Missed Connections: Hard of Hearing in a Hearing World [Paperback]

Barbara Stenross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 1999

'Why doesn't she just open up her ears and listen?' Few physical problems are as poorly understood as hearing loss. In "Missed Connections", a new kind of self-help book that combines sociological reporting with personal reflection, sociologist Barbara Stenross examines what hearing loss feels like to those who have it and which technologies and strategies can improve communication at home and in public. Based on seven years of research, Stenross' book tells of how as she sought information and solutions to help her hard-of-hearing father she came to join a community group called Village Self Help for Hard-of-Hearing People. Taking us along to group meetings and into the homes of members, Stenross shows us through the personal accounts of these individuals the exhaustion that comes from constantly straining to listen, the frustration of missing critical comments or the punchlines of jokes, and the pain that hard-of-hearing family members experience when loved ones accuse them of hearing 'when they want to'. Full of scenes, dialogues, and conversations, "Missed Connections" also discusses such practical issues as how people with impaired hearing can continue to use the phone, how assistive technologies can help in public and private, why hearing aids can't always do enough, and how bluffing and silence can hurt more than help. Understanding that when one family member is hard-of-hearing, the whole family can suffer from 'missed connections', Stenross offers in this book a useful family resource with a broad range of practical guidance. With chapters on belonging and acceptance, do's and don'ts in public, lip-reading, hearing aids, and television, "Missed Connections" will interest a range of readers including deaf and hard-of-hearing people as well as their families, teachers, friends, employers, and counselors healthcare professionals, scholars, and others interested in the experiences of and solutions for disability and hearing loss. Barbara Stenross teaches sociology and serves as Assistant Dean of the General College at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Barbara Stenross's Missed Connections is an important contribution to the literature on the experiences of hard-of-hearing people, providing insights and information for several audiences, including deaf and hard of hearing people, their families, teachers, friends, employers, and counselors." --Susan Foster, National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology

From the Publisher

A new kind of self-help book for the hearing impaired --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 139 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; 1 edition (April 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566396824
• ISBN-13: 978-1566396820
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #451,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful Book, June 14, 2001

By 

Tami Oxenrider (Bauxite, AR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Missed Connections: Hard of Hearing in a Hearing World (Paperback)

I think this is one of the best books on the market for understanding people that are hard-of-hearing. I is easily read, and very complete. I think everyone who works along side a HOH person should read it. It explains what we hear and what we don't. I really liked the two charts that were included. It helped me to show my boss and co-workers just where my hearing level is and what sounds I don't hear. Anyone that lives or works with someone that is either hard-of-hearing or deaf should read this book. I would sure help us if others understood what they could do to make comucation easier for us.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine Probe Into Hearing Loss and Deaf World, August 12, 2004

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Missed Connections: Hard of Hearing in a Hearing World (Paperback)

Having grown up in a deaf home, this sociology professor takes on this cultural area for her research, and finds much that she passes on in this well written book.

Especially productive in reading this is the insights given about the differences in hearing aids, with their telecoils and zoom features and the audio coil systems, etc. There is plethora of fine discussion of other technologies that assist the hearing impaired and their families and social contacts.

Since communication is critical to us humans, missed connections is a terrible thing to live with, and this fine work provides many helpful discussions and suggestions on overcoming or minimalizing them.

There are absolutely some awesome things to be grasped from this book: Helen Keller said that rather be blind than deaf; the almost impossibility of proficient lipreading or speechreading; the pingpong paddles signal system to either speak up, or that's good.

This is great resource to be turned to and recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Basic Book, October 26, 2008

By 

Melody Englund "songbird" (Rainier, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Missed Connections: Hard of Hearing in a Hearing World (Paperback)

My Dad is hard of hearing so I was looking for a book that would inform me about it. This book has information about how to talk to a deaf person (slowly, facing them, light on face) as well as all the technology options available at the time.