Hear & Beyond is a Game-Changer for Living Well with Hearing Loss

Book Review by Laurie Hanin

Laurie Hanin, CHC Executive Director

There are many books available today that are written by and for consumers with hearing loss with the goal of creating a well-informed individual regarding all hearing health care needs. Most read either as memoirs or a guide book with tips, but Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss is much more.

Hear & Beyond, by Shari Eberts and Gael Hannan, very deftly combines insight into the authors’ own personal experiences and coming to terms with their hearing loss with nothing short of an encyclopedia of strategies and skills that enable individuals with hearing loss to live and communicate effectively, regardless of how long one has had the loss.

3 Steps to Better Communication

The book centers around three global topics:

1. Understanding what to expect when you have a hearing loss—from recognizing the emotions you may have and the reasons for your hearing loss, to learning the technologies that can help combat the loss;

2. Learning multi-varied strategies that will help you communicate better—including MindShifts, a way of reframing unproductive, destructive thoughts into constructive, actionable statements;

3. Applying proven strategies to just about every aspect of life—from dating and entertainment, to work, friendships, and medical appointments.

A Real Game-Changer

While the book’s primary audience is adults with hearing loss, this should be required reading for every hearing care professional. The personal sharing of the authors' own hearing loss journeys provides sensitive insight that, all too often, those of us without hearing loss simply neither know nor understand. Their explanation of patient-centered care should be the gold standard for every hearing care professional to strive for. And the hearing hacks (or tricks), techniques and workarounds that can yield improved communication are a great add-on to helping clients learn to live with their hearing loss.

I highly recommend this book for every adult whose life, in some way, is affected by hearing loss. The insight will benefit not only those with the hearing loss, but also family members, friends and the hearing care professionals who desire to help them. It's a real game-changer.

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Read Q&A with authors Sharie Eberts and Gael Hannan

Learn more at HearAndBeyond.com