Guest Column

Hearing aids can improve your love life!

By Karen Finch FSHAA FRSA, Managing Director of The Hearing Care Centre (Suffolk) With Valentine's Day just past, and love in the air, I was very interested to read about a survey, which suggests that the use of hearing... continue reading

All About Different Types of Hearing Loss

By Toby Hargreaves, Head of communications, Health and Care Hearing impairment or deafness is when your hearing is affected by a disease, disorder, or injury. Different levels of hearing impairment are defined by the quietest sound heard. This is measured... continue reading

Blast off on a journey through space with the Science Museum's exciting BSL-supported events

By Sevinc Kisacik, Family Programmes Developer, Science Museum Three... two... one... blast off on a journey through the amazing world of space as you discover the answers to all those mind-boggling questions! Can a rocket really get to space... continue reading

Why our little Scarlett is a world's first

Scarlett Singleton can now hear after being the first patient to be fitted with the thinnest ever cochlear implant. As Scarlett presses buttons on her favourite toy she giggles in response to the animal noises it makes. It may... continue reading

Deaf model Kellie Moody leads fight to reduce stigma

I was born with severe hearing loss and have encountered various issues throughout my childhood. At school, other pupils made fun of me, making up silly sign language. I learnt early on that being deaf limits access to many... continue reading

All about Tinnitus, by Dr. Cassandra Fynes

Tinnitus is the medical term for phantom sounds in the ear or ears. That is, the patient perceives sounds when there is no external source. If you’ve ever lain awake in a very quiet room and heard a high-pitched... continue reading

My cochlear implant, by Katie-Louise Bailey

I was born deaf due to B.O.R (Branchio-oto-Renal syndrome). It was genetics from my dad's side of the family.... continue reading

What money can’t buy! By Gerard Featherstone

I had to travel 5000 miles to put a name to it! I did not know that many parents with deaf children suffered with it more so than hearing children; nor that there were things you could to help... continue reading

Can genetics explain hearing problems? By ear care experts ‘EarHelp’

Some hearing defects are definitely genetic in origin, explains John Rowlinson, Managing Director of EarHelp. People with a mutation in one of their genes usually become deaf at an early age and show other signs of their genetic mutation.... continue reading

How my life has been transformed by a cochlear implant, by Miss Universe hopeful Siobhan Brindley-Lewis

My name is Siobhan Brindley-Lewis. I am 22 years-old and became deaf aged three of meningitis. At the age of five I had my first hearing aid and went to Percy Shurmer Primary School in Balsall Heath where things... continue reading

How to protect your ears, by ear care experts ‘EarHelp’

Many conditions of hearing impairment or discomfort can be avoided by employing a few basic hygiene guidelines and some common sense, explains John Rowlinson, Managing Director of EarHelp. Damage from water Damage to your ears caused by water can... continue reading

In the wake of “Beyond Boundaries, Across the Andes”, by Jane Millensted

Part two (Read part one here) Our next most defining moments since the profound deafness diagnosis were soon to arrive. With Jeremy, we were looking into which school he should move to for his secondary level and during this period,... continue reading

In the wake of “Beyond Boundaries, Across the Andes”, by Jane Millensted

Part one Bringing up Jeremy has been quite a roller coaster. I’ve hit highs, lows, joy, bliss, anger, frustration, pain and grieving. It is a story of heartache and joy, hard work and happiness. The heartache has inspired me to... continue reading

My daughter the Carnival Queen, by Sarah Bolter

How could anyone in the room ever begin to understand why we were brimming with pride! Any parents would be excited if their child won a competition and here was Laura winning the Ferndown Carnival Queen. There had been... continue reading

The Barker family story

Joshua, 8 and Dominic, 5 are two lively, fun-loving little boys with a real love of life. They are also both profoundly deaf. Mum Amanda tells her story: When Josh was born, we had no reason to believe that there... continue reading

Joshua's life has been transformed by a Baha. Mum Lesley tells his story

Joshua was not only born nearly deaf but also he had no external ears. When he was 9 years old, he was fitted with a bone conduction hearing implant called a Baha and his life has been transformed. The... continue reading

