ISBN 0 7206 1224 1
Health/Social Issues
180pp
Paperback
£12.95
Available

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Hearing Loss: From Stigma to Strategy

Michael Simmons

  

Literally millions of people in Britain are affected by hearing loss. And the number is growing steadily. For many, it is a desperate situation, for others, an unwished-for challenge: to enter the world of hearing aids and gadgets, and to somehow come to terms with other people’s jokes - blindness is never laughed at - and the need to adjust a muffled, or even silent, environment.

Michael Simmons, a distinguished international journalist until his retirement in 1997, has age-related hearing loss. Researching for this book, he soon realized it was a very poor relation in the deafness field. Deafness itself has been the subject of many, many books for many generations. Hearing loss, on the other hand, is swept under the carpet, under-researched, under-funded while also being routinely exploited by unscrupulous hearing appliance manufacturers.

Simmons examines the stigma and the suffering of hearing loss, traces the history of fellow sufferers and the remedies they - and their partners - have tried, and goes on to look at the viable resources and remedies that are available. He finds there is light at the end of the tunnel.

  • Almost nine million people in Britain suffer from hearing loss
  • Famous sufferers among others include Beethoven, Goya and Bill Clinton

    ‘Successfully tackles head on some of the niggling issues and practicalities of age-related hearing loss. Filled with fascinating information.' - One in Seven (RNID)

    ‘What an uplifting and optimistic book for those of us with hearing loss!’ - Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse novels

    ‘This memoir-cum-manual about adult-onset hearing loss should be read by anyone with the condition and those who know about them. Simmons does an excellent job of shedding light on hearing loss’s devastating effects . . . Particularly poignant is Simmons’s description of asking people to repeat themselves only to have it waved off with a friendly smile and an "Oh it doesn’t matter." Such gestures, he points out, seem to be "brushing the thought, and possibly you, off the agenda." If his book serves only to make readers reconsider before dismissing a hard-of- hearing person’s request to repeat information, it will have served an important purpose.’ - Publishers Weekly

    ‘Very honest and articulate . . . well-researched and wide-ranging. Should be required reading for doctors, decision-makers and hearing people generally who have little idea of the socially catastrophic effects of hearing loss.’ - Hearing Concern Magazine

    MICHAEL SIMMONS worked for the Financial Times as a political journalist specializing in Eastern Europe. He later spent twenty years on the Guardian once again in Eastern Europe and latterly commentating on political and social affairs in Britain. Michael is also a columnist for RNID's One in Seven magazine. He has written five books.

    Hearing loss organisations in the UK.
    Defeating Deafness is a UK national charity dedicated to helping hearing-impaired people through medical research and education.
      RNID is a charity representing the 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK. It is a membership charity which aims to achieve a radically better quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people.
      STAGETEXT is a registered charity which provides captioning to give deaf and hard of hearing people access to the theatre.



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