Hearing Better During the Holidays

Most of us have a lot going on during the holidays, including shopping, family gatherings, holiday plays and concerts, and parties — all of which could be challenging, especially if you have a hearing loss. What can you do to hear better and enjoy the holidays, rather than just surviving them?

The wonderful Chelle Wyatt at Hearing Loss Live has excellent suggestions for overcoming listening fatigue, such as taking hearing breaks.

The World Health Organization Is Listening to People with Hearing Loss

Shari Eberts, HLAA board member and hearing loss advocate, shared her hearing loss story at the World Hearing Forum Stakeholder’s Meeting at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, this past November. Read her blog post on her experience at the meeting in Geneva.

The Stakeholder’s Meeting goals included discussing barriers to changing hearing loss perceptions and integrating hearing care into public health throughout our lives.

Shari has been a member of the World Hearing Forum since March 2022.

Captions Added on FaceTime iPhone Calls

Live captions are now available for video FaceTime calls on your iPhone. Read about how to turn them on in iOS16 or iOS17.

The captions are in beta (early testing), so let us know how they work for you.

HLAA Honors and Helps Veterans with Hearing Loss

Hearing loss is a very common disability among servicemembers of all ages. In fact, HLAA was founded by a veteran with hearing loss, Rocky Stone, in 1979. Today, HLAA carries Rocky’s work forward, building a community of support for these American heroes. Please share these resources with veterans you know who may need help.

• HLAA’s Veterans Across America Virtual Chapter meets monthly via Zoom. Caregivers are welcome, too. This chapter is sponsored by Starkey.
• Complimentary HLAA membership for veterans.
• Complimentary convention registration.

Remember, the VA provides hearing care and hearing aids to veterans with hearing loss.

Gratefully, we tip our hats to our veterans.

Hearing Loss Advocate Katherine Bouton Talks Cochlear Implants

More and more people are thinking about and even receiving cochlear implants (CIs). In her latest blogpost, hearing loss advocate Katherine Bouton shares her experiences with her CI. Spoiler alert: She loves it.

A Plethora of Tools Available for Hearing Loop Advocates

So you’d like to advocate for hearing loops in your neighborhood, but you aren’t sure where to start? Or you’ve begun the process, but you’re stuck?

The HLAA Get in the Hearing Loop program (GITHL) offers a TON of tools to help you know what to do next, how to overcome objections, and figure out your next steps.

• A toolkit that includes fact sheets, brochures, best practices, posters, logos, promotion tools, a sample RFP, and even a Powerpoint presentation template.
• A two-part toolkit handbook to help you know where and when to use items in the toolkit. Part 1 is here, and part 2 is here.
• A 50-page advocacy guide to cheer you on, direct your efforts, and get you to the finish line.

And much more.

Feel free to reach out to the GITHL team if you have questions: GITHLinfo@hearingloss.org.

National Hearing Loop Advocate Juliette Sterkens Is Winning Hearts and Minds

New technologies hold promise, but people with hearing loss still need telecoils in their hearing aids and hearing loops in public spaces, says Juliette Sterkens, AuD. As a national hearing loop advocate, Juliette carries her message across the country and around the world.

And people are taking notice.

The Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) presented Juliette with their advocacy award on November 1, 2023 at ALDAcon in Austin, Texas.

And Juliette was a featured presenter at TEDX Oshkosh on November 4, 2023.

To find out more about Juliette’s work on behalf of people with hearing loss for HLAA and HLAA’s Get in the Hearing Loop program, check out this cover story in Hearing Life magazine.

This week, Juliette — who’s also a brand-new grandmother — is on her way to Australia. Stay tuned for more about her TEDX adventure and learn what she’s up to next.

Accessibility Tips in Honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month

How can you make sure your communications are accessible to everyone, including employees and customers who might have a disability? Here are some tips from the U.S. Department of Labor.

• Write social media posts informally and in plain language. Avoid abbreviations and spell out acronyms.
• Use @mentions to tag other organizations on social media and use relevant hashtags on keywords and phrases to categorize posts.
• For multi-word hashtags, capitalize the first letters of each section of a compound word (#LikeThisExample).
• Provide closed captioning for YouTube videos. You can do this automatically, or you can add and edit captions manually.
• Add captions to Facebook video posts. Make sure captions are turned on for live videos.

Find Cool Jewelry for Your Hearing Aid

The name “DEAFMETAL” might make you think of an ear-crushing rock band from the 70s, but this DEAFMETAL is actually something very different (and gentler): It’s a brand of jewelry for your hearing devices.

The artist behind the jewelry, Jenni Ahtiainen, wears hearing aids herself. She has an accessory-design background–U2’s lead singer Bono himself owns one of her scarves.

Jenni’s designs range from cute and appropriate for kids, to feminine, to sporty, to, well, kind of metal. We love how Jenni makes hearing aids stylish, fun, and even beautiful.

You can order DEAFMETAL jewelry from their US distributor, DEAFMETAL USA.

A Seat at the Table Means Hearing Loss Advocacy Wins

Barbara Kelley, HLAA Executive Director, was recently named to the National Institutes of Health Council of Councils. This prestigious appointment is part of HLAA’s behind-the-scenes work that ensures hearing loss is part of conversations around public health, policy, research, and programs across the country and around the world.

Read HLAA’s blog post, “A Seat at Many Tables,” to learn more about this vital HLAA priority .