This Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating finding love with hearing loss. Whether your valentine is a first date, your long-time love, or a cherished friend or family member, you can use these tips and tricks to make this holiday special. And if you need some inspiration, enjoy the stories of Cochlear recipients finding love with hearing loss.
Hearing loss can impair communication with others and can cause increased feelings of isolation and loneliness. With a hearing device from Cochlear, you can enhance the quality of communication with your loved ones and find new ways to connect this Valentine’s Day. To help, we’ve provided some tips and tricks for finding love with hearing loss and shared the heartwarming stories of Cochlear recipients who have found their life partners.
Top Tips for Finding Love with Hearing Loss this Valentine’s Day
If you’re ready to celebrate love with a special someone this Valentine’s Day, these tips can help you cut through the noise and connect.
- Plan your date night carefully to make the most of your special evening. How do you decide between going out to a nice Valentine’s Day dinner or cooking a gourmet meal together at home? In addition to considering your wallet and your tastebuds, you should also plan Valentine’s Day festivities with your hearing device in mind. For recipients who are still adjusting to strategies for hearing in noise, a quiet dinner at home may be the easiest way to turn up the volume on your romance. If you’re opting for a night out instead, you might choose a smaller, more intimate restaurant to limit background noise or call ahead to ask for a corner booth.
- Practice your listening skills with hearing rehabilitation. Listening is a skill, and like many skills, you may be able to improve your hearing with consistent practice. It’s a great time to brush up on your listening skills now, so when the big night comes you can give your valentine your undivided attention. We offer some great resources for hearing therapy, like the CochlearTM CoPilot1mobile app with interactive listening activities or the auditory training exercises on our website, which are designed to be completed with a practice partner. Aural rehabilitation can help you improve your listening skills in challenging hearing environments, too – before you plunge yourself into a crowded restaurant or a dark movie theater, develop your hearing skills in advance so you won’t miss a beat on Valentine’s Day.
- Use Cochlear’s True WirelessTM technology to connect directly. While your sound processor may already provide you with outstanding hearing, Cochlear’s True Wireless devices can help you take your hearing to the next level. The Wireless Mini Microphone 2+ can be clipped to your date’s clothing so you can stream the sound of their voice directly to your sound processor, or placed on a table so you can clearly hear the ebbs and flows of conversation in a group. The Wireless Phone Clip and Wireless TV Streamer can help you engage in conversations and activities with your partner in real time.
- Opting for a special activity like a concert, an exercise class or an evening swim? We can help with that, too. A creative and thoughtful date is a great way to make Valentine’s Day special. If you’re looking to dance the night away this Valentine’s Day, research shows that focused attention and listening practice can improve a cochlear implant patient’s appreciation of music.2 Get started now with Bring Back the Beat, an interactive mobile app designed to help you reconnect with the magic of music. Interested in taking your partner on an active date like a bike ride, rock climbing, or skiing? Don’t forget that Cochlear offers a wide variety of options to help you keep your device in place, including headbands, safety lines, hair clips and more. If you’d rather opt for a date at your local beach, pool or hot tub, it’s always a good idea to bring along your Aqua+ Kit3 and other water-safe accessories to protect your sound processor and give you the peace of mind to swim, soak, and splash around with your valentine.
Inspiring Stories from Recipients Who Have Found (or Celebrated) Love with Hearing Loss
Are you looking for a little extra inspiration to put yourself out there with a new love interest or celebrate life with your spouse this Valentine’s Day? These encouraging stories from Cochlear recipients who found love with hearing loss may motivate you to get out of your comfort zone and make this Valentine’s Day one to remember.
- In this incredible tale of true love, Amy and Andrew met as children at a local school for the Deaf and were smitten with one another. Years later, the two reconnected in college and never looked back. They got married in 2015 and Amy and Andrew’s cochlear implants helped make their wedding day extra special, from the dance floor to conversations with loved ones.
