My Story
Back in Business, After a Long Break
Re-Booting Hearing Mojo
Can “Musicophilia” by Oliver Sacks Explain Why I’m Hearing Better?
I just picked up Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, and it is a revelation for anyone with hearing loss and distortion of sounds that comes with it. Sacks is a physician and neurological specialist who has written extensively on previously unexplained phenomena with the brain. Read more
Joining The Hearing Mainstream, Or, How I Got My Mojo Back (Hearing Mojo, That Is)
It’s been a long while since I last posted. That’s because I have spent the last six months ramping my marketing and communications consulting business, Aquarius Advisers, to the next level. Read more
Did Someone Say Those Noises In My Head Are Real? Or Am I Hearing Things Again?
A few weeks ago I posted an item about the noises I constantly hear in my head. These aren’t the usual hissing or ringing noises commonly associated with tinnitus. I’m talking about distinct sounds such as dump trucks and payloaders working at a hallucinatory construction site outside my window, a chain saw whining in the distance, several orchestral arrangements of “God Bless America” that played in my head without a break for two full days…. the list of real sounds heard distinctly goes on. Read more
Okay, It’s Time To Get A Portable Bed-Shaker. Any Recommendations?
When my family toured Washington, D.C., in 1964, we stayed in a Holiday Inn where one of the beds was equipped with something called “Magic Fingers.” My brother and I scraped together two quarters and shoved them into the sliding arm that dropped the coins into a metal box above the headboard, and the entire bed started vibrating. Read more
Excuse Me, I Have To Fall Down Now
Right after college, I had three roommates in their first year of medical school. Once a week, one of them would run up from the mailbox shouting, “MMWR is here! MMWR is here!” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the newsletter from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), chronicles every known malady afflicting the populace, providing graphic details of the latest horrific diseases and extensive weekly documentation of Who and How Many are Dying from What and Why. Read more
So How Does “The World’s Greatest Communicator” Communicate When He Can’t Even Hear?
On paper, at least, I am one of the world’s great communicators. I was CEO of one of the world’s largest public relations firms. Before that I was co-founder of one of the fastest growing high-tech marketing communications firms in Silicon Valley. And before that I was a successful journalist. I haven’t counseled kings, but I have whispered in the ears of some of the world’s most important business executives. When I lost most of my hearing, being the world’s greatest communicator got a lot more complicated. What I’ve discovered, though, is that communication involves a lot more than using your ears, and that you can still be one of the world’s greatest listeners even when you can’t hear. Read more
A Night at the Theater
Usually a trip to the theater is frustrating because getting any of the dialogue is such a challenge. Even the headphones available in larger theaters most often don’t do the job for me. But last weekend I went to see my friend Steve Cooper play a leading role in Blinders, a political satire put on by the Out of the Blue Theater Company at the Boston Playwrights’ Theater. The company is staffed by both veteran and up-and-coming actors in a small, intimate theater next to the campus of Boston University. And this time, I had two things going for me that made going to the theater enjoyable again. Read more