Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss

by Shari Eberts, Gael Hannan

Hearing loss doesn’t come with an operating manual—until now.

If you have hearing loss, you already know that the conventional approach to treatment is focused on hearing-aid technology. Without a handbook to help you figure out how to actually live with it, you’ve likely been getting by on information pieced together from various sources—and yet, communication often seems incomplete and unsatisfying.

What’s missing from this hearing care model is the big picture—a real-life illustration of how hearing loss, its emotions, and its barriers affect every corner of your life. Now, hearing-health advocates, consultants, and speakers Shari Eberts and Gael Hannan offer a new skills-based approach to hearing loss that is centered not on hearing better, but on communicating better.

With honesty and humor, they share their own hearing loss journeys, and outline invaluable insights, strategies, and workarounds to help you engage with the world and be heard. You’ll gain tips for navigating all areas impacted by hearing loss, including relationships, work, technology; strategies for adopting a new, empowering mindset towards your hearing loss; and communication behaviors that can make almost any listening situation manageable.

Informed by the lived experiences of thousands of people living with hearing loss, and corroborated by hearing science, technological advances, and modern hearing-care principles, Hear & Beyond offers a new way forward to greater connection and engagement—whether you’re new to hearing loss or have been living with it for a long time.

Hearing loss is just one aspect of who you are, among many others. You may have hearing loss, but it doesn’t have to have you.

Genres: Nonfiction

306 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 3, 2022

About the author

Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker on hearing loss issues. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog and online community for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of We Hear You, an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her book, Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss, (co-authored with Gael Hannan) is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues.

Reviews

[Lindsey Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A light and insightful read about living with hearing loss. I was able to meet Gael at the Canadian Audiology Conference this past year and her bubbly and humorous personality led me to read this book. As a 2nd year audiology student I will definitely recommend this to future patients of mine!

[Mary Vermette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve had moderate hearing loss my entire life, and I learned from an early age how to function without hearing aids (as a child the technology of the day could do little to help me). I do pretty well, but as an adult I can see how much it’s affected my mental health and social connections. This book was very healing for me as I learned that I am not alone in my hearing loss journey. So many of the hearing challenges I face were discussed in the book and it validated how those challenges affect me. I got a lot of great tips for navigating various challenging situations and it has prompted me to speak up more about my communication needs. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who has a hearing loss or for anyone that is trying to help someone else navigate their hearing loss journey.

[Judith Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very useful tool for anyone, whatever stage they are at in their hearing loss journey. Contains useful tips and clear explanations of types of hearing loss, hearing aids, assistive listening devices and much more. Tips are aimed at different settings including, work, socialising and being a parent with hearing loss.

[Catherine Schuchman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book especially for those with recently acknowledged hearing loss. I've been dealing with diminishing hearing loss since my forties and found new insights and techniques that will be helping me with my communication struggles. Especially helpful were the sections on those in my life with good hearing and their struggles having a hard of hearing person in their lives. I had lost sight of that.

[Debi Crouch · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have one sided deafness from an acoustic neuroma surgery. It’s a bit different from the conditions described in the book but I found some helpful tidbits. Mostly it was a good reminder that I am my own advocate and need to not be afraid to speak up when my disability creates an issue.

[Bruce Sharpe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for anyone living with hearing loss, whether it is your own or that of someone you know. It's full of insights and practical advice that I have not seen collected together anywhere else.

The authors are hearing health advocates who openly share their experiences and knowledge. They write in an engaging, often humorous, way about everything from family life to restaurants, technology, the workplace, and romantic partners.

I don't have hearing loss myself, but I interact with many people who do. I thought I knew a lot about it, but this book opened my eyes to the range of challenges it brings and the clever (but practical) strategies for adapting to it. If you're a problem-solver, you'll especially like the "Hearing Hacks" section.

Highly recommended!

