Hearing aids have come a long way from the analogue aids I wore. My aids were relatively bulky and either sat behind my ear or filled my ear canal leaving me with a hot stuffed feeling. But the latest hearing aids are digital and are far more powerful and adaptable than old analogue aids.

There are many reasons for deafness. Diseases or viruses during pregnancy, in childhood and later life, hereditary factors, exposure to loud noise, head injuries, ototoxic drugs, allergic reactions and aging can all be causes of deafness.

Imagine being deaf for just one day. How would you cope? What would you miss? Wouldn't you do everything you could to turn your world back on?

Surviving Christmas, Easter and other social festivities can stretch our limited hearing and cause us stress, anxiety and exhaustion. Rowena provides some of her top hints and tips to make sure you don't miss out this silly season.

There has been a lot of discussion in the media about the risk of deafness caused by listening to music on a personal audio device such as an iPod or MP3 player.

A week of celebration pushed my hearing to the limits and my cochlear implant helped me cope.

Sound gradually fades when deafness creeps upon us. Most of the time we don’t recognise what we are missing but then one day we are startled when remember we haven’t heard something for a long time.

Depression and isolation can lead to paranoia for late deafened adults. It creeps up and is the result of mis-understanding social cues.

Travelling can pose special challenges for a deaf or hard of hearing person, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go.

Technology is improving all the time and unless we hear about these then there’s no way they can benefit us. I asked Linda Ballam-Davies from Cochlear to give me the latest information about new implantable solutions.