Hearing for John

When sounds are in shadows, let sunshine in. Hearing loss is a personal challenge not limited to those of us who are deaf or hard of hearing. It also affects our families, friends and work colleagues. To help them connect with us, we need to show we are not afraid to acknowledge the difficulties that we and they experience. And yet many of us hesitate to admit, even to ourselves, that we have a problem. Over more than thirty years of progressive partial deafness, the author has noticed surprising indifference and lack of support for this increasingly common but hidden disability - despite the fact that there are more than 9 million people in UK who are affected (and possibly as many as 500 million world-wide). Although much is now being done to encourage more action and awareness, he believes that many of us directly involved could make a difference by being more open and positive. Sharing our problems can be very effective in helping to find solutions that can lift our feelings about hearing loss out of the shadows and on to a sunnier plateau with the help of hearing professionals, support groups, hearing charities and people who are close to us. How well this can work you may judge from this collection of personal observations and anecdotes which includes contributions from hearing professionals and members of his family.