I learned about hearing loss and the different options and issues, which is something that I never considered, since my hearing (and my mom's too) is quite acute.
What annoyed me was the author's constant denial and vanity; her refusal to admit she was going deaf and her refusal to wear a hearing aid "out there", in public.
Eventually, towards the final 1/3 of the book, she notes that her vanity was annoying one of her therapists. I agree! If I wasn't able to hear things, I'd put that hearing aid in STAT. Who cares what others think?
I wear glasses because I want to see, so I think it's the same thing. If more people wore hearing aids, the stigma would become lessened, just like depression meds, etc.

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In this look at the widespread and commonly misunderstood phenomenon of hearing loss, Bouton recounts her own journey into deafness - and her return to the hearing world through the miracles of technology.

If you've ever wondered what it's like inside the head of someone who can't hear well or is deaf, this is a book I highly recommend reading.

While its focus on adults losing their hearing as adults, there's a lot of data (anecdotal and scientific) to provide insight for those of us with lifelong hearing loss as well.

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To quote the New Yorker summary: "Bouton's personal narrative, which offers essential insight into the subtle but crippling ways that this 'hidden disability, one often borne in secret', can upend relationships and threaten professional goals".

As the daughter of a mother with age-onset hearing issues, watching her struggle adapting to hearing aids that often need adjustments, tinnitus, dizziness and the other challenges accompanying hearing loss, as well as the grandmother of a two-year-old born premature and deaf (but now with cochlear implants learning both sign language and speech recognition), this book was extremely relevant. I found it full of useful information plus moving narratives, moments of optimism, moments of sorrow, and its excellent collection of first-person stories that reflect all the stages in-between. For anyone in a similar situation (experiencing hearing loss) or with family and/or friends who are either going deaf, born deaf, or even wanting to avoid going deaf, read this book and share it. It has already changed my behaviour with family friends and hopefully will help me cope better one day if I should find myself slowly discovering that I am becoming, with age, "hard of hearing". One immediate action was the downloading of an iPhone app to detect environmental noise levels. ( )

A discouraging read if you're among those of us with hearing loss. She details her struggles with profound hearing loss, although it does seem that most of her struggles were self-inflicted by vanity, denial, etc. But the current state of assistance is detailed, and seems to be well-researched. What I found most discouraging were the statments about how poorly hearing aids work and how expensive they are here in the States, as well as the fact that hearing loss isn't considered a debilitating loss! Hmpf!! I think this would be a good read for someone living with someone who is losing their hearing though - she does give pretty vivid descriptions of what it's like to be going deaf in a noisy world.