In 2005, there were an estimated 31 million people in the United States with some degree of hearing loss. By 2010, this number is expected to grown to 33.4 million and up to 52.9 million by 2050. (MarkeTrak VII: Hearing Loss Population Tops 31 Million People http://www.betterhearing.org/pdfs/MarkeTrak7_Kochkin_July05.pdf Accessed 5/5/09.) Not only does hearing loss effect the person dealing with it, it also effects that person’s family, friends and social interactions.
About the Author
Jean Kenney was diagnosed with progressive hearing loss 26 years ago. Like many others facing the gradual loss of their hearing, Jean kept it to herself, not wanting others to know that she could not hear well. She began to rely on her husband and children as her ‘ears’ in certain situations.
As time went by and Jean became more comfortable with her hearing loss, she began to tell others that she couldn’t hear them. It was when she began to tell others about her hearing loss that she began to understand just how little people knew about interacting with someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.
Jean decided to write Nana, Can You Hear Me? when her first grandchild was old enough to notice the thing behind her ear. The book is meant to help ‘children’ of all ages understand this invisible disability.
Questions About Hearing Loss
Nana, Can You Hear Me? is written in a way that makes it accessible to all ages and levels of comprehension. Each page in the book is a simple question and answer format. The heading of each page is a question about hearing loss phrased in the way that a child would ask it. The rest of the page is the answer to the question in simple, easy to understand language. The words that a child may not understand, such as audiologist and inherited, are explained at the bottom of the page. Facts about hearing loss are included, where relevant, after each ‘answer.’
Topics covered in Nana include how we hear, what happens when we begin to experience hearing loss and what can help a person with a hearing loss. The book also touches on why the boy on the playground with a hearing aids feels different and what the other students can do to make him feel more included.
Statistics and Resources
The back of the book is filled with statistics on the rates of hearing loss not only in the United States, but all over the world. These statistics were provided by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. The book also includes a comprehensive list of resources on deafness and hearing loss.
Nana, Can You Hear Me? is available at Amazon.com.
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