The first ‘hearing aids’ if you could call them that, were hearing trumpets. They were large and cumbersome - like the trumpet on early gramophones. We've come a long way since then :-)

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There are many situations where we need different kinds of hearing and therefore different solutions. I thought I’d look at some of these.

Many countries have a Hearing Awareness Week (or a Deaf Awareness Week)– a week in which individuals, organisations and companies seek to raise awareness about hearing health. I wondered what it is for.

Accepting our loss we can minimise the emotional toll on ourselves and put us one more back in control regaining some of the independence we feel we had lost.

We all know that listening is the best way to create understanding. When you are down, if you have a friend you can talk to about your problems this simple act of having someone listen often takes away the stress.

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me". I know it’s intended to teach children not to listen, to take the sting out of someone calling them names, but we all know that names stigmatise and never more those who have some kind of disability or difference.

One extremely conspicuous sign of deafness is when someone’s speech is too loud, way louder than those who are round them or the situation and condition demands. But is this always indicative of deafness?

When Jennie went deaf she used hearing aids. Now that she has a hearing and a cochlear implant she says that she hears well in 99% of situations.

When a child hears for the first time, what causes the excitement and joy? Is it the sound of his mother's voice or is it something else. It is exciting and it is wonderful that the child is now hearing but it will take time for them to learn to listen and understand what they are hearing.