Related to hearing loss. There’s a lot of good stuff in our lives. Trimming it down to 10 would be a bit tough. So I’m e gonna stick with the top 10 DHH-related things I’m thankful for.
10 – Hoods
Water and bionic ears are mortal enemies. ‘Nuff said.
9- The Lenire
The Lenire is a bimodal neuromodulation device designed to treat tinnitus. The device has three components; the controller, a set of headphones, and a tongue tip. The headphones deliver a deluge of sounds. Like a wave, the sounds rise and fall over the course of a thirty minute session. The purpose of the falling is to re-train my brain to realize it doesn’t always have to play sounds. Because that’s what tinnitus is: my brain thinking my ears are mistaken and playing sound at frequencies I can no longer hear. The tongue-tip is a plastic doohickey with electrodes on the end which deliver shocks to my tongue. That’s the bimodal part. This second sensory input essentially yells “What’s that!” to my brain, trying to trick it to look away. Or in this case stop playing the sounds I can no longer hear. While it didn’t end my battle with tinnitus, the treatment I spent all of 2024 doing helped me substantially. If you’d like to read more about it, I blogged about the initial twelve-week treatment period.
8- Text-based communication.
I hopped onto the information superhighway back when that term was popular. My first ISP was Eathlink, my first email was Juno. I used email or AIM to chat with my friends in high school. I started working in IT in 2000 and my love affair with email entered the public sphere. It was a lucky break for this DHH dude. Because so much of IT communication happens over electronic mail.
I was late to the cellphone game. I didn’t get a flip phone until my senior year in college in 2003. Texting on one of those bad boys was an exercise in patience. But I had that patience. I waited to get a cell because I hate the phone. When I got a work cell, I gave up my personal cell. One of the happiest days of my life was when they gave me my first Blackberry. I still miss that physical keyboard!
I often hear people bemoaning kids these days and their refusal to pick up the phone. I don’t ce-moan it let alone bemoan it. I love it. I love the fact that most vendors will willingly exchange emails. The tech support anyway. The salesmen are another story. I’m getting better at letting them know of my hearing loss. But I’m still not great at it.
As kids these days start to assume mantles of power, I’m hoping text-based communication becomes the norm and that people start bemoaning olds these days and their refusal to text.
7- Caption technology
I recently watched Rocky for the first time. (I know, I know) And I was struck by Sly’s lips.They move as if every phoneme they form costs $100. The dude’s speech is death on the hard of hearing. I wouldn’t have been able to watch it without closed captions. Not that I even try to watch any movie or TV show without CCs now. I haven’t for years at this point. Not since Netflix and all the streaming services that came in its financial wake decided to abide by the ADA and caption their streaming shows.
I’m thankful open captions have become more common on commercials
I’m thankful for the prevalence of closed caption devices at movie theaters and open captions at art houses.
I’m thankful that AI is getting so good at automatically captioning videos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even Zoom has the captions available in almost all cases.
I’m thankful for companies like Capitfy who are moving the captions of caption app technology up to eye-level.
But sometimes text just won’t do.
6- Bluetooth Technology
While Apple Podcast app now captions podcasts (including ours!), that doesn’t help me whilst I’m walking Happy.
I had an Android phone for years but it didn’t pair directly with my bionic ears. And I couldn’t always afford a ConnectClip to bridge the gap. Nor did I have a car that I could pair my phone to. Which meant some podcasts were below my hearing threshold. That’s why I was so excited when I got an iPhone three years ago. It allowed me to pair my latest set of aids directly. Which allowed me to listen to one of my favorite etymology podcasts, A Way with Words while I’m out and about or driving.
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I also use Bluetooth to blast Baby Metal or Megadeath while I’m working out. Sometimes I use my Bluetooth JBL headphones. But I have to take out my bionic ears (headphones + hearing aids = owie) and run the risk of damaging my hearing further. So, most times I leave my aids in and use Bluetooth to send the music on my phone to them. I also have a Bluetooth Bose speaker that I use occasionally. But never during workouts. I don’t want to scare Happy!
