Oh, to have a quiet moment. Welcome to the world of tinnitus. It’s a condition characterized by a perceived ringing, buzzing or whistling sound in the ears. Lipreading Mom’s 6-year-old daughter recently shared she can’t hear the teacher at school well because of the sounds inside her ears. Her school audiologist admits there isn’t an objective … Continue reading
Test the Ears You Love
My three kids range in age from 3 to 10. Two of them go to school full time, and one is currently being taught at home by his Lipreading Mom. Although each one has amazing abilities that I notice even though I’m maternally biased, I sometimes wonder about their ears. They come from a long line … Continue reading
Do Hearing Aids Belong in the Gym?
A few weeks ago, Lipreading Mom got her rear off the couch and headed to the gym. Entering the workout center after the long hiatus made me feel naked. I’d left two items from my wardrobe behind: my ear buds and hearing aids. While fellow gym goers suited up for an hour of elliptical skiing, … Continue reading
Tell Me a Story
My young daughter sits on my lap as we flip through her Precious Moments storybook about the birth of Jesus. The room is quiet. She watches wide-eyed as I flip through the cardboard pages. Although it is a picture book, there are so many words that I have to paraphrase to stay within a young … Continue reading
Ouch! It Hurts to Lipread the Dentist
As I sat in the patient’s chair gripping the vinyl armrests, a mask-wearing dentist probed my mouth. Her findings nearly busted my jaw: Multiple chipped teeth, a recessed gum and six cavities. One cavity for each year I put off going for a check-up. I tensed even more as she injected anesthesia into my infected … Continue reading
Mom Goes to Press for Captions
It never ceases to amaze me how strong moms raising special needs children are. This morning, my local newspaper ran an editorial by a mom infuriated by the lack of captioned movies at local theaters. Read the entire Captioning Editorial. A portion of the editorial is also included at the end of my post. Her words, which captivated me … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom’s 5 Tips for a Happy Holiday with 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 10 years of holidaytime hearing loss experience. The whole family is packed around the dinner table, busily chatting about their good fortune and laying … Continue reading
How to Strike Up a ‘Deaf’ Conversation
It’s sad but true. I’ve observed friends, family and strangers with perfect hearing reluctant to talk to someone who is Deaf. I’ve seen this happen in restaurants, libraries, the post office and church. Something Lipreading Mom has committed to doing is to initiate an ASL* conversation with people I don’t know. These are people I … Continue reading
Joy to the World! Baby JoJo Has Come
It’s easy to go through the day feeling like nothing special or out of the ordinary can happen. As a Lipreading Mom with progressive hearing loss for almost 10 years, I often have my moments of feeling unsure about the future. But when I’m tempted to wallow in self-pity, I think about the surprise that came into my … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom Wants Captions!
Well, it’s about time. As I’ve written about on this blog before, I’m among the thousands of Deaf and hard of hearing moviegoers fed up with not being able to understand movie dialogue. Now a group is sueing Cinemark theatres for lack of captioned movies. This is a theater chain that hasn’t yet embraced captioning technology … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom 