June 24, 2024:  Hello, my name is Ward Kinney.  Welcome to my blog!  The purpose for creating this is to share information  amongst those of us who “have hearing loss”, or are “hard of hearing” or are “hearing impaired”.  As you have navigated to this site I would encourage you to think of ways that you can become an advocate for those of us who have this challenge in our life.

But first, a bit about me.  I am a senior citizen born and raised in the Midwest.  Southwest Iowa actually.  I served aboard the USS Hornet while in the Navy during the Vietnam war era.  After my discharge from the Navy, I returned home and to my job at Union Pacific Railroad.  Starting as a yard clerk in the switching yard in Council Bluffs, I then traveled the railroad helping to install and train folks about computer systems. After working for 37 years in many varied roles, I retired from the IT department where I lead software development efforts.  Subsequently, I tried my luck as an entrepreneur in technology and then, with my wife, in the travel industry.  As you might imagine, I could write multiple pages sharing the adventures from each of the afore mentioned periods. 

Somewhere along the line, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t hearing well at all.  It hit me hard when I was standing fairly close to my sister-in-law and, though she was speaking fairly loudly, it actually sounded like a foreign language. So, off to the audiologist I go! Boy did I have a lot to learn.  Such as, most of the time it is not about volume, but rather missing sounds because of the inability to hear specific sounds of certain pitches.  For me, female voices are particularly challenging.  In the past, I have had multiple hearing aids tuned to my hearing loss.  First from a commercial audiologist and then from the Veteran’s Administration (VA).  And, by the way, the VA has done a great job for me and are easy to work with!  I extend them a big “Thank You!”.