anyone who suspects they may have a hearing loss to attend a Walk4Hearing event and to have their hearing screened, whether on-site (if available) or at an audiology clinic.

“Find out if you are a candidate for hearing assistance. Don’t be stubborn like I was and miss out on your life or family because you can’t hear, when you can do something about it!”

Join HLAA at a Walk4Hearing event this spring or fall and be part of HLAA’s community of support in action. We’re breaking down barriers to hearing health and empowering people with hearing loss across the U.S. Together, we can bring hope to hearing loss. 

Join or Donate to a Walk to bring hope to people with hearing loss in your community. 

• Find a Walk4Hearing Near You
• Register for a Walk
• Step Up for Hearing Health

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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HLAA is a member of the World Hearing Forum of the WHO. We like to think we’re part of the collective players on the world’s stage who make an impact.

On March 3, World Hearing Day appears on the world’s stage. According to the World Health Organization’s World Hearing Forum, World Hearing Day started in 2007 known as International Ear Day. In 2016 it was renamed to its current name of World Hearing Day, where people across the globe take note to pay attention to hearing health. Each year, March 3 is set aside to raise awareness on how to prevent hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

For some people, every day is a hearing day, or a hearing loss day. If you have a hearing loss, your day might start out by thinking about how you’ll negotiate that day. Will you have enough batteries to power your hearing aid or cochlear implant? Will you face a fast-talking colleague who forgets to face you when he or she speaks? Will your friends want to meet in a noisy restaurant where you already know that you’ll have to bluff your way through the night? If you haven’t taken the step to getting a hearing aid, will you be dreading when you misheard an important detail of something your spouse told you … and then be accused of not paying attention? (Yikes!)

Finally, the world has caught up to an important health issue – hearing, how to protect it, care for it, and, if possible, treat it. This year’s World Hearing Day’s theme is “Ear and hearing care for all, let’s make it a reality.” Considering the numbers of people in the world with some degree of hearing loss (more than 1.5 billion), not all countries have access to good hearing care, so this is an important global goal. However, here in the U.S., hearing health still is often overlooked in primary care screenings. For those who have regular physicals practically every part of the body is screened, tested, or probed, except for our ears. Up until three years ago, my own physician looked in my ears every year but never screened for hearing loss. Fortunately, he now screens all his patients for hearing loss.

Hearing health is finally on the world stage as a primary health concern that affects our quality of life and overall health. Here in the U.S., the FDA recently cleared over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids to be sold directly to consumers, which has not only opened the market to a new class of products, but it’s brought much-needed media and public attention to the issue of hearing loss. At HLAA, our strategic goals are to broaden our message, reach new audiences, and let people of all ages and all levels of hearing loss, that something can be done about it.

We still have a lot of work to do. Hearing aids and services are often not covered in health insurance plans and certainly not by traditional Medicare. Not all primary care providers ask about hearing on intake forms. And, in medical settings, if you request an accommodation to help you understand the conversation, you’re most likely offered a sign language interpreter, which only helps a small percentage of people, leaving out other widely used forms of accessible communication. We are working daily to change things for the better.

Since, 1979, this organization has accomplished a lot. HLAA has been a part of every piece of federal legislation involving communication access, and many involving access to hearing care over the last four decades. In 1979 there was no World Hearing Day. Now, in 2023, HLAA has been in the national media more in one year than in our 44 years of existence. We also work in partnership with hearing health care providers and the hearing industry who all have similar goals – let’s bring people along with patient-centered care and technology. We’re not in this alone.

And you’re not alone either. Being part of this diverse HLAA community can mean many different things You can be anonymous, or as active as you wish. You can spearhead advocacy in your community, or you can simply benefit from the vast resources HLAA provides to learn about hearing loss. For us, every day is World Hearing Day, and we’re here for everyone at every point in their hearing journey.

We have local HLAA Chapters across the country to meet people in their hometowns. We have free online Hearing Life e-News, to help you get critical empowering information and resources. We have free, captioned webinars on topics such as employment communication and technology. We invite you to dig into HLAA’s community of support and empowering resources, and to invite others to do the same.

This World Hearing Day, there’s one message we want you to take to heart: you’re not alone, and you can do something about your hearing loss. Help spread the word about hearing health to others. Make World Hearing Day as the day you take some action for yourself, and for the world. 

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Festivities highlight the site of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) 2023 Convention

February 21 is Fat Tuesday, an indulgent Catholic tradition with roots in ancient Roman spring festivals. Better known as Mardi Gras, this day precedes the 40 days of Lent that start Ash Wednesday. No place on earth celebrates Mardi Gras quite like New Orleans, with its abundance of parade floats, colorful beads and king cakes throughout the Carnival season!

