Thrive With Adult Onset Hearing Loss: Consumer Advocate Launches Web Site

GARDINER, Maine - Sept. 4, 2014 - PRLog -- SEPTEMBER 4, 2014

Contact: Ann Conway, President

Hearing Loss Toolkit

ann@hearinglosstoolkit.org

www.hearinglosstoolkit.org

THRIVE WITH ADULT ONSET HEARING LOSS: CONSUMER ADVOCATE LAUNCHES WEB SITE

GARDINER MAINE (September 3, 2014) Hearing Loss Toolkit™(HLT), a consumer empowerment service for people with adult onset hearing loss has launched a new web site, www.hearinglosstoolkit.org. The site features education, products and consulting services for people are hard of hearing.

Founder Ann Conway, PhD is a public health consultant and disability advocate who has led education programs for over twenty years, including an Area Health Education Center, chronic disease prevention programs, aging-related conferences and web courses. She is the author of Consumer Guide: How to Thrive with Adult-Onset Hearing Loss, available through Amazon and HLT and is completing certification as a Hearing Loss Support Specialist.

“I launched this because I see a stunning need,” Dr. Conway notes.

“I’ve lived with adult-onset hearing loss for twenty-five years, so I can attest that living with this issue—the third most common chronic health condition affecting older adults—is challenging, in part because there is little health education given to consumers. This is shocking, since 36 million Americans live with some level of deafness. Most develop hearing loss later in life and do not use supports such as sign language. Only one out of five use hearing aids. There is a direct link between adult onset hearing loss and depression, chronic disease, cognitive decline and dementia.

A number of studies have discovered that if consumers feel informed and empowered, they can live well with this condition and their outcomes can be much more positive.

Hearing Loss Toolkit™  fill these needs by offering information and support on topics important to consumers: not just basic information on the causes and types of hearing loss, but practical, research-based advice on technology like hearing aids, (including adjustment and lower cost options), communicating well, brain retraining programs, coping, healthy living and ever-expanding progress in research and technology options, such as the hearing aid-friendly cell phones, hearing loops, Bluetooth options, IPhone apps and much more.

The issue is not the disability—it is empowerment. Consumers can THRIVE, not just survive.