Products & Gadgets for the Hearing Impaired

Baby Boomers And Hearing Loss A Guide to Prevention And Care

Baby boomers have always had high expectations. As a generation, they have worked hard and played hard. They have been distinguished for their trendsetting and active lifestyles. As they move into their senior years, this ambitious constituency of 76 million Americans continues to demand a lot from life, and to offer much as well. Compared with every generation that preceded them, baby boomers are anticipated to continue professional careers later into their retirement years, engage in more vigorous activities, and live significantly longer. Their lifestyles make learning to prevent and treat hearing loss—a disability that used to be considered an unfortunate but inevitable aspect of aging—more important than ever.

In Baby Boomers and Hearing Loss, audiologist John Burkey shows readers how they can continue to enjoy youthful living, regardless of whether their hearing abilities are undiminished or severely compromised. In a reassuring and straightforward style, Burkey explains the typical causes of hearing loss, from genetic factors to years of exposure to loud noises, and demystifies the sometimes confusing results of a hearing test. Fortunately, new technologies and advances in medicine have made it easier to detect signs of initial hearing loss and to prevent it from becoming a serious problem. For those who have already sustained some damage, the author suggests ways to manage daily activities by using a range of techniques, equipment, and medical procedures. His suggestions include minor changes, such as using a vibrating alarm clock rather than one that is sound-based. More dramatic but often highly effective options, including reconstructive surgery, cochlear implants, and bone-anchored hearing aids, are also described.

In his previous award-winning book, Overcoming Hearing Aid Fears: The Road to Better Hearing, Burkey addressed common fears, concerns, and misconceptions that people have about choosing and using hearing aids. In this second indispensable volume, he offers a comprehensive guide on how to cope with and prevent hearing impairment. For a generation that refuses to slow down or quietly accept limitations, this book is essential reading.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars An invaluable and highly readable “must-have” resource for anyone making difficult choices about hearing loss.
Written by audiologist and award-winning author John M. Burkey, Baby Boomers and Hearing Loss: A Guide to Prevention and Care is a no-nonsense guide to the prevention and treatment of hearing loss, including solid information about the use of hearing aids. Though written especially for the baby boomer generation, which is beginning to confront hearing loss as the result of advancing age, Baby Boomers and Hearing Loss is enthusiastically recommended for anyone confronting an encroaching hearing problem. Chapters cover common causes of hearing loss, how hearing aids work, satisfaction and dissatisfaction with hearing aids, non-hearing aid solutions, and much more. An invaluable and highly readable “must-have” resource for anyone making difficult choices about hearing loss.

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Living Well with Hearing Loss A Guide for the Hearing Impaired and Their Families

Explains how to spot the warning signs and deal with the psycho-emotional effects of this condition. Along with complete coverage of physical causes, it offers the hearing-impaired a wide range of corrective aids and preventive methods. Regarding friends and relatives, it provides important communication tips and insights including the latest discoveries in infants and children, social ramifications of hearing loss such as educational roadblocks and requirements. Also features consumer information on hearing devices plus the pros and cons of in-the-ear hearing aids. Contains a General Resource Guide and information on supportive organizations.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A great reference!
I first read this book when my son was diagnosed with hearing loss. Here I found the information that I needed to understand his audiogram. There are many good suggestions for modifications in school. I have used several passages to help my son’s teachers learn about hearing loss. I refer to this book again and again. This book would be helpful for a hearing-impaired adult or for a family member of someone with hearing loss.

2 Stars Not worth the money
This book has very little information in it and leans more towards the touchy feely approach ie how are you going to deal with it, attitudes etc. Unfortunately what I wanted was more precise information on different causes of hearing loss as well as tests used to determine it (as I am going through this right now). I wanted to understand what the doctors were doing and why but this book was a waste of time.

4 Stars A Must Read for Hearing Impaired and their Familes
The author is concise and acurate with information on hearing loss and its ramifications on communication. The book deals in depth with psychosocial aspects of hearing loss and provides useful tips to ease communication friction between individuals with hearing loss and their families. As an individual with a hearing loss, I wish I would have read this years ago. However, as a graduate student in Audiology, the chapter on hearing aids is out of date. A second edition possible?

5 Stars An outstanding guide to hearing loss and its consequences
A hearing-impaired friend recommended this book to to me when my hearing was damaged, and I will be forever grateful. It explains not only how hearing loss occurs, but how it feels. It has helpful graphs that illustrate what people with various types of loss can and cannot hear, and offers excellent advice on coping. The book is concise, which I appreciate. This is not a windy treatise. Anyone who lives with or knows a hearing-impaired person would also greatly benefit from these insights.

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