In Danville, Patty Edwards and her group will be handing out information and vouchers for testing by a local audiologist. They are planning set up outside a Walmart, and/or KMart.
In Bowling Green where we do not have a group yet, we do have a helpful audiologist, Jeffrey Barefoot, who will conduct free hearing screenings on May 6th from 10:00am-2:00pm in the Daily News parking lot. He has a mobile testing trailer.
In Louisville, Paula Esterle, who is managing the plans, reports: "In an effort to get people who might other wise not visit an audiologist's office to have a screening performed, we are sponsoring several testing sites. The first day of testing will be on May 12th at Bashford Manor Mall at the Jewish Lifestyle Center from 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Then on Saturday, May 13th we will be sponsoring the Easter Seals Hearing Conservation Mobile Unit at the Meijers Store on Hurstbourne Lane from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Our final day of testing will be held on May 20th at the Oxmoor Mall Jewish Lifestyle Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lifestyle Sites will be by appointment and the Meijers location will be first come first served."
"For those who are unable to attend the scheduled testing times, we have vouchers available which will be honored by audiologists in their private offices throughout May which is Better Speech and Hearing Month. This is a screening for those who have not had their hearing tested and no SHHHor would ever allow that to be the case with him or herself. However, please spread the word to friends and family. Generous (and brave) members of Derbytown have volunteered to assist the hearing testers by showing people to the testing room and handing out information. Not to worry-- a piece of cake. We are extremely grateful to those performing the testing who will have the difficult part."
There are several other audiologists around the state who volunteered independently to give screenings on May 6. We will report later on how that worked out.
And the final great announcement about NDHT, as it has become known, is that Governor Paul Patton has signed a proclamation naming May 6 National Day of Hearing Testing in Kentucky. Thank you, Gov. Patton! As a thanks from SHHH National, he has been named an honorary member of SHHH!
************
In other news, Paula visited the Danville group since the last newsletter She enjoyed its and came away impressed with the level of interest by people in the group. While Peg Teachey has resigned the presidency in Danville, the group is still strong and will undoubtedly elect another soon.
In Northern Kentucky, also where we don't actually have a group there are again some stirrings of activity. They now have captioned movies being shown on the Kentucky side of the river, and a small group has met to dine and then see two of them. Lou Ann Whelchel also reports that the Greater Cincinnati Cochlear Implant Club meets in Fort Thomas, KY. Thomas Mitchell, Cochlear Corporation Rep, talked to them about the N24 and BTE N22 plus the contour internal implant. The CI group meets every other month. On June 3, 4:00 p.m. - the first Saturday in June -they will have their first CI Annual Cookout at Mark Rosing's house. Lou Ann and Mark Rosing are working on plans for dinner meetings to interest the Northern KY people.
In Louisville, the Derbytown Chapter has had some useful meetings recently. In February, they invited two nurses, Cindy Bishop from Suburban, and Chris Summerfield from Baptist East, to discuss accommodations needed in hospital stays. We learned that both hospitals are prepared for hearing impaired patients. We also learned how to ask for what we need and to be completely honest about our needs.
In March, Derbytowners had a planning session for a meeting. They discussed everything from fund raising to their current complaints about accessibility in various areas. Then in April they had the annual spring potluck dinner.
Also in Louisville, they have a new editor for their newsletter. Melanie Magruder has taken on the monthly task. After the first month's battle to conquer her word processor, she settled into building a bigger and better newsletter. As reported last time, Louise Wisdom has her new cochlear implant and has been connected to her processor now. We who talk to her really appreciate the ease with which we can communicate with her now! She says there are still some situations, like noisy rooms, that bother her, but she knows it may take awhile to adjust to it.
Maybe a peaceful quiet nation full of love and happiness with no sorrows or heartaches or destructions. How we wish! Well not in this lifetime, that's for sure.
But there is a lot of beauty to see if we just open our eyes and look for it. The sky is always different every day, and so much beauty do I see there. A blue sky with huge white clouds or a red sky from the setting sun. Or when it's cloudy and sunny and the sun comes down through the clouds like the sky is opening up and pouring out the rays from heaven.