Affectionately known as NOLA, New Orleans is the location for this year’s HLAA 2023 Convention in June. As millions view the city’s pageantry, parades, and over-the-top Mardi Gras celebrations this week, I am looking forward to a calmer time this summer when we will welcome hundreds of HLAA members and guests to NOLA for our annual Convention—the largest event of its kind—offering workshops, social events, and technology demonstrations, all designed to empower people with hearing loss.

I love this city and am not only thrilled to be planning my first HLAA Convention here, but I’m also excited for our HLAA 2023 Convention attendees, who will get to see this historic city at a quieter time, beyond the Mardi Gras excitement! Participants will have the chance to explore the true New Orleans, as they learn and connect with people with hearing loss from all over the United States.

Discover NOLA

Our Convention hotel, the New Orleans Marriott, is a 4-star property conveniently situated in the midst of it all—right on glitzy Canal Street between the French Quarter and Warehouse District! Here are a few of the sites you can easily visit from there:

Canal Street – The famous Mardi Gras Parade route, also known for its streetcars, upscale fashion and jewelry stores (such as The Shops at Canal Place), and some of the country’s oldest restored theaters.

Royal Street – One-of-a-kind boutiques filled with vintage clothing, European antiques, art galleries, T-shirts, cookbooks, and more. Wandering down Royal is a fascinating exercise in people-watching, while perusing unique items you may never need but want to check out. Don’t miss Sucre, a bakery with amazing pastries, and Hotel Monteleone, with its revolving circus-themed Carousel Bar.

Jackson Square – A 2.5-acre National Historic Landmark designed in 1721, this central gathering place teems with local artists and musicians. Surrounding the Square are historical buildings and museums, including St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo and the Presbytère Museum—our off-site venue for Thursday night’s splashy Welcome Back Bash: A Taste of New Orleans! While there, attendees can view two exhibits: Living with Hurricanes – Katrina and Beyond and Mardi Gras: It’s Carnival Time in Louisiana.

French Market District – A historic open-air market, the oldest of its kind in the U.S., founded as a Native American trading post in 1791. Start off with a delicious beignet, café au lait and Mississippi River view at the 161-year-old Café du Monde, then visit vendor stalls with fresh produce, cheese, wine, candles, clothing and jewelry, and wind up at the Christmas shop, selling everything from Cajun ornaments to Mardi Gras themed nutcrackers.

Bourbon Street – A never-ending party in the heart of the French Quarter, this street is popular for its neon lights and raucous night life. If that’s your scene, check out this list of the 13 Best Bars on Bourbon Street.

Music, Museums and More

World renowned as a city of music and the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans boasts live performers on almost every street corner. The three-block stretch of Frenchmen Street in the Faubourg Marigny district, about a mile from the Marriott, is home to many small jazz clubs such as the Spotted Cat, Café Negril and Snug Harbor, along with countless blues, rock and reggae venues. The historic New Orleans Jazz Museum is just down the street and the Frenchmen Art Market is open nightly all summer long, featuring original art and crafts made by local artists.

In a fitting tribute to New Orleans, where music is so important to the fabric of the city, this year’s Convention Research Symposium on Friday morning is titled, “The Joy of Music/Loving Your Ears.” Topics will include protecting your hearing while making music, music perception in cochlear implant users and making music with hearing loss.

For those needing a break from the city bustle, the scenic, serene New Orleans Botanical Garden is a short Uber ride away. Check out the sculpture garden highlighting the work of Mexican American artist Enrique Alférez and the train garden with railroad cars and late-1800s streetcars on 1,300 feet of track. For history buffs, I recommend the interactive National WWII Museum and Museum and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, which are close to each other.

These are just some of the wonderful things New Orleans has to offer. There is also the Magazine District, Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, ghost tours, amazing restaurants on every corner and so much more.

See You In NOLA!

We look forward to seeing you at the HLAA 2023 Convention in New Orleans! Online Registration is open until May 26, with early-bird rates through March 31. Don’t miss our engaging Educational and State/Chapter Workshops, Awards Ceremony, Exhibit Hall, and everything else on the schedule!

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If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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“He’s friendly and he likes to play a lot. In In the morning when he wakes up, he jumps on our bed and cuddles,” said 12-year-old Nikki, who has a lot in common with the new puppy her family adopted a few weeks ago.

The 8-month-old Cavapoo – a cross between a Poodle and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel – was named “Butter” and came from a rescue for senior and disabled dogs. This fluffy rescue pup is deaf, a condition Nikki can understand since she was born with moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears. The condition was not diagnosed until Nikki was nearly two years old.

Nikki fell in love with her new dog and told her friends that his hearing loss makes him “just like me!” But how this Merrick, New York family found this special pup in need of a home is another story.