5- My Job
The ADA requires workplaces give disabled employees accommodations to do their jobs. But I’ve heard first-hand accounts of how many companies would rather drum up some cockamamie charge and fire the employee than give them accommodations.
I’m thankful my job isn’t one of them.
I got approval to put a flashing doorbell outside my office because it used to be a stairwell. There’s a half-wall blocking my view of my door. And I can’t always hear someone who’s come a-knocking.
I got approval for a T-Coil headset to give me a chance of holding a phone conversation. It doesn’t always help because it doesn’t clarify someone who mumbles, someone who has an accent, or someone who SpeaksAsIfTheMoreWordsTheySayTheMoreMoneyTheyEarn.
I got approval for a ConnectClip. Since I have more than a few Zoom calls, I needed help. And thanks to the same challenges as the T-coil, I need the help of the captions too.
I love being a librarian. So, yeah, I’m thankful for my job.
4- The DHH Community
I’ve met some amazing people thanks to being involved with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. Some were literally life-changing. It helps tremendously to be surrounded by people who can empathize with the perpetual struggle to hear. I’m inspired by all the phenomenal work people are doing. As Julie and I say, there’s no one way to be deaf. And the community is filled with variations on that theme. And what’s more, no one treats advocacy like a pie (mmmmm, pie). One person doesn’t take away the opportunity of another. There’s room for us all. (If only pie DID work that way.)
3- Oticon
Be it dumb luck or design specs, Ociton is my hearing aid brand. As we’ve said on our show, sound is proprietary. And so the way I hear the world is literally brought to me by Oticon. I don’t think one manufacturer is better than another. It’s simply that my brain likes the Oticon sound better. And they were ahead of the AI game. I read a lot about hearing health, which means I read a lot about hearing aid advancements. For the last few years, every manufacturer has been touting their use of AI. Well, Oticon has been using AI since 2016.
2- My audiologist
One of the many, many things I took away from Hear & Beyond, was that who your audiologist is matters. You don’t have to stay with an audiologist you don’t like. You have the right to ask more of your audiologist. I’ve had a goodly number of them in the past 20 years. And Chris is leaps and bounds better than any of them.
She takes the time to explain things. She takes the time to research questions. She takes the time to make sure the moldings I ordered, the firmware I need, the aids themselves are all working the way they should be.
She even talked me out of buying some bone conduction headphones after asking around and comparing my audiogram with what the headphones could do.
She didn’t take offense when I took a year off to see another audiologist. Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary wasn’t one of the clinics to offer The Lenire. I’d been following the development during the clinical trials in Ireland. And when it came stateside, I asked if she’d hear about it. She hadn’t. And then did some of that aforementioned research on it. Only to find she couldn’t help with it. So I went off to Tobais Battite and Dr. Sabine worked with me for a year. And when that year’s treatment was done, I went back to Chris. Who wanted to know all about it.
A good audiologist is hard to find. I’m thankful I found mine.
1 – My DHH BFF
I don’t know where I’d be without Julie.
I’ve only known her for 17 months. Yes, months. But it feels like forever. And not just when some hare-brained idea of hers leaves my introverted knees a-quaking. This isn’t meant to throw shade on any of the other amazing people I’ve met in the DHH community. It’s just that the friendship Julie and I share defies explanation. Believe me, I’ve tried.
We work so well together. We each bring different skills to the business partnership, which carry over to the friendship. I’m yin. She’s yang. That’s why our show’s logo is what it is.
We have a blast doing the show but somehow always manage to impart at least a li’l bit o’wisdom. I feel like we have the chance to change the world. It took me a long time to advocate for myself. I want to help people to make that journey more quickly. I want to help destigmatize hearing loss. I know I don’t have what it takes to do it alone. But together? Julie and I damn sure have what it takes. And more.
That’s why the #1 thing I’m thankful for is my DHH BFF, Julie.
No shortage of thanks
do I have in my life.
Luck? Fate? Matters not.
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