There's beautiful flowers and trees and mountains and lakes and waterfalls. I've seen ice on trees and bushes that glimmers like diamonds and snow that covers the earth in white beauty. And sometimes I see a blind man, or a paralized person in a wheelchair, or a small child or a teenager or someone's mother or father with cancer and I think to myself, "God has given me so much. I'm so lucky!"
Oh I know I'm deaf, and my body is sorta wore out a little in the joints. And I know I probably squeak when I walk. But I can still smile and laugh and enjoy life.
Let's keep our eyes open and focus on the good things in our lives and be grateful for what we have.
Question: Why Should I be interested in NOAA Weather Radio (NWR)?
Answer: Warnings provided by NWR can save your life during periods of local
severe weather or other hazard conditions.
Question: What good is radio to people who are deaf or hard of hearing?
Answer: The voice broadcast of NWR is of no value to the deaf and of little
value to the hard of hearing-very little of the audio information broadcast
can be understood by those with impaired hearing.
There is, however, other non-verbal information embedded in these broadcasts that can provide timely, critical warnings of life threatening events to the deaf and hard of hearing.
The National Weather Service (NWS) uses something called Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology to send warnings of imminent severe weather or other hazard conditions from any of 120 Weather Forecast Offices directly into homes, offices, public buildings, churches, hospitals, nursing homes and to many other locations using the national NWR network of over 250 transmitters. At least 80% of the American population is covered by NWR and NWS is working toward a coverage level of 95%.
Special NWR SAME radio receivers can be programmed to set off an alarm for specific events (tornado, flash flood, etc. ) and specific locations (your county) of interest to you, the "listener". Some receivers are also equipped with special output connectors that activate alerting devices for the deaf and hard of hearing vibrators, bed shakers, pillow vibrators, and strobe lights or other alerting systems.
Question: How does it work?
Answer: Forecasters at your local NWS Weather Forecast Office decide that a
severe weather event is occurring or about to occur, or local authorities
determine that a hazardous event (nuclear power plant problem, a chemical
or biological accident, etc.) has occurred that is a threat to the local
populace. The information is immediately input to a computer at the local
Weather Forecast Office and immediately broadcast by NWR transmitters that
cover the areas at risk. Digital codes are added to each broadcast that
identifies the event (tornado, flash flood, local civil emergency, etc) and
the location (Montgomery, Prince Georges, and Anne Arundel Counties). When
the Warning is received by a NWR SAME receivers, the receiver turns itself on,
activates a Warning Light, writes a short message (TORNADO) on the display and
activates any external devices (Strobe lights, sirens, vibrators, etc.)
connected to the receiver.
Question: Where can I get the necessary equipment and what does it cost?
Answer: NWR SAME receivers with features useful to the deaf and hard
of hearing, such as an output to activate external devices, an LCD display,
and battery back-up power are manufactured and/or sold by several companies,
including Radio Shack, Midland and First Alert.
Connecting some of them to external alarm devices requires a knowledge of electronics and some electronic skills for proper installation. However, there are systems that have been assembled, tested, packaged and marketed by Silent Call and Harris Electronics that are simple to install and use. The cost of a basic NWR SAME receiver is $50-$80. Systems packaged with external alarm devices start at $100.00
Question: What should I do if I'm interested in using NWR to get warnings
of life threatening weather or other hazards.
Answer: Satisfy yourself that your area is vulnerable to weather or hazard
conditions that warrant an expenditure for an alarm system. The National
Weather Service believes that NWR should be as common as smoke detectors.
Visit NWS web sites at www.nws.noaa.gov/,
www.nws.noaa.gov/om, and www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr to learn more about NWS and NWR
and to determine if the area in which you live is covered by NWR. Contact
one of the vendors on the following page. Purchase an
NWR receiver or system only with the understanding that if it doesn't work in
your area, that it can be returned for a full refund.