“It really is fate that we got this dog! I wasn’t even looking for another dog,” says Nikki’s dad, Dave Kramer. The family already had another Cavapoo, acquired during the COVID pandemic. “We weren’t dog people before we got Shea,” says Dave of their first dog, explaining that it came about as a kind of replacement gift when his 40th birthday trip was canceled due to the pandemic.

As the Kramers were not thinking about getting a dog, more than 100 miles away, Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Walk4Hearing Senior Manager Ronnie Adler was. After the death of the Adler family dog a year ago, they decided to start the search for a new pet, and Ronnie began scouring rescue sites near her hometown in Pennsylvania. “I saw Butter and I just thought he was the cutest thing! Then I saw in the description that he was deaf, and I thought, I have to find him a home,” said Ronnie.

She and her husband agreed that a hearing dog would be safer for them, since Ronnie and her husband both have hearing loss. So, Ronnie went to work reaching out on Facebook searching for anyone who might want a new furry friend who is deaf. Ronnie knows a lot of people connected with hearing loss, as she’s managed the Walk4Hearing events across the country for 17 years now and keeps in touch with many families and friends she’s met through the Walks.

HLAA holds Walk4Hearing in 20 cities throughout the country each year to raise awareness and funds for hearing loss. Ronnie often gets to know participants and their families who return year after year to the events, designed to bring hope to people with hearing loss in their hometown communities.

“I see a lot of new faces each year, but many familiar ones too. Once you experience the magic of a Walk, you keep coming back! It’s a special bond that I feel particularly with people who return year after year,” says Ronnie.

The Kramer family has participated in the New York City Walk4Hearing for 10 years now, raising nearly $60,000 for the cause. They love that the Walks have helped to empower their daughter.

“When we first went to the Walk, we saw a place where hearing aids and cochlear implants were normal. We felt part of a community, and that lessened the challenges we were facing. We saw so many older kids with great speech, doing great things. It gave us hope of what was to come for Nikki,” said Dave.

Dave calls Nikki fearless. She plays basketball, volleyball, and her favorite sport is softball. Nikki is an honor roll student and has a host of friends she texted to share the news of their new dog, adding that this one would be extra special because of his hearing loss.

Dave says Nikki’s resilience is bolstered by the Walk4Hearing community of support the family has experienced for so many years now. They keep participating to give back to the community that made them feel connected, and to give others with hearing loss the same hope they felt. Through the Walks, Dave and Ronnie have become friends, and the two are connected on Facebook.

Dave happened to see Ronnie’s post late one evening. He said, “I was just scrolling through my feed, and I saw the post that Ronnie shared about the dog. I clicked on it, and as soon as I saw he was deaf, and was a Cavapoo, I said to myself, we have to get this dog! I was so excited that I woke my wife up to show her the picture.”

Then next morning, the Kramers filled out the application, and the rest is history. Butter, now renamed “Mookie” after the famous New York Mets baseball player, officially joined the Kramer family, now a two-dog household, just a couple of weeks later. Mookie is now fitting in nicely and is learning from the older dog, named after the Mets stadium, Shea. The Kramers have arranged for a trainer, who has experience with dogs who are deaf, to work with Mookie.

Experts say training a deaf dog can require extra patience, but animals often adjust very well. It can also be helpful to have a hearing dog in the household. Hearing loss in pets is common, and like in humans, is often not diagnosed.

“Ronnie has been as excited as we are for this dog. I can’t believe she did this for us. It really is all because of the Walk that we have Mookie! I never would have been following a dog rescue in another state,” said Dave who says he’s now trying to help Ronnie look for a dog for her family to return the favor.

If you or someone you know has a hearing loss, visit hearingloss.org for resources and to find a local chapter, or a Walk4Hearing near you.

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For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Having hearing loss requires us to think about how we will hear everywhere we go. This can be particularly challenging in public settings like places of worship, a meeting room, or even a service counter where hearing aids alone are often not enough. Assistive listening systems like hearing loops can help you hear better in different locations — but when you’re planning your day out and about, how do you know where hearing loops are?

Know Before You Go

Thanks to a joint effort by HLAA’s Get in the Hearing Loop (GITHL) program and Google, you can now use the Google Maps app to find out before you go if a hearing loop is available at a business or venue. At the request of the HLAA GITHL committee, Google has recently added Assistive Hearing Loop as an accessibility attribute in Google Maps. Having easy access to hearing loop locations will help millions of people with hearing loss find communication access when they venture out. GITHL is helping Google Maps add loop locations to its database, and venues can also update their profiles with this information.

Hearing Loop Benefits

Hearing loops are user-friendly assistive listening systems that offer easy, immediate, discreet communication access and universal hearing aid compatibility.

