In my soon-to-be-published memoir, Confessions of a Lip Reading Mom, I encountered someone who wasn’t too kind about my hearing loss… As we drove away from the church, I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds. With the window cracked, I heard moving cars coming from the nearby highway. That sound had been deaf … Continue reading
Filed under Hearing Aid Hysteria …
Lipreading Mom Launches Video Campaign for Show Me Your Ears
Friends – This morning, I launched the LipreadingMom YouTube channel and uploaded a new Show Me Your Ears video to promote my deaf and hearing loss awareness campaign. Would you please watch and share? Thanks so much! Lipreading Mom on YouTube
Do You Have a Hearing Loss Question? Ask Lipreading Mom!
I’ve always wanted to be Dear Abby. In the fourth grade, I taped an envelope to my school desk with the words “Have a question? Ask Shanna!” scribbled on it. Friends would write notes with questions about homework, friendship, and when to start dating (My advice to the latter: “You’re too young!”). So it seemed … Continue reading
How to Hear Someone on the Phone When You Have Hearing Loss
My ears have a love-hate relationship with the phone. For 12 years, I’ve struggled to hear conversations from a variety of telephones—a regular landline, amplified phone, mobile phone, cell phone with Bluetooth capabilities. I tried phone captioning, but the captions didn’t always interpret word-for-word. Sometimes the words were scrambled or misinterpreted. That’s why I loved … Continue reading
Girl Scouts, Switched at Birth, and Deaf Pioneers – Lipreading Mom’s Year in Pictures (Part 2)
I will go on the record as saying this: 2012 was a good year for Lipreading Mom. As the year comes to an end, I am thankful for my family and our health, friendships and new opportunities. I am thankful for you, my faithful reader. Was this year everything you wanted it to be? If … Continue reading
These Kids Joyfully Show Me Their Ears
I have a lot to learn from children with hearing loss. In the weeks since I launched the Show Me Your Ears campaign, kids from all over the world have posed with their hearing aids and cochlear implants. Their photos are inspiring and fun. These young people aren’t afraid to show off their ears with … Continue reading
Five Survival Tips for Celebrating the Holidays with a Hearing Loss
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. But for the 1 in 10 people with hearing loss, it’s also the most challenging time for communication. Lipreading Mom should know. I’ve had 11 years of holidaytime hearing loss experience. The whole family is packed around the dinner table, busily chatting about their good fortune and … Continue reading
My Whirlwind Day of Sign Language, Storytelling…and Dead Hearing Aid Batteries
I took part this past weekend in the KC Ability Expo, an event in my area that promotes understanding of differently abled individuals and support organizations. The annual fest features info booths, artists, wheelchair dancers, a Deaf choir, and other entertainment. As a second-year Expo volunteer, I split duties between helping with a Hearing Loss … Continue reading
My Hearing Aids Story…In Pictures
Hearing aids are a gift. Imagine hearing birds chirping for the first time, or a baby’s laugh, or a kitten purring. By placing hearing technology in my ears, my whole world of listening goes from gray tones to a Technicolor symphony. When I lost more hearing earlier this year, the two pairs of hearing aids … Continue reading
Did My Hearing Aids Really Hear a Whisper?
What a difference one day of good hearing makes! Highlights of today included listening to my oldest son’s whisper for the first time and chatting with my daughter in the car while I drove. A week ago, neither would not have been possible for me to hear. I owe these communication milestones to my new … Continue reading