by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. © June, 2018   Hearing, if you have a significant hearing loss, is not easy in many group situations. What is easy, is becoming a “wounded warrior” when what should have been a happy get together turns into a humiliating and painful experience because of our hearing losses. For example, […]

  by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. January 29, 2016 I have compiled a number of my closely-related articles into booklets in PDF format so you can freely download them, print them out and give them to your clients or friends. They are not to be sold or posted on any website. These booklets are designed to […]

  by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.  and Steve Barber January 12, 2016 A person asked, I have recently been diagnosed with significant bilateral hearing loss. I will be seeing an audiologist to be fitted with hearing aids for the first time. What do I need to know about hearing loss and hearing aids? As a hard […]

  by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. ©  July, 2015   Our brains are marvelous organs. They are always trying to make sense out of what we hear. Thus, when we miss something, they try to fill in the gaps in what we misheard with something that seems to make sense, even if it doesn’t really make […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. Tammy, a hard of hearing lady, explained, “In spite of the many hardships I’ve experienced from my progressive hearing loss, I am by nature an optimist and always try to see the silver-lining and humour in situations. I have had countless opportunities to laugh at myself over misunderstood conversations, misheard words, […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. There is a terrible, yet invisible, toll that hearing loss extracts from many hard of hearing people at family gatherings when family members do not take steps to effectively meet the hard of hearing person’s hearing needs. To help you understand what it is like to be hard-of-hearing at family gatherings, […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A lady wrote, I am hearing and my husband is very hard of hearing. When we are together and my husband doesn’t understand someone, I often pitch in and repeat or rephrase what the other person is saying. I would love to have some guidelines for doing this in a respectful […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A concerned daughter wrote, My step-dad has been hard of hearing since the 1990s due to being a gunner in Vietnam. Only in the last 8 years has he decided to not wear his hearing aids even though he got some updated ones just 3 years ago. I have seen the […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A man wrote, Have you addressed the issue of “speech rate” as a factor in hearing loss and comprehension? As I recall, the “optimal” speech rate is approximately 180 words per minute (wpm). Yet I find that the broadcast industry (radio and TV) are hiring commentators who speak at least 210 […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. Doesn’t it just irk you when you go into a coffee shop and the TV is on, but there are no captions so you can’t understand what is going on? Maybe you are in the breakfast area at a motel and they are showing the weather for the day—but you can’t […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A man explained, I have had a hearing loss since I was a child. My hearing loss continues to increase as I get older. I have been spending more and more on hearing aids that don’t seem to help. I have trouble in crowds and have increasingly avoided gatherings with more […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A lady wrote, My friend asked me why I didn’t tell her I hadn’t heard her. I said, “If I didn’t hear, how do I know to ask?” I liked the “duh” look on her face. That’s sort of my experience. When I was in school, the only accommodation I had […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. One hard of hearing lady vented, I get very annoyed when people speak too fast. I have great difficulty understanding them and miss a lot. I wish radio and TV announcers, public speakers, etc. would speak slower so I have a hope of understanding most of what they say. I’m sure […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. A man explained, I recently encountered two positive experiences in regard to my hearing problems and wanted to share them in case they may be of help to others. 1. With the passing years (I’m 87) I’ve lost the ability to enjoy my favorite music of the “Big Band” era when […]

by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. If you are hard of hearing, you need to learn to advocate for yourself and your unique hearing needs. One lady did just that. Here is her story. I asked about an interpreter or CART [real time captioning] for cardiac catheterization and this is how it turned out. I went to […]