Modern living has introduced so many new sounds. Are you aware of how much noise there is in your own home?

The device which allows someone with a Cochlear implant to hear is called a Speech Processor – and that’s no accident. Music can fall outside of these ranges and is one of the reasons we find it harder to understand.

My deafness is not hereditary, but nevertheless in the back of my mind was whether my delightful new grandson had somehow inherited my deafness.

Do others notice the difference in us now that we can hear again? Do we find it different? Are there noticeable differences with bi-lateral hearing?

Bullying makes the news these days – probably because social media makes it easy to record and share these experiences. But bullying is not new, especially for the Deaf.

“How do I know if I’m hearing impaired or a deaf? Is there a cut off point which is ‘identified’ as deaf?” There is so much misunderstanding about deafness and this question came from the position that the term hearing impaired implies only slightly less than normal hearing.

Not all sounds are pleasant and I’ve spent a good part of the past two weeks in hospitals.

We’ve just had Christmas and today it’s New Year’s Eve. Like most people we’ve had parties and dinners. For about 20 years I blundered through these things, using the ‘hope I’m smiling right’ smile so I didn’t look too stupid or hopefully to indicate I was understanding and being part of the group.

One issue which comes up so often for the Deaf and hard of hearing is getting a job.

Being deaf or hard of hearing (or for that matter having any kind of disability) usually means you are way behind in the job stakes.