How did hearing loss change your life?
April 2025
Denver Chapter members socialize before a recent meeting.
Book takes deep dive into experience of hearing loss
Author Katherine Rybak joined the March Denver Chapter meeting, via Zoom, to discuss her book, Becoming Hearing Empowered. The book contains a series of approaches to our hearing loss, from early recognition to choice of technology to self-advocacy. It offers activities to help describe our feelings and experiences and changes we’d like to see.
For example, she isolates the different viewpoints in people who have lost hearing early, in childhood, or later, in adulthood. The following questions are from the book club facilitator’s guide to discussing her book.
Early onset
Early onset means your hearing loss was discovered in childhood.
How was your hearing loss managed in your family?
How was your hearing loss talked about?
Did you feel supported at home If so, how? If not, what do you wish they would have done?
Did you feel supported at school? If so, how? If not, what do you wish your teachers would have done?
Did your peers know about your hearing loss? If so, did they support you? Tease you? Ignore you?
What vivid or specific memories do you have about your hearing loss as a child or teenager?
How do you feel your hearing loss has affected your choices in adulthood? Did it impact how you decide who you socialize with? Your romantic relationships? Your job?
How do you cope with your hearing loss as an adult?
How do you feel about your hearing loss now? Why?
Late onset
Late onset means you’ve developed hearing loss as an adult.
Has your hearing loss changed your relationships with the people in your family? How?
Has your hearing loss changed your relationships with your friends? How?
Has your hearing loss changed your relationships with coworkers? How?
Has your hearing loss changed how you do your job? How?
Has your hearing loss changed how you socialize? How?
Are you mourning the loss of your hearing? What stages are you going through? (The five stages of grief are denial and isolation; anger; bargaining; depression; acceptance.)
How do you feel about your hearing loss? Why?
Our Chapter is hoping to have members work through the book in an eight-week online Zoom group. Please email Jennifer McBride if you are interested in participating at jen427mcbride@gmail.com. More info to come!
CSU students now in the loop
Denver Chapter member and hearing loop advocate Wynne Whyman took her message to college recently, when she gave a talk at Colorado State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in Fort Collins.
“The day was great!” Wynne reports. “At the educational presentation, people learned that while hearing instruments such as hearing aids and cochlear implants provide great benefits, they are not enough at events, performing arts, places of worship, government meetings, and similar public settings. I explained about hearing loops: what they are, how to use them, and where they are available in northern Colorado and throughout the world. I described what telecoils are and how to use them. I explained how the Americans with Disabilities Act includes the right to hear.”
Spreading the word
The occasion for Wynne’s talk was the installation of a system of hearing loops in OLLI classrooms.
Hundreds of feet of copper wire were placed under carpets in the classrooms. The wire creates an electromagnetic field when an amplifier is connected to an audio source, such as a microphone. Students with telecoil-equipped hearing aids can now receive audio signals directly to their ears, without interference from background noise. Those without hearing aids or telecoils can borrow headphones to hear more clearly.
As the CSU website explains, “Learners with hearing loss can now participate more fully in discussions, lectures, and interactive sessions, ensuring that no one misses out on impactful educational experiences.”
HLAA monitors laws and policies in a new Washington
The national office of the Hearing Loss Association off America (HLAA) in Rockville, Maryland, has been keeping an eye on the new administration in Washington. HLAA has long advised various federal agencies concerning technology and accommodations for people with hearing loss, and in recent years HLAA officials have taken leadership roles in some of those agencies.
In September 2024, HLAA’s Director of Public Policy, Neil Snyder, was appointed by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to serve on the Air Carrier Accessibility Advisory Board for a two-year term. Along with HLAA Executive Director Barbara Kelley, Snyder also serves on the Disability Advisory Committee (DAC) at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is also in their sights, since it has authority over hearing aids—both prescription and over-the-counter—as medical devices.
In a March 18 statement to HLAA members, Snyder described important legislation, and the many Congressional committees and sponsors currently debating proposals. For example, he writes:
HLAA is a staunch supporter of the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility (CVTA) Act of 2023, which updates the Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) of 2010. This legislation will ensure that people with disabilities have full access to the ever-expanding video programming options on television and the Internet.
Since 2023, Kelley has also served on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils. As she described her role then:
HLAA represents all people with hearing loss in the United States. Much of the influence we have is behind the scenes. Some of our work is likened to running a marathon rather than an explosive short sprint with a well-marked finish line. Making transformational change is indeed a marathon requiring sustained energy, patience and passion.
To see the long list of committees and officials with hearing-related responsibilities, visit www.hearingloss.org.
Denver Chapter Board of Directors
President: Marilyn Weinhouse
Vice President: Jennifer McBride
Secretary: Ed Winograd
Treasurer: Steve Nelson
Audiology Liaison: Dusty Jessen
Student Liaison: Victoria Rivera
At Large Board Member: Roger Ponds
Newsletter Editor: Paula DeJohn
www.hearinglossdenver.org
Hearing loss by the numbers from HLAA
More than 50 million Americans have some degree of hearing loss. That’s about 1 in 7 people in the U.S. (NIDCD and U.S. Census)
Hearing loss is the 3rd most common chronic physical condition in the U.S., twice as prevalent as diabetes or cancer. (CDC)
Hearing loss is associated with other common health issues such as diabetes and heart disease. (Healthy Hearing)
Hearing loss is on the rise and is expected to affect 2.5 billion people worldwide by 2050. (WHO)
Picnic on the patio
Upcoming meetings
The next meeting will be Saturday, April 19, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Koelbel Library, 5955 South Holly St., Centennial, CO 80121, in Meeting Room A and via Zoom. Our speaker will be Aurora Police Officer James Seneca. He will discuss the department’s policies and training for encounters with people with hearing loss.
The HOPE online meetings will continue on third Wednesdays; the April meeting will be the 16th. To learn more or to receive an invitation with the Zoom link, email jen427mcbride@gmail.com.
Dues for 2025 are $20 for an individual and $30 for a couple. Please bring a check made out to HLAA Denver, or you can pay online at https://hearinglossdenver.org/ (scroll down to "Pay Annual Dues”).
Speaking from the heart
When the HLAA Convention 2025 meets June 11-14 in Indianapolis, Denver Chapter Vice President Jennifer McBride will be on the program. She will lead an interactive session called Speaking From the Heart, on navigating the emotional impacts of hearing loss.
Grocery fundraiser
The Denver Chapter is promoting a program by King Soopers, in which participants using a shopper’s card (the card you swipe to get a discount) can generate a contribution to the chapter with each purchase. There is no cost to you. Just log on to https://hearinglossdenver.org/community-rewards-program. You also can pay dues or make a donation to our chapter online. Just go to https://hearinglossdenver.org/
Words to remember
I feel people who have the most to risk are risking it. . . .But it astonishes me how people in power are looking after what they mistakenly believe is a self-interest that will protect just them. It doesn’t work like that. When human rights recede, everything comes tumbling down.
Canadian artist Andil Gosine, whose show featuring Caribbean artists at a Washington, DC gallery was suddenly cancelled.
Lucy, after a long winter’s nap