A hearing loop system transmits an audio signal directly into telecoil-enabled hearing devices via a magnetic field, greatly reducing background noise. Most prescription hearing aids and cochlear implants have telecoils, ask your audiologist or hearing instrument specialist about how to use this function.

For people without hearing devices or hearing devices without a telecoil, public venues are required to provide hearing loop receivers and headphones. Watch this video on how hearing loops work.

Google Maps Gamechanger

With Google Maps hearing loop information at our fingertips, we can easily find looped locations and plan outings, errands, and activities that are hearing accessible. Without this much needed information, we may have simply stayed home.

The new Google Maps feature is good for businesses and entire communities, too. Venues can easily promote their hearing loops and attract more customers, and more people will learn about hearing loss and communication access in their neighborhoods. And all of this combines to make advocating for hearing loops easier.

Globally, you can find hearing loops in theaters, tourist attractions, senior communities, and places of worship. Hearing loops are also appearing in airports, elevators, grocery stores, libraries, and government offices. By improving audio clarity and comprehension in places where it is often difficult to hear, hearing loops help us stay engaged and active.

“When I experienced hearing loops for the first time — seven years after I started using hearing aids — it completely revolutionized my world of hearing,” said Ibrahim (Ib) Dabo, director of Enterprise Business Systems for Global Ministries, United Methodist Church and HLAA Board member, “The clarity and proximity of speech are something I never imagined. It significantly improved my understanding of speech and increased my confidence to communicate in challenging settings.”

How to Access the Google Maps Hearing Loop Accessibility Feature

• On a smartphone, open a Google Maps listing, under the photos, scroll to the right to find the “About” tab. Then click on “About” and scroll down to reveal the Accessibility Attribute; it will be listed under details.
• On a computer, open a Google Maps listing and click on the right arrow next to the location description.

You Can Help!

Help spread the word that hearing loops are now on Google Maps. Tell your friends, family and your local venues: 5 Actions to Promote Hearing Loops on Google Map

Write a hearing loop review on a venue’s Google Maps listing or use your review to request that a hearing loop be installed. When possible, include a photo of the hearing loop sign.

For more information on hearing loops, how to use them, and how to advocate for them, visit http://hearingloss.org/GITHL.

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For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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Hearing loss is an ever-present stress requiring continual adjustment for each person, place or situation experienced on any given day. Add to that, the stress of the holidays – including family dynamics, lofty expectations, and added social pressures – and you have a perfect storm for stress, anxiety, and avoidance.

More than just hearing

Why is this such a tough time? You, first, must understand that hearing loss affects more than just hearing. It’s a communication disability that can affect how you relate to others, and your overall well-being.

I’m a psychologist, with a profound hearing loss, and I see many clients with varying degrees of hearing loss all year-round. The holidays for any person with hearing loss, can be a major stress. Without a doubt, I can say that every client of mine who has hearing loss has added anxiety when the holiday season approaches. They fret about how to navigate social events with family and friends, with some opting out altogether.

The stress of dealing with the holidays can be so overwhelming, that many of us dread the times of having to smile and “pretend” our way through conversations and meals, and we look forward to January when the holidays are finished.

Silently struggling

Let’s talk about why this would be. Holidays mean more people, more noise and more talking, which all add up to more struggling to hear and communicate. For starters, think about the difference between someone who wears glasses, versus hearing aids or a cochlear implant. Glasses are visible, hearing aids or cochlear implants are sometimes not visible. And, when they are, people often assume that wearing them means we can hear very well. When we have a hearing loss, it’s easy to be as invisible as we want. And perhaps that is exactly the problem, especially around the holidays – we are “silently struggling.”

When we talk to someone who is wearing glasses, we don’t give much thought to what it is that they need to see. We can see the glasses – and often we know the degree of vision loss by looking at the thickness of the lenses. Whereas, hearing aids and cochlear implants are often out of sight, and most importantly, vision loss doesn’t affect one’s ability to communicate.

Take control of what you can

An essential part of dealing with hearing loss is recognizing that stress is inevitable, rather than trying to avoid it. The task is to learn more effective stress management and communication skills. One of the major factors in effective stress management is being able to recognize when we can be in charge and knowing what we can and cannot control.

Teachable moments

When I go into a social situation, I put on my educator’s hat and have two basic assumptions that underlie my philosophy for effective communication. First, I assume that most people know little, if anything, about hearing loss. Second, most of these people are embarrassed about asking me what I need to communicate. They often think that they should know what I need, but they really don’t, and that embarrasses them.

I truly believe that the more people know and understand about my hearing loss, the more effective communication will be for everyone involved. When I can provide information to them, I often spare them the embarrassment of having to ask me for what I need. When I do this, I not only lower their stress, but mine as well!