- A truly inspirational Cochlear recipient, Gael felt like there weren’t a lot of great resources for how to deal with the social aspects of hearing loss when she was young. After becoming a wife and mother, Gael co-wrote a book, Hear & Beyond, to help others navigate challenges like when and how to tell someone you’re dating about your hearing loss, how to have a fair fight with your partner and how to develop a positive and empowered mindset about your hearing loss.
- Indulge yourself with the heartwarming story of Grayson and Brynne, who met through a dating app and quickly made a big impression on one another. Grayson lost his hearing at 10 months old, but with his cochlear implant and a little humor, he and Brynne have been able to navigate loud family gatherings, TV subtitles, and planning a wedding together.
- In a whirlwind experience of national fame, Abigail Heringer became the first contestant on The Bachelor4 with cochlear implants. Abigail shared that the process was very rewarding, because “everyone is worthy of love, and it’s time to start showcasing these diverse love stories. I know I’m not alone in feeling that sometimes my hearing loss has impacted my dating life, so I wanted to be able to be part of the conversation that by normalizing hearing loss, we can change how others perceive it.”
- This emotional anniversary story shares the journey of Mandy, whose cochlear implant and resulting increase in confidence led to her meeting the love of her life. You can imagine Mandy’s surprise when she realized they had scheduled their wedding day for the sixth anniversary of her cochlear implant surgery, a coincidence she says feels like fate.
- And finally, the Sound of Love series follows four married couples who share their stories about finding love with hearing loss and how cochlear implants have helped them hear many things in their lives, including their children and grandchildren, their favorite songs, their family and friends, and most importantly, each other.
Ready to make the most of your love life this Valentine’s Day? Visit the Rehabilitation Resources section on our website to find more resources to hear your best.
- For complete smartphone compatibility information, please visit www.cochlear.com/compatibility.
- Looi V, Gfeller K, Driscoll V. Music appreciation and training for Cochlear implant recipients: a review. Semin Hear. 2012 Nov 1;3(4):307–334. 2. Vandali, A et al. Training of Cochlear Implant Users to Improve Pitch Perception in the Presence of Competing Place Cues. Ear & Hearing. 2014 36(2).
- The Nucleus Aqua+ accessory is IP68 rated and is approved for use with rechargeable batteries and is not approved for use with the acoustic component. The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor with Aqua+ is water resistant to level IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529. This water protection means that the sound processor with the Aqua+ can be continuously submerged under water to a depth of 3 meters (9 ft and 9 in) for up to 2 hours. This water protection only applies when you use a Cochlear Standard Rechargeable Battery Module or Cochlear Compact Rechargeable Battery Module. The Nucleus 7 Sound Processor is water-resistant to level IP57 of the International Standard IEC60529 without the Aqua+ accessory for the Nucleus 7 Sound Processor.The Cochlear Nucleus 8 Sound Processor is dust and water resistant to level IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529. The Nucleus 8 Sound Processor with Aqua+ is dust and water resistant to level of IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529 when you use a Cochlear Power Extend Rechargeable Battery Module or Cochlear Compact Rechargeable Battery Module. The Nucleus 8 Sound Processor with Aqua+ can be continuously submerged under water to a depth of up to 3 meters for up to 2 hours. The Aqua+ accessory should be used when participating in prolonged water activities. Refer to the relevant user guide for more information. The Kanso 2 Sound Processor is dust and water resistant to level of IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529. The Kanso 2 Sound Processor with Aqua+ is dust and water resistant to level of IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529. This water protection rating means that the sound processor with the Aqua+ can be continuously submerged under water to a depth of up to 3 meters (9 feet and 9 inches) for up to 2 hours. The Aqua+ accessory should be used when participating in prolonged water activities.The Cochlear Osia 2 Sound Processor with Aqua+ is dust and water resistant to the level of IP68 of the International Standard IEC60529 when used with LR44 alkaline or nickel metal hydride disposable batteries. This water protection rating means that the sound processor with the Aqua+ can be continuously submerged under water to a depth of up to 3 meters (9 feet and 9 inches) for up to 2 hours. Refer to the relevant User Guide for more information.
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