Do you meditate? Sometimes people with hearing loss find it challenging, especially if the meditation is guided, meaning that we must follow along while someone is speaking. If we close our eyes, we may miss the meaning, and while Bluetooth connections allow for some guided meditations to broadcast directly into our devices, this may not be relaxing for some.
Recently, I discovered a new option: a guided meditation created specifically for people with hearing loss. It includes large, centered captions atop peaceful nature scenes accompanied by a spoken narration. The creator, Janaki Zaremba, covers several topics in the almost 13-minute meditation, many specific to the challenging emotions that often accompany hearing loss. She knows firsthand, because she has lived with a mild to moderate hearing loss since childhood.
Navigating Hearing Loss with Inner Peace
Janaki describes her meditation this way.
This meditation is designed to help you cultivate calm, confidence, and clarity as you navigate life with hearing loss. Whether you experience listening fatigue, moments of self-doubt, or the emotional weight of communication challenges, this practice is here to support you. I included centered large subtitles!
That sounds good to me!
Q & A with Janaki Zaremba
I had the opportunity to correspond with Janaki about her experiences with hearing loss. Thank you, Janaki, for taking the time to answer my questions.
What inspired you to create this meditation for people with hearing loss?
Meditation has been my daily anchor for over 30 years—it helps me stay calm, clear-headed, joyful, and resilient, especially when life gets challenging.
I’ve had a mild to moderate hearing loss since early childhood. My hearing was always “good enough” to navigate among fully hearing peers, so most people never noticed. But inwardly, I struggled with listening fatigue, low self-esteem, and a constant fear of being perceived as “slow” or “out of it.”
As a child, I didn’t know anyone else with hearing loss. Looking back, I realize I never reached out to a community—partly because I didn’t know it existed, and partly due to the stigma I felt. But meditation was there for me from the age of 12. It helped me feel more balanced and less overwhelmed in situations where communication felt difficult or exhausting.
In my 40s now, I’m much more confident. I can name my hearing difficulty upfront, which helps avoid misunderstandings and awkward moments. During my corporate years, I wore a hearing device—which was a lifesaver in meetings and group settings. But now that I work mainly from home, I no longer use it. I often found it overstimulating, which led to sensory exhaustion.
As a meditation teacher, I began wondering: could others with hearing loss benefit from a regular practice like I have? Especially after long days of lip-reading, interpreting body language, and navigating the social load that comes with hearing fatigue?
Creating this meditation felt both personal and necessary. If even one person with hearing loss finds ease or peace through this recording, that would bring me a lot of joy.
How did you tailor the meditation to make it more accessible?
Accessibility was built into the design from the start. I created a YouTube video with extra-large captions displayed clearly in the center of the screen, so people with any level of hearing loss can follow along with ease.
The meditation is paced slowly and intentionally, giving time to read and absorb each cue. The language is simple, clear, and easy to digest. I also designed it to work well with open eyes, because meditation isn’t about eye position, but about awareness of breath and the present moment. If reading the captions helps you stay connected, that’s absolutely encouraged.
What are your plans for the meditation? Will there be others?
Yes—this is just the beginning. I plan to create more guided meditations and short mindfulness videos. Whether future meditations are specifically tailored for the hearing loss community will depend on the interest and feedback I receive.
That said, I’m actively exploring ways to support the community further. I’d love to host live meditation sessions on Zoom with real-time captions, so everyone can read along and participate comfortably. Perhaps even in collaboration with Shari!
The technology now exists to make live events more accessible, and I’d be excited to use it to create safe, calming spaces for people who may not always feel included in traditional meditation offerings.
I’ve mainly been teaching meditation offline until now, but I’m in the process of building an online presence. My goal is to gradually shift from a career in online marketing to teaching meditation full-time. Sharing accessible practices like this one online feels like a natural and meaningful extension of the work I’ve already been doing.
How can people stay in touch or learn more about your work?
I’m just beginning to share my work publicly, so the best way to stay in touch right now is through Instagram @janakimayazaremba and my new YouTube channel @janakimayazaremba, where I’ll be posting more accessible meditations soon.
I’m also building a website, which I’ll announce on Instagram once it’s live. The link will also be added to my YouTube channel. If you’re curious or want to follow along, I’d love to connect!
Giving Guided Meditation a Try
I encourage you to give Janaki’s meditation a try and let us know what you think. Your feedback could help shape more inclusive resources like this.
Readers, would you use meditation to help you manage the frustrations of hearing loss?
Related Posts
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!
This is a terrific resource, Shari, thank you!
I hope you enjoy it!
This is wonderful. I can never hear during guided meditations and feel like I’m cheating when I open my eyes a bit to see. Thank you! During prayers, also!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I’ve been meditating for over 20 years. I went back and forth between guided and just timed mediations. I found the strain of actively listening to guided mediations, even when I have my phone paired to my aids, wasn’t relaxing. So, A few years ago I settled on a timer with ambient noise to drown out my tinnitus. I use the Insight Timer app: https://insighttimer.com/
That said, I’m going to give Janaki’s guided meditation a try. Thanks so much for sharing!
Great! Curious to hear your feedback on it. Thanks for your comment.
It was good! I’ve done plenty of body scans before but this was the first time the stress of active listening was wrapped up in it. I appreciated it very much. I also appreciated the captions. I usually shut my eyes during meditation but needed to keep them open because I was missing some of the words. I hope she continues the series.
Great feedback! Thanks for sharing it!
What a great idea Shari thank you so much. Facing a cochlear implant soon and know this will be helpful.
Excellent! Best wishes for your surgery!