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Whether we adorn our hair, ears, arms, hands or belly buttons, Americans clearly enjoy personalizing with embellishments. Our eyewear is glitzy, big-faced watches are making a comeback, and some shoes even light up each time we take a step. Why should our hearing aids be any different? Thirteen-year-old Hayleigh Scott didn’t think they should be.…

My friend Roger Draper, who kindly let me write about him before for Healthy Hearing, lives with a profound hearing loss. Yet he spends hours every day enjoying classical music. He listens with high-quality amplified headphones when home alone, but if he is at a concert or watching an opera at home with a companion,…

Contributed by Joy Victory, managing editor, Healthy HearingAugust 4, 20202020-08-04T00:00:00-05:00 If you experience hearing loss, you may be referred to an otolaryngologist or a neurotologist to determine the underlying cause of your condition.   What is an otolaryngologist? Otolaryngologists are medical doctors who treat problems of the ear, nose and throat, hence why they’re also known…

Some people can hear very little in one ear—so much so that a standard hearing aid won’t help.  If a sound occurs on the side of your bad ear, your head literally blocks the sound from reaching your good ear.  Audiologists call this the “head-shadow effect,” and it tends to affect consonants, the higher-frequency sounds…

Contributed by Joy Victory, managing editor, Healthy HearingJuly 20, 20202020-07-20T00:00:00-05:00 When and how often you should get your hearing checked depends on several factors. Do you suspect you have hearing loss? Or do you already have documented hearing loss?  Your age and job occupation are other big factors.  Testing vs. screening for hearing loss Testing is conducted when…

If you have mid-range hearing loss, your audiogram will be shaped like a bell, or the letter U. This is also known as cookie-bite hearing loss.  “It got that name because when a patient with this pattern of hearing loss has an audiogram and the hearing thresholds are graphed, the pattern is a ‘U’ that…

Contributed by Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy HearingJuly 6, 20202020-07-06T00:00:00-05:00 Two-year-old Kena didn’t notice that her hearing aids were attracting attention during storytime at the library—but her mom did. “I can’t let other kids define who Kena is,” her mom, Krystyna, confided to Kena’s grandmother that evening. “I want her to be fierce.”  The children’s book “Super…

Contributed by Joy Victory, managing editor, Healthy HearingJune 28, 20122012-06-28T00:00:00-05:00 No matter the severity of your hearing loss, there’s a hearing aid designed to fit your hearing needs, lifestyle and personality. Like most technology, hearing aids vary from economical models that simply amplify sound to more expensive models with wireless technology and state-of-the-art features. You’ll…

When Heather Whitestone became the first deaf contestant to win the Miss America pageant in 1995, she wowed the judges with moving classical ballet en pointe for the talent portion of the competition. Because she couldn’t hear the music, she counted the beats in her head and synchronized her dance moves to reflect changes in…

American swimmer Marcus Titus may be deaf, but he’s one of the fastest swimmers in the nation. And when USA Swimming decided not to use hand signals to start races in the Olympic trials last month, he was just as quick to remind them their rule book said otherwise. The resulting reversal was a victory…