For many people with hearing loss, embarrassment and a sense of shame often prevents them from telling others about their hearing loss which often results in giving the wrong impression – being aloof, rude, or stupid. However, if one stops to really think about it, in not addressing your needs, you are really creating your worst fears. So, the question is, would you rather be seen as stupid/rude/aloof, or hard of hearing or deaf?

Making choices

So, what is one to do? The key to coping is recognizing where we have a sense of control in making choices. It helps to keep in mind what I call “the three A’s. In doing so, we can reduce our feelings of powerlessness, victimization, or self-pity.

The three A’s are avoid, alternative and/or accept.

For example, if I am invited to go to a noisy restaurant, I recognize that I may not be able to control the acoustics of a room because of the hardwood floors or the background music, but I can take charge of communicating my needs.

• I can choose to “beg off” and avoid going altogether.
• I could suggest an alternative, perhaps going to a quieter restaurant or switching to an earlier, less noisy time.
• I can just accept that I will be uncomfortable because it is important for me to be there for a friend or relative’s birthday, or other significant event.

Examples

If I am invited to go to a movie, I can avoid going altogether, suggest an alternative, like choosing a captioned movie, or just I can just accept that I will not understand everything.

A client was invited to a holiday fundraiser at a popular hotel where there would be loud music, dancing, and a speaker who she would struggle to understand. She decided to avoid going, but still made a donation to the cause, and alternately arranged to meet her colleagues and friends at a separate event.

Here are more hints to help you take control and navigate holiday events.

View our holiday hints

Hearing loss is a major stressor, and the best coping skills in dealing with stress are education and self-advocacy. I often choose to save my energy when it’s very important and have learned not to sweat the small stuff. I tell clients to mentally prepare themselves before events to educate others and be patient with yourself as you recuperate the next day. Ultimately, the more responsibility you take for your needs, the more you can enjoy the holidays! 

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For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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The holidays are a time for family members and friends to celebrate traditions, catch up, and enjoy each other’s company. Throughout the celebrations, it’s essential to create environments and opportunities that are comfortable and supportive for you or your guests with hearing loss, so that everyone can participate in meaningful and welcoming ways.

Create a hearing loss-friendly environment

Simple adjustments, that support hearing and sight, help create an environment that makes it easier to focus on communication. Some tips:

• Cut down on background noise. Eliminate background sounds such as holiday music, television or video games sounds, or appliances running during your get-togethers.
• Make sure areas are well lit. No need for mood lighting! Brighter lighting makes it easier to see people’s faces and catch non-verbal cues that help with communication.
• Keep sight lines open. Remove large centerpieces or scale back on holiday decorations that block sight lines, so that guests can see one another clearly.
• Arrange for circular seating. Smaller round tables ensure faces are visible for lipreading. Avoid sitting where you face a window or a distracting background, making it harder to see people’s faces and read lips.
• Designate a quiet area. Set aside a room or space that is free from the noises of the festivities, where people can engage in one-on-one conversations or take a break from listening throughout the gathering.

Educate Guests on Hearing Loss Etiquette

• Let people know your communication needs. Self-advocating is the key. People in general may not realize you have hearing loss. Don’t be shy to make your communication needs known. Others want to have meaningful conversations with you too and will be happy to follow your guidance.
• Enlist help. At gatherings, I like to have a hearing friend or family member help remind others of my communication needs. Strategies like facing me when speaking, keeping hands away from their mouth, and tapping me before talking, are extremely helpful, so I can be part of the discussion.

Provide instruction printouts for activities

Does your family enjoy playing games during the holidays? Try group games that do not require a lot of listening and that have visual cues such as charades, Pictionary, or card games. Consider printing out instructions for these activities ahead of time or offer to read aloud the rules to everyone. This way, everyone will be on the same page with easy-to-reference rules.

Consider video calls

If you can’t be together in person this holiday season, consider connecting through a video call platform like Facetime or Zoom. Video calls have the added bonus of being able to see everyone’s facial expressions. If the video call has a captioning feature, ask the host to turn captions on. If not, you can call in with a captioned telephone to see captions of what everyone says during the call.

Whether you’re hosting or attending a holiday gathering this season, keep these tips in mind for a fun, accessible experience for everyone. 

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For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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The opportunity to work from home has become more commonplace as businesses strive to keep employees engaged. For employees with hearing loss, there are some critical factors to setting up a home workspace that can help you stay focused, connected, and productive.

Manage background noise

Excess background noise is one of the most challenging obstacles for anyone working from home, particularly when there are others in your household. For example, it can be difficult to concentrate if someone in your family is watching TV or if sounds from the neighborhood, such as traffic or sirens, intrude. Noise-canceling headphones block out ambient noise and can help you stay focused. Some hearing aids and cochlear implants connect directly to headphones via Bluetooth or telecoil (t-coil), enabling you to better hear just the sounds you need for work. Check your hearing aid or cochlear implant user manual or with your audiologist to see what options you have.