By Julie Ryder, founder of HearFirst and TalkFirst

I was 21 years old in December 1991 and was working at NatWest Bank in Rochdale. I picked up the phone and noticed that I couldn’t hear that well. After seeing my GP (thinking that my ears needed syringing)... continue reading

By Liz Arendt, bilateral cochlear implant user and Chairperson of the Hertfordshire branch of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

Though I wasn't aware of it at the time, I started down the long slippery slope towards deafness when I was just eight years old, a side effect of scarlet fever. But it was only when I entered the... continue reading

By James, a 14-year-old cochlear implant recipient Hi, I’m James King, I’m 14 years old and I’m Cochlear implanted – having been so from the age of two; and I’ve just enjoyed an awesome week in the French Alps skiing... continue reading

By David, father to ten-year-old Hamish

Hamish scores at the coolest game on earth! Shortly after his birth in January 1997, we quickly became concerned that Hamish was not hearing very well. His older sister, Fenella, had always been a very noisy baby and Hamish... continue reading

By Kate, mum to 14-year-old James

STAGETEXT - have you seen a captioned theatre performance yet? I have always loved going to the theatre. As a child it was a wonderful treat and a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I wished to share this feeling with my... continue reading

By Kate, mum to 14-year-old James

Is choosing state education too ambitious? James was deafened by meningitis at 16 months and received a cochlear implant at 25 months. When I told my local Teacher of the Deaf that my husband and I were considering sending... continue reading

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9

Lily is doing brilliantly and is happy. She's excited to be a new Primary 5 girl and has just been away with her whole year group on a outward bound four days. She managed her implants herself and there were... continue reading

Josie's thoughts

13-year-old Josie, from North Yorkshire, was fitted with a cochlear implant in summer 2005. Here are her thoughts... I don’t mind being deaf, but it's annoying sometimes. I misunderstand people and then they get annoyed and get impatient and can't... continue reading

A quest for bilaterals, by Jason Broekhuizen, dad to two-year-old Tom.

Tom contracted Pneumococcal Meningitis in mid-April 2006 and was left profoundly deaf as a result. He received a cochlear implant on June 15th 2006. Below is an extract from Jason's blog: Thursday, July 27, 2006 I'm having what a polite... continue reading

Michael Gerwat, the DeafBlind DJ

I was born blind, so I don’t know what sight is like. I worked for over 20 years as a piano tuner, meeting the most famous rock bands in the world and tuning their pianos. I have shaken hands with... continue reading

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9

I don’t know why we didn’t try until now but tonight - for the first time - we tested to see if Lily could tell which direction sound was coming from. I think I was scared – I never... continue reading

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9 Six months post switch on. Lily seems to have an another surge of clarity with her new implant. I am noticing a big improvement and her teacher of the deaf...

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9

Progress with the new implant seems to have slowed down now. It is tricky to do as much rehab work as I would like as the older and more confident in her personality Lily becomes, the more likely she is... continue reading

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9

Today is 3 months since Lily was switched on - we went for a re-map appointment at Manchester last week and had Lily's second implant fine tuned. It has made a huge difference to her putting the coil back on... continue reading

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9

We are still having problems getting Lily to put the new implant back on when it falls off, but she is wearing it enough for it to be working well. We did some 'open set' (out of the blue) phrases... continue reading

My daughter's second cochlear implant - an update

By Carolyn, mum to bi-lateral implant user Lily, aged 9 Lily is wearing her new implant most of the time, but if she flicks it off when things get noisy then sometimes she doesn't remember to put it back on.... continue reading

My daughter's second cochlear implant - an update

By Carolyn, mum to Lily, aged 9 Things are progressing well with the new implant - though not as well as I had hoped after her meteoric start. We have another rehab session on Monday so I am hoping that,... continue reading

My daughter's second cochlear implant

By Carolyn, mum to Lily, aged 9 I wanted Lily to have another CI so that if her head was injured or if her first implant failed at any point in her life she would have a back up. Additionally... continue reading
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