For twenty-two years, Katherine Bouton had a secret that grew harder to keep every day. An editor at The New York Times, at daily editorial meetings she couldn't hear what her colleagues were saying. She had gone profoundly deaf in her left ear; her right was getting worse. As she once put it, she was "the kind of person who might have used an ear trumpet in the nineteenth century." Audiologists agree that we're experiencing a national epidemic of hearing impairment. At present, 50 million Americans suffer some degree of hearing loss—17 percent of the population. And hearing loss is not exclusively a product of growing old. The usual onset is between the ages of nineteen and forty-four, and in many cases the cause is unknown. Shouting Won't Help is a deftly written, deeply felt look at a widespread and misunderstood phenomenon. In the style of Jerome Groopman and Atul Gawande, and using her experience as a guide, Bouton examines the problem personally, psychologically, and physiologically. She speaks with doctors, audiologists, and neurobiologists, and with a variety of people afflicted with midlife hearing loss, braiding their stories with her own to illuminate the startling effects of the condition. The result is a surprisingly engaging account of what it's like to live with an invisible disability—and a robust prescription for our nation's increasing problem with deafness. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013

How can you make music with a hearing loss? Musicians with hearing loss from all over the world tell you how. In this engaging and informative book you'll find: * 23 in-depth musician profiles with personal stories and strategies * Advice for professional musicians as well as amateur music lovers * Information on hearing conservation and cochlear implant rehabilitation * Expert guidance by audiologists who love music A must-have for all musicians with hearing loss, audiologists, and music educators. ---

Music and Hearing Aids: A Clinical Approach is written for hearing health care professionals working with hard-of-hearing musicians and music lovers. This highly relevant book breaks down the research for how music can, and should, be processed through modern hearing aids and offers the busy audiologist clinically based strategies to optimize the sound of amplified music for hard-of-hearing people. With an easy-to-read style, this text meets audiologists where they are by providing a primer on wavelength acoustics, as well as walking the reader through the basics of music needed to understand the research available. in addition, this professional resource highlights gaps in the research and technology, offering a clear picture of the room for growth available in the field. Key Features * A wide range of information covered in a concise text with 26 figures and 7 tables * Statements throughout the book of where more work still needs to be done with 12 mini-experiments that could form the basis of student research projects * A balanced discussion of clinical practice and research * A chapter on "A return to older technology?” that includes input from many musicians who wear hearing aids * 15 audio files that serve to drive home the points presented in the text

A Primer on Wavelength Acoustics for Musical Instruments -- Music (and Speech) for the Audiologist -- Hearing Aids and Musicians: What the Literature Says -- Clinical Approaches to Fitting Hearing Aids for Music -- A Return to Older Technology?

The surprising science of hearing and the remarkable technologies that can help us hear better Our sense of hearing makes it easy to connect with the world and the people around us. The human system for processing sound is a biological marvel, an intricate assembly of delicate membranes, bones, receptor cells, and neurons. Yet many people take their ears for granted, abusing them with loud restaurants, rock concerts, and Q-tips. And then, eventually, most of us start to go deaf. Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss. Faced with the cost and stigma of hearing aids, the natural human tendency is to do nothing and hope for the best, usually while pretending that nothing is wrong. In Volume Control, David Owen argues this inaction comes with a huge social cost. He demystifies the science of hearing while encouraging readers to get the treatment they need for hearing loss and protect the hearing they still have. Hearing aids are rapidly improving and becoming more versatile. Inexpensive high-tech substitutes are increasingly available, making it possible for more of us to boost our weakening ears without bankrupting ourselves. Relatively soon, physicians may be able to reverse losses that have always been considered irreversible. Even the insistent buzz of tinnitus may soon yield to relatively simple treatments and techniques. With wit and clarity, Owen explores the incredible possibilities of technologically assisted hearing. And he proves that ears, whether they're working or not, are endlessly interesting.