A book can inspire ideas and change our way of thinking to transform our lives. These five books on hearing loss are powerhouses; filled with research, observations, stories and practical suggestions for everything from dealing with the first signs of hearing loss, maintaining your hearing fitness and coping with hearing loss. Click on the titles to order a copy for yourself, then mark them up and put them into practice.

1.  Hear Your Life: Inspiring Stories and Honest Advice for Overcoming Hearing Loss by Melissa K Rodriguez

Know someone who can’t accept their hearing loss? Has a family member recently been fitted with hearing aids and are now not sure what to do next?  In Hear Your Life, you will learn how devastating the effects of hearing loss can be and learn how to avoid them. Expert Melissa K. Rodriguez shares revealing and inspirational stories about hearing loss and the road back to better hearing.

One of our favourite quotes from the book is:  "Understanding your weaknesses is the first step in overcoming them. If you are experiencing hearing loss, consider it only a temporary setback.”

Why we recommend this book? This book can help anyone get over the fear of hearing loss and hearing aids. This book is an invaluable tool for those who want to know all there is to know about hearing and hearing loss. 

2. Invisible: My Journey Through Vision and Hearing Loss Paperback by Ruth Silver 

Know anyone with hearing loss looking for role models?  Or parents, family members and professionals looking to gain insights in supporting close ones with hearing or vision issues? In Invisible: My journey through Vision and Hearing Loss you will learn about Ruth Silver’s extraordinary life. Where others might have given up, Ruth refused to surrender to the darkness and silence. As a silent, frightened child with undiagnosed vision loss, her world was one of limited vision that ultimately became one of total darkness. Once the situation had a name-retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a progressive eye disease-she at least knew what she was dealing with. As she grew, her other contact with the world – sound - was also taken from her.

One of our favourite quotes from the book is: My heart swelled against the wall of my chest. Humbled by the experience, I thanked God for helping me bring light into Andrew’s life and for the joy I sensed in his awakened hand

Why we recommend this book? In her book Ruth emphasizes how she defied the odds, took risks, and built up her own self-confidence. Ruth goes after what she wants when she knows it is the right thing to do. Her instincts are phenomenal - and her leadership is evident, both in her book and in all the lives she touched.

       3. The Train in the Night: A Story of Music and Loss by Nick Coleman

Ever wondered what it’s like for someone who loves music to not be able to hear it? That is the dilemma faced by Nick Coleman, a former music editor of Time Out and arts and feature editor of various English newspapers. Nick spent a lifetime listening to, writing about, and playing music; his life changed when one morning he sat up in bed and realized that he couldn’t hear out of his right ear. The effect that his hearing loss had on him was devastating on many levels.  A gripping memoir of survival, adaptability and a love of music

One of our favourite quotes from the book is: "Music to me has always been a handsome three-dimensional container, a vessel, as real in its way as a Scout hut or a cathedral or a ship, with an inside and an outside and subdivided internal spaces. I'm absolutely certain that this "architecture" had everything to do with why music has always exerted such a hold over me. I think music was the structure in which I learned to contain and then examine emotion."

Why we recommend this book? Because it’s much more than the story of someone who loses his hearing. It’s a story of triumph and the beauty of the human races ability to adapt to adversity in the face of heartbreak.

4. Deaf Sentence: A Novel by David Lodge

Know someone living with hearing loss? Want an idea of what it looks and sounds like from their perspective? In Deaf Sentence David Lodge describes the living situation of many in today's "boomer generation"--newly retired with an older parent in failing health along with adult children and grandchildren with their own needs.  He humorously describes the challenges of living with hearing loss, the necessity of hearing aids and the learning curves of attempting to communicate with the hard of hearing including spouses. 

One of our favourite quotes from the book is one which he attributes to the journal of Bruce Cummings “To me the honour is sufficient of belonging to the universe--such a great universe, and so great a scheme of things. For nothing can alter the fact that I have lived; I have been I, if for ever so short a time.”

Why we recommend it? It is painfully accurate in the mundane details of how our elderly generation are navigating through the noises and silences of life. It will make you laugh a little, cry a little and nod your head a lot.

       5. Living with Hearing Loss by Marcia B Dugan

Do you have friends or family who are experiencing hearing loss? Know someone who don’t want to admit they can’t hear but need to know how to live with hearing loss and still lead a fulfilling life? Living with Hearing Loss is an easy to read guide. It is a very helpful resource for those people who are starting to experience hearing loss as they age. From recognizing the early signs of hearing loss, to information concerning types of hearing loss, hearing aids, cochlear implants, tinnitus, speech reading, strategies and techniques for dealing with common situations and more, living with Hearing Loss is a "user-friendly" resource and a "must-read" for anyone coping with hearing loss in themselves or a loved one.

One of our favourite quotes from the book is: “Living with hearing loss does not mean giving in to it; many assistive devices re available to ease the difficulties of understanding speech. You will find out that a great deal can be done to improve communication, even though your hearing loss cannot be changed.”

Why we recommend it? This book is an easy read which will help everyone affected and experiencing hearing loss. The knowledge you will gain from this book will allow you to take the steps needed to live better with hearing loss.

Bonus Read: Sound by Bella Bathurst

In 1997, Bella Bathurst began to go deaf. Within a few months, she had lost half her hearing, and the rest was slipping away. She wasn't just missing punchlines, she was missing most of the conversation - and all of the jokes. For the next twelve years deafness shaped her life, until, in 2009, everything changed again.

Sound draws on this extraordinary experience, exploring what it is like to lose your hearing and - as Bella eventually did - to get it back, and what that teaches you about listening and silence, music and noise. She investigates the science behind deafness, hearing loss among musicians, soldiers and factory workers, sign language, and what the deaf know about these subjects that the hearing don't. If sight gives us the world, then hearing - or our ability to listen - gives us each other. But, as this engaging and intelligent examination reveals, our relationship with sound is both personal and far, far more complex than we might expect

Why we recommend it? Fascinating, informative and well written. Well worth reading, whether your life has been directly affected by hearing loss or not. 

If you think you are experiencing hearing loss or you know someone who is experiencing hearing loss, encourage them or yourself to take our FREE Online Hearing Test