[Gayle Weitzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was life-changing for me. For 20 years, I wondered what was wrong with me because although I wore hearing aids I still had SO many hearing issues. This book clarified for me that this is normal, that hearing aids can only do so much ... and not just in my case but for so many people. So no, I am not stupid, not slow ... I just have hearing loss!
This book spoke to me, page after page, and made me realize that hearing aids are not miracles, and it has changed my life in many ways.
'Hear and Beyond' will set you on a journey ... and I can't say it's always an easy one, but it's a necessary and liberating one, not to mention chock full of great info.
This book is a 'Must-Read' for anyone with hearing loss, you'll Love it!
Thank you to both authors, Shari & Gael. ♥♥

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super helpful book about hearing loss and with good tips about how to advocate for yourself and get the accommodations you need. Really made me think about how I’m settling too often for not hearing important conversations (or pieces of them) and the detrimental ripple effects that has… and that there’s help for it. Also a good source for suggesting alternative technologies and apps that can be helpful, but I do wish it included more detailed info about those things… how to, names of apps, etc. —even in just an appendix.
Highly recommend!

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very high level, a good starting point to tell you the kinds of things that will be important if you're living with hearing loss. It's not going to be relevant in every case. In that way, it's good that it is so high level because it is a good guide on where you'll need to go deeper and what is common across cases of hearing loss vs. what is not.

I read most of this, but skipped the "hacks" at the end (which I imagine might be someone else's favorite part).

[MaryJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for someone new to hearing loss or learning about what those with such a loss, things I wish I had known about from the beginning.

I didn't read it thoroughly, so I hope it mentions the advice is helpful but not a cure-all.

15 years later I have adjusted but also miss out on so much socially and regarding music and public events. And I wish others in my life could really grasp how much my life changed suddenly with a complete hearing loss.

[Suzanne Mccandless · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone with hearing loss, this is a very helpful book. It has many strategies for dealing with various environments that present challenges to those of us who struggle with hearing loss. If you, dear reader, struggle with even slight hearing loss, I suggest you read this book, or find one similar to enjoy life more.

[Terry McIntire · Rating 3 out of 5]

No new information for me but I am an advocate those with hearing loss and spend a substantial amount of time staying up to date. This book would be good for those with hearing loss trying to deal with the technology and social situations. The book, while very informative, could have been much shorter and less repetitive.

[Triin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a great book for those with hearing loss or those who have people in their life who experience hearing loss. It has great tips and home truths. Having struggled with my hearing since 2018, I could really relate to it and will try to bring some of the suggestions and tips to my daily life

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

American but not obstreperously so, useable and useful to other countries. Good tips and hacks, simply and repetitively written to get the message through - will recommend to patients and their families

[Brad McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars!

My review is here.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book to read for tips on dealing with hearing loss. Loved it.

[Julie L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good overall book for helping people emotionally and practically cope with hearing loss

[Michelle Cutter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful book after experiencing sudden hearing loss.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in reading this book ever since I saw it recommended in a Facebook group I joined shortly after experiencing my own sudden hearing loss in one ear. The author has created a Facebook group to help others connect. This wasn't available at my local library but after putting in a request that they purchase it, it was approved.

The two authors of this book have both experienced hearing loss and much of the content of the book is relatable. They do talk a lot about hearing aids, which I haven't had (and they won't help my situation), but many of the tips and ways of thinking were still helpful.

I liked reading about the five stages of the hearing loss journey - Debating with yourself, Validating, Taking charge, Living skillfully, and Refreshing and restarting. I also liked reading about mindshifts, which are basically looking at things differently in order to help improve your individual journey with hearing loss.

[Claudia Marseille · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a lifelong hard of hearing person myself, I found this book so invaluable. It offers excellent sage advice and offers many tips on how to deal with our hearing loss. It is also a tremendous resource for caregivers and partners to educate them about what living with hearing loss is like, and things that can be done that are helpful. It is very readable and engaging, despite the serious subject matter, and the two author s share their own personal experience traversing this terrain. A much needed resource for those dealing with hearing loss and their loved ones.