Conference call etiquette

If you participate in conference calls or video calls, position your computer monitor in an area that is well lit, yet free from distracting views. Help educate your colleagues on good video call etiquette, including:

• Ask participants to say their name before they speak and request that only one person speaks at a time.

• Ask fellow employees to use the mute feature when they are not speaking, to allow you to focus on the speaker’s voice.

• Set your videoconference features to show the speaking party full screen, making it easier to read lips or pick up on facial cues throughout the call.

• Participants need to have adequate lighting that allows you to see their face, free from obstructions. Remind team members to adjust the lighting or reposition themselves if necessary.

• Ask the moderator to turn on the closed captions feature so you can read captions throughout the video call.

Notification system for chat and email

Many people rely on an audible ding from their computer to be alerted that a co-worker is trying to reach them. Consider setting up a flashing light or buzz notification to alert you whenever you receive a message. I have this set up on my iPhone and iWatch to alert me of incoming messages.

Meeting recordings

Try recording your meetings as they happen. Many video call providers allow you to store video recordings on your computer or in the cloud. That way, if you miss a snippet of a meeting or the call becomes challenging to understand, you can refer to the recording later and make sure you didn’t miss anything.

To ensure effective communication with your colleagues, consider a captioned telephone that allows you to read what the person on the other end of the line says. Depending on the type of phone model, you may be able to save conversations so you can review captions after the call.

By creating a distraction-free workspace – where you feel comfortable and connected – your work-from-home experience can be positive and productive!

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For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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The following article, by HLAA’s Larry Guterman, takes an inside look at the making of the Oscar-winning movie “CODA”, and also appears in the fall issue of Hearing Life Magazine.

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Few cultural phenomena have brought attention to the community of people with hearing loss —– which includes people who are Deaf or hard of hearing —– to the extent that the 2022 Oscar-winning movie “CODA” has. It’s the first film to win an Oscar where three of the main characters are Deaf.

The film won three Oscars

• Best Picture
• Best Adapted Screenplay for writer and director Sian Heder
• Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur

“CODA” is an acronym meaning “Child of Deaf Adults,” and the film focuses on daughter Ruby, played by Emilia Jones, who is the only hearing member in a Deaf family.

Some say the popularity of “CODA” has launched a movement for the invisible disability of hearing loss, as the film’s powerful dramatic story was brought into the mainstream. Suddenly, everyone is talking about the challenges of hearing loss, as the heartwarming coming-of-age story played out on the big screen.

Film director Larry Guterman, who lives in California, has served on the HLAA board of directors, and has severe hearing loss. He recently interviewed director Sian Heder, who adapted “CODA” from a 2014 French film. The two directors compared notes on movie-making, which both dryly observed, can be a bit like going to war. Guterman also brought his own experience contending with hearing loss to the discussion, as the two delved into why this film speaks to so many of us.

Larry shared some highlights from his discussion with Sian over Zoom in July.

A Chat with Director Sian Heder

Sian Heder sits in a room in her Gloucester, Massachusetts home, a working-class town that is the setting of her film, “CODA,” the movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, which she wrote and directed. She purchased the house, close to where she grew up, after the film. She admits the emotional tug of the movie, set in this working-class town, is not lost, even on her.

“Every time I watched it (during post-production), I cried. My editor would say to me, ‘stop it already! When are you gonna stop crying? You’ve seen it 1,000 times,’” Heder admitted.

At age 45, after years of dogged determination and perseverance trying to get the movie made despite seemingly impossible odds, Heder is the picture of calm and level-headed strength, over our Zoom call. She seems to have taken the incredible the success in stride. This master of her craft says the real rewards are the validation of her peers, and especially the impact her work has had on the marginalized and those who’ve had to struggle. She’s driven by a fierce determination to tell stories that have an impact in the world, and “CODA” achieved this in stunning, unassuming fashion.

A Familiar Story

The 2014 French version of the film used actors who did not have hearing loss, but Heder says she loved the simplicity of the story, about a girl growing up and breaking away from her family. She wanted to tell the story in a way that portrayed Deaf characters more authentically.

“This is just a kid leaving home. What I was interested in was, within that framework, the exploration of all the unfamiliar, which was looking at a family that we have never looked at before in this way. I think audiences (these days) are more open to all these kinds of unfamiliar things, like sitting in silence for a long portion of the movie,” explained Heder.

As a fellow director, I asked her about the risks of remaking a film, about taking that leap. Heder said she was intrigued by the chance to explore a kind of family dysfunction that she had never seen before — one where the more mundane daily struggle was complicated by the tension between Deaf culture and the hearing world.