New:
1. Ultratec Crystal Tone Ringer [an amplified phone ringer]
2. Ultratec Superprint Pro80 Gold [a top of the line TTY]
3. Krown Pocket Speak and Read [a portable VCO] (This was reviewed in the
last Decibel)
4. Walker Cordless Clarity [a portable amplified phone]
Other Items available that are similar to previously distributed equipment
5. Ultratec Superprint 4425 [instead of Ameriphone Dialogue lllP]
6. Ultratec Superprint Pro80LVD [instead of Ultratec 4425A w/LVD]
7/ Williams Sound Teletalker [instead of Ameriphone XL30]
The Uniphone, and Ameriphone Dialogue VCO continue to be available also.
For information and applications call Drew Weldon 502-573-1400. (dweldon@mail.state.ky.us)
1. Yell at them from another room.
2. Cover your mouth while talking.
3. Turn away while talking.
4. Walk away while talking.
5. Talk with food in your mouth.
6. Mutter under your breath.
7. If they ask you to repeat what you
said, say "never mind."
8. If they ask you to repeat what you said, exaggerate the response,
as if they weren't hard of hearing, but hard of understanding.
9. Tell them they are just ignoring you.
10. Ignore them.
11. Tell them "You hear when you want to hear"
(Thanks to Arva Priola)
Tinnitus is a ringing in the ears and/or other noises that are perceived in the absence of any external noise source. It is estimated that one out of every five people experience some degree of tinnitus. Many sufferers report that their tinnitus sounds like the high-pitched background squeal emitted by some computer monitors or television sets. Others report noises like hissing steam, rushing water, chirping crickets, bells, breaking glass, or even chainsaws. Some report that their tinnitus temporarily spikes in volume with sudden head motions during aerobic exercise, or with each footfall while jogging. Frequently tinnitus gets louder when in quiet situations, such as during the night.
Tinnitus can be caused by hearing loss, noise exposure, ototoxic drugs, certain foods like red wine, grain based spirits, cheese, and chocolate, marijuana use, Lyme disease, tumors, wax in the ear canal, ear infections, high cholesterol, stress, and head trauma.
Dr. Jastreboff's therapy has two key elements: Direct counseling and sound therapy. The counseling session is critical to the success of the program, and patients may actually achieve relief through counseling alone. The counseling process involves an in-depth discussion of the hearing physiology, which helps the patient understand why tinnitus occurs.
In addition to counseling, most patients are fitted with ear-level white noise devices. These look like small hearing aids and are comfortably worn during the day. The sound is set to a very low level which never interferes with normal hearing, and after several weeks most patients do not hear the sound unless they really try to hear it. These devices help your brain to ignore the random signals of tinnitus, thus achieving auditory habituation.
Within six to 24 months, most patients have eliminated or are not longer bothered by their tinnitus.
For more information: Tinnitus Relief Center, Mercy Medical Center 1888-NO NOISE (666-6473) or email entbalt@qis.net
A New Mexico-based online service called ahearingaid.com has a network of about 550 hearing professionals across the country who work with them. You can check out the prices of most of the best known hearing aids on their website.
In the past three years, ahearingaid.com says it saved customers an average of $500.00 or more per ear on digital hearing aids, and an average of $300.00 or more per ear on programmable hearing aids. If you are online, do check out the website.
On the purchase of digital hearing aids they give customers a one-year supply of Energizer batteries, a two-year repair warranty, a two-year loss warranty (even on Danavox and Resound) which only offer a one-year warranty on their products. Their network professionals make $500 on each aid, which considerable less than most others charge.
Some of us are rather opinionated about what hearing aid we want and actually tell the hearing professional what we are going to buy. This doesn't go over too well with some of them, but it may be easier to deal with through ahearingaid.com. -At least a long as the choice of aid is reasonably correct for your hearing. There is no difference in the profit no matter what aid we buy. Also they carry the AVR boot FM systems.
To use this service, you start out online by contacting ahearingaid.com They will point you toward the nearest office of a hearing professional in their network. You MUST be referred by ahearingaid.com to get the network pricing structure.
This is a very brief summary of the service - look at ahearingaid.com for complete details.