Blamey Saunders hears is open for business.
I think everyone in Melbourne went partying last week. It was pretty quiet on the train today. There were four people in my carriage, where normally there aren’t enough seats. One of the men on the train was lying on his seat, like he’s preparing for a long haul flight.
So this reflects the beginning of the holiday period. Last week was break up. This week it’s here.To all those with hearing difficulties, remember don’t stress in the festive season.

How not to stress when listening?  Use all your engines when you are trying to listen. If you haven’t got round to getting hearing aids, then you’ll have a bit of extra problem, but you can still practice controlling the listening situation a bit. Make sure you turn your head directly to the person you want to listen to. When you get hearing aids with automatic directional microphones, this is going to be an important trick, but it’s an important one for all of us. The speaker likes it – you look interested, and the ears are optimally placed for sound collection. Use your eyes well, to watch peoples faces. We all lip-read, and the brain automatically integrates the information from both sources – eyes and ears. Use this good design. I have had hearing aid clients say to me “I want to be able to understand everything, all the time without watching peoples faces. My answer is “Try and see their faces. We aren’t designed like that”
So, when you are in the kitchen facing the cook top, don’t necessarily expect to hear well everything that’s being said behind you. We can rig it with hearing aids so that you can hear better backwards, but it’s not normal human communication. Enjoy the focus on creating something lovely at the cook top, and let the people behind you talk to each other. Except, practice listening out for one particular phrase:
“Can I help?”.