“I’m really drawn to stories about outsiders, or people who have been marginalized, or communities which haven’t really been portrayed as the leads of a story. I thought it had so much potential cinematically. The original film was treated in a lighthearted way, so in a lot of ways it was very ripe to make another movie, because I thought, well, here’s this very deep premise,” she shared.

In the movie, Ruby nears the end of high school and begins to entertain her dreams of going to a renowned music college for singing. She struggles with breaking free from her Deaf parents and brother, who rely heavily on her as a translator for their fishing business, and they can’t relate to her love of singing. The family drama is set in a small fishing town near where Heder grew up. I asked Heder if she had a personal connection to hearing loss, or to the Deaf community before making the film.

“I did not have it before, and I deeply found it. As I was making the film, I knew going in that I was an outsider to this community, and if I was going to tell this story, I had to have collaborators from the community. There’s a saying within the Deaf community that I’m sure applies to any underrepresented community, which is ‘Nothing About Us Without Us,’ she explained.

“When I started researching the film, I immediately had… four key “CODA” collaborators who were sharing their experiences with me… The more that I understood and learned about Deaf community and culture, the more adamant I became about how the movie needed to be made. I knew that I wanted to have not only Deaf actors in these roles, but I also wanted to have 50% of the dialogue in American Sign Language (ASL), without having Ruby speak through all of those scenes, which is what was being pushed on me. I didn’t want to use music to fill up all of the silence,” she said.

Committed to Authenticity

The studio felt her choices were not commercial and wouldn’t appeal to mainstream audiences, and promptly dropped the project. The movie was dead for six months, until one of the supportive studio executives left and helped get it made independently.

Heder learned sign language for the movie and immersed herself in the culture through her collaborators. Everyone was on-board, including actress Marlee Matlin, who usually wears a hearing aid, but took it out for the movie to play Jackie Ross more accurately. Jackie is Ruby’s mom, who signs but doesn’t speak at all.

“I think that was my goal going in — to make a movie that honored Deaf culture, that really portrayed it in an authentic and nuanced way, but that also transcended it and made it about the experience of family,” Heder said.

Eventually, the movie was bought by Apple TV, allowing Heder to celebrate her choices that seemed risky at the time, including her choice of the high school concert scene where Ruby sings in her glee club performance. The audience experiences the scene from her Deaf parents’ point of view — in total silence, thus allowing hearing viewers to empathize with their daily struggle.

“It’s very validating as an artist to be like, ‘This is what I knew in my gut was not a conversation,’ and, sure enough, they are all the things that people have looked at as being unique about the movie,” Heder explained. “Down to the silent concert scene, which I was arguing with people about up until the final mix.”

Common Struggles

Heder even incorporated one of the most commonly frustrating experiences for people with hearing loss, a group conversation in noisy background chatter, that you struggle to follow. In the movie, Ruby’s brother Leo, played by Daniel Durant, who yearns to be accepted among his co-workers, struggles to lip-read when he goes to a local bar with them, but bluffs and laughs along with the jokes anyway.

The scene is shot from Leo’s perspective in the bar, and the shots mirror his point of view, making it impossible to follow what’s happening.

“If you watch this scene, the camera is on some- one’s lips, but then they drink a beer (blocking their lips)” Heder said. “Then someone else laughs across the table, the focus changes; next, Leo’s looking at a woman across the bar, and by that point, he’s tuned out and it’s like, ‘who cares anyway?’”

Heder shared that it was a variation on a scenario her collaborators described in excruciating detail, and it’s one I can certainly relate to. Our easy rapport discussing this experience illustrated her deep empathetic commitment to telling this story, which feels like everyone’s story who has a hearing loss.

I described my own experience to Heder, “I was at Thanksgiving dinner last year with strangers and for two hours, I was pretending to laugh and nod, and wondering, am I reacting appropriately? So, you’re having this weird out-of-body experience where you’re trying to engage with the person, and you can’t quite understand…and you’re also evaluating whether your persona and affect…is appropriate.”

It’s a feeling that Heder says she’s since experienced herself during rapid-fire group sign language conversations, struggling to follow along and sometimes pretending to understand, and eventually becoming exhausted, and giving up.

She expressed her surprise, even indignation, at, “the amount of work that is asked of people who have a disability to…play along, to make do in the world, without anybody bending or changing their behavior to sort of accommodate you.”

She was committed to creating a scene that immersed the viewer in the daily struggle people with hearing loss contend with. Scenes like these are cinematic gold — they speak not only to people with hearing loss, but also to hearing audiences — they’re specific and universal — artful, hopeful and uplifting.

