What I Hear

Humor

Resilience and a Sense of Humor

Katherine Bouton on July 18, 2019

"People often tell me I’m an inspiration. What choice is there?"

"People often tell me I’m an inspiration. What choice is there?"

Genetics

Will We Cure Hearing Loss?

Katherine Bouton on June 17, 2018

There's progress in the search for a cure for hearing loss, but don't give up your hearing aids just yet.

There's progress in the search for a cure for hearing loss, but don't give up your hearing aids just yet.

Aging

Debunking the Stigma of Age

Katherine Bouton on April 20, 2018

You don't have to be old to have hearing loss. Let's debunk that dangerous stereotype.

You don't have to be old to have hearing loss. Let's debunk that dangerous stereotype.

Health

Are You Sure Your Patient Is Hearing You?

Katherine Bouton on February 12, 2018

Patient communication is essential. Undetected hearing loss can undermine that.

Patient communication is essential. Undetected hearing loss can undermine that.

New findings that may hold promise for the prevention of hereditary hearing loss.

Depression

Hearing Loss Won't Kill You, or Will It?

Katherine Bouton on March 18, 2017

If you are a therapist with a patient with hearing loss, please take it seriously. Their life may depend on it.

If you are a therapist with a patient with hearing loss, please take it seriously. Their life may depend on it.

If you have a hearing problem, the holiday fun can be frustrating.

Like many people, I suffered from serious depression when I lost my hearing, and I think a large part of that was because I could not share the joy of music.

Hearing loss is an invisible disability.

I have no problem with invisible hearing aids. It's the message the ads convey that I object to.

Twenty-five years after the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act, the stigma of hearing loss persists. Some thoughts about why that might be.

Dementia

Mother's Day: Role Reversal

Katherine Bouton on May 8, 2015

My aging mother could hear, but I couldn't. My hearing and her dementia still created a nearly unbridgeable gap. The only way across it was with smiles and hugs and just being there — for her and for me.

My aging mother could hear, but I couldn't. My hearing and her dementia still created a nearly unbridgeable gap. The only way across it was with smiles and hugs and just being there — for her and for me.

Positive images of disability are important to all of us, but especially to children whose “differentness” can be psychologically as well as physically disabling. Acknowledging weakness as well makes a character human, complicated, and interesting.

Good brain health is the bottom line. Now we just have to figure out how to preserve that health in those with hearing loss.

Psychologists Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin found that the single strongest social predictor of long life was a strong social network. People with hearing loss sometimes have to make themselves keep up those social connections. Those who work with the elderly should be aware of how much hearing loss may be contributing to social isolation.

Widespread use of antidepressants among the elderly, including the antipsychotic Abilify. Widespread undiagnosed and untreated hearing loss in the same demographic. Could there be a link? Maybe patients should get a hearing test before doctors write the prescription for antidepressants.

For the first time, people with disabilities will not have to impoverish themselves to be eligible for Medicaid, Social Security and other benefits.

Dear Abby, Don't consign old deaf Norm to his room. Isolating himself is the worst possible thing for hm.The elderly need to stay involved and active.

Lip-reading snafus are much funnier when the joke's not on us.

These invisible injuries take on a larger significance not only because it is difficult for veterans to come to terms with the loss -- but also because society is likely to ignore it.