New Perspective

Heder explains, “I think the experience of making “CODA” has also helped me understand how sort of barren the field of representation has been in terms of the Deaf and hard of hearing community, and the disability community in general. So, I’m also very invested as a storyteller, in continuing to tell these stories.”

As a director with hearing loss, I can’t thank Heder enough for her commitment to telling a story about disability in which everyone can feel included — a beautifully crafted, funny, empathetic work that touches the soul.

Stay tuned to HLAA’s Hearing Life e-news and social media channels for video clips and more details of my interview with Sian Heder.

You can watch “CODA” on Apple TV+.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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This October, the recently released U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations will go into effect and over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids will be available to those 18 years or older with self-perceived mild to moderate hearing loss. While this is welcomed news for many, it can also be confusing for those who are now thinking about finally addressing their hearing loss, either by themselves with an OTC device, or seeking help from a licensed professional to get a prescription device.  I’ve been asked for advice by many friends and family members about what to do, so I wanted to share my thoughts with the HLAA community.

My audiology journey began over 35 years ago in private practice in Huntington, West Virginia. After seeing patients for several years, I accepted a position in the hearing aid industry and worked there for the rest of my career until my retirement. I now consult within the hearing industry. There have been many changes in the technology, including the evolution from analog to digital technology; changes in popular hearing aid styles from behind-the-ear (BTE) to custom in-the-ear, and now to receiver-in-the-ear (RIC); and of course, the introduction of Bluetooth streaming to capture phone calls and audio directly to your ears. However, the change in the distribution of hearing aids can be both exciting and overwhelming.

Pathways to purchase OTC hearing aids

There will be multiple pathways to purchase an OTC device, including self-selection, seeing a hearing professional first, or working with a hearing professional after you’ve purchased an OTC product. The FDA regulations are clear that no state can require a licensed hearing professional to be involved in the sale of OTC hearing aids; however, they can be an important part of the process. Let’s review the pathways to purchase:

1. Self-selection

   Adults can visit a retail store that sells OTC devices and select one based on the style, cost, technology and the information provided on the required labeling of the product. The labeling includes specific safety information required by the FDA, a guide to environments you may have difficulty listening in if you have mild to moderate hearing loss, additional instructions for use of the devices and, most importantly, if the devices can be returned if you’re not satisfied. Once purchased, use them in the listening situations you find most challenging to determine if you will be able to receive a benefit from the device. These situations include family gatherings, meetings, noisy restaurants, phone calls, or watching TV, to name a few. If they do not provide benefit, return them prior to the end of the return/trial period. It’s important to ensure a return period is available, as FDA does not require that one be provided with the purchase of your device.

2. Visit a hearing professional before making a purchase

   An alternative is to schedule a visit with a hearing professional to have a complete hearing test. You will receive information about your hearing loss and can discuss whether OTC devices may provide you with benefit. You might even purchase the OTC devices at the clinic. Not all hearing professionals will make the decision to sell OTC devices, but then CAN evaluate your hearing and provide guidance on the appropriate technology for your hearing and lifestyle needs. If you elect to visit a hearing professional, there may be a cost for the hearing testing and consultation visit depending on how they charge for their services.

3. See a hearing professional if you’re struggling with an OTC device

   If you have purchased a device that doesn’t seem to be working in the way you expected, you can visit a hearing professional to ask questions about the device and your hearing needs. Nearby licensed hearing professionals can be found at hearing.org/find-a-hearing-professional/. You will benefit from getting a complete hearing test and guidance/counseling on how best to use the device. You may learn that the device you selected is not appropriate for you, or an element of the device is not working properly. Be sure to schedule this visit prior to the end of any return period (if applicable) to ensure you can return the products and make a selection that is best for you.

I believe that having a hearing professional involved will provide information and guidance during this process. The additional cost may be valuable in several ways, including avoiding a device that may not be appropriate for your degree of hearing loss and providing communication strategies for listening in difficult environments like background noise.

There will be many choices, and this can be confusing for some. I do expect that some experienced hearing aid owners with mild to moderate hearing loss may already have significant experience with devices and elect to purchase OTC products without the assistance of a hearing professional. For new users, the suggested pathways can help lead to successful use of OTC devices. The most important guidance is whatever pathway you choose, be ready to invest time in learning how the devices function, how to insert them, how to change batteries if necessary, how to clean and maintain them, and how to maximize your benefits in difficult listening situations. Hearing is one of our most important senses and during my career as an audiologist, I have seen the success of those who took action to treat their hearing loss. To reopen your world of sounds, communication, and connections that are most important to you, I encourage you to take that first step.

To help you decide if an OTC hearing aid could work for you, visit our Tip Sheet, and stay tuned for more information and resources soon.

For questions, contact HLAA at inquiries@hearingloss.org.

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