Hearing Dogs
Next month, Tuesday March 12, will be a really
special presentation at the Derbytown meeting. It will be about dogs trained to assist the
hearing impaired. Ms. Johna Albritton with her dog, Belgium, will be speaking and also
attending will be Ms. Kitty Davis and her dog Aro
The organization is Canine Companions
for Independence. They are trainers for the organization, based in California. President
Paula says that a person using this service goes to California and for a nominal fee of less
than $200, spends two weeks learning about how to handle the dog. Later there are sessions
closer to home for any further training. The dogs
are bred for this purpose and tested
extensively for temperament etc.
If you have any interest at all in the possibility of
having a hearing dog, this would be a good meeting to attend. We are at the Louisville
Public Library, 3rd and York, at 6:30 PM. The parking lot across the street is very well
lighted. Our meetings are always free and open to the public. We have real-time captions
provided for us by McClendan-Kogut Reporting Service. Refreshments provided!
In Recent Months....
While the Sept. 11th meeting
at the Derbytown chapter was canceled, the October meeting featured Stacy Ridgway from the
Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts talking about captioning services for theater events.
Then in January, Chris Jadick of WAVE 3 News held a discussion with us about TV captioning
and how it might be improved. He was willing to listen to our ideas and complaints but didn't
leave us with the feeling that news programs will be real-time captioned very soon. We are
disappointed with the progress on this, but felt we had at least opened the door and let our
thoughts be heard. And then in February we had a truly self-help meeting! We all shared our
sources of information about hearing loss. Some brought books and told us about them. Others
talked about assistive listening devices they had found. Any time we have a chance to sit
around and just talk, we have a very good time!
Bad News
Dept.
We lost the Danville group some time ago. And now we find that the Frankfort group
is having a problem. It needs a new leader! Lori Bishop, who founded and carried it through
the first years, has become too busy with demands of her new family and job. And it is time
for someone else to take over the reins of this group. Mary Lee and Paula have visited
meetings there and would hate to see it fold up for lack of a leader. It's a really
enthusiastic group, full of ideas and energy----------but no leader. Somebody, or
several somebodies working together, could help this one. And a lot of SHHHers live in that
area. It would be nice if you all volunteered at once.........
The Ky Dept of Mental
Health/Mental Retardation Services Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
has established a
TOLL-FREE TTY CRISIS LINE NUMBER 866-270-0141
for deaf/hard of
hearing
People
Hours 5:00 p. m. to 8:00 a.m.Monday -Friday
All day Saturdays and Sundays.
This line will be answered by "Deaf Friendly" staff.
If you have any questions feel free to
contact Marcie or Susie at
502 564-4448 V or 502 564-5777 TTY
Thank you!!!
Until now, if you suspected that you needed a hearing aid, you first went to your doctor and then perhaps to an Ear Nose and Throat specialist, and then to an audiologist for the hearing aid. You can now do all these things in one place at the new $6 million Heuser Hearing Institute. The Louisville Deaf Oral School has relocated to it's new campus at the corner of First and Kentucky and expanded to a full-service provider for hearing needs of both children and adults. The school stands alone in one building, but the campus also holds administrative, medical and audiological offices.
In the Hearing Services Center, three doctors lease space to serve both children and adults. Louisville's two otologists (ear specialists) both have part time office hours. Resident audiologists are ready to schedule hearing tests and fit hearing aids. Patients who qualify for cochlear implants and are interested in this are also served here. Speech and language testing can be provided also.
University of Louisville's School of Medicine and College of Arts and Sciences, Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services and Norton Healthcare are cooperating on the hiring of an onsite researcher in the area of hearing loss. This department will be on the third floor of the medical building.
Still in the planning and funding stages is an Assistive Devices Office that will allow us to visit and actually see and try out the various assistive listening and alerting devices that make life so much easier for us.
Last week, Mona McCubbin, the Executive Director of the Institute, took me on a tour of the facilities. We started in the administration building and looked into every office. They were all beautiful and she said much of the furniture had been donated. There was even a well-appointed staff kitchen and meeting rooms.
The medical building holds state of the art equiptment for diagnostic and audiological services. She noted that this is the only place in the region that holds all of these services under one roof.
Whether you suspect a hearing loss, or need a new hearing aid, or even need to get a cochlear implant, you can come to the Institute for all your needs now. At my questioning about it's non-profit status and that effect on prices, Mona made it clear that the doctors are merely renting space there and are totally independent in how they manage their work and pricing. But on the question of hearing devices, she said the Hearing Services Center will not be quite as expensive as a totally "for profit" dealer.
Our last stop on the tour was the school for children from age 2 to 8. The classrooms are bright and cheerful and full of every thing a child could want to see and play with. It's a very kid-friendly place! Also the classrooms have sound field listening systems installed. This means the teacher wears a microphone that feeds a system of speakers placed high around the walls of the room. This is something that every school in the country should have for hearing students as well. It is a documented fact now that the general noise of a classroom makes the teacher's voice less than clear for even hearing students. A sound field system changes the listening atmosphere and makes it possible for every child to hear the teacher's voice clearly.
Mona took me to a classroom of five
girls who put on a little play about Cinderella. Each child had a part and their lines were
on flip charts. The teacher cued them for lines and pointed to the charts for any that needed
reading. Three of the girls wore cochlear implants and they all were working hard at their
clearest speech! It was great fun to watch and listen to them.
If you would like to make an
appointment for hearing tests or any other hearing service, call
If you need the Hearing Services Center for audiological testing and hearing aids, their extension 254.
Hearing loss is more common than you might think.
Interestingly, due to recreational and environmental noise, hearing loss is occurring at
younger and younger ages. Consider the facts:
Demographics:
* 28 million Americans
are hearing impaired, and an estimated 500 million experience hearing loss, worldwide
Hearing loss facts:
If you have never been to a convention, this is the time to start! Four days of fun and new friends from all over the country will meet in Seattle!
A room is just $110, sleeps four and the hotel will be at the center of the convention activity. Meeting and socials will keep you busy and enjoying the camaraderie of others who share our interest and understandings about all things related to hard of hearing people. See the schedule on the right for rough overview of what happens.
Day 1: Friday, June 21
Registration Open: 9 to 5
Exhibit Hall Open: 10 am to 4 pm, and 6 pm to 7 pm
Board of Directors' meetings
Chapter Leaders Workshop all day
Newcomers' Welcome Session afternoon
Opening Session afternoon
Reception in Exhibit Hall
Day 2: Saturday, June 22
Registration Open: 8 am to 5
Exhibit Hall: open 10 am to 7:30 pm
Business Meeting morning
Plenary Sessions morning
Workshops/Panels afternoon
Children's' Workshop
Poster Session all day (speakers present early afternoon) Theme Party
Day 3: Sunday, June 23
Registration Open: 8 am to 5 pm
Worship Service morning
Exhibit Hall Open to 1 pm
Plenary Sessions morning
Workshops/Panels afternoon
Poster Session all day, speakers present early afternoon
Banquet evening
Day 4: Monday, June 24
Registration Open: 8 am to 11 am
Research Symposium: 9 am to 12 Awards Tea:
In the area:
national and state parks
the Space Needle,
the Aquarium, ---come on out for a vacation too!
Jan 30-introduced in Senate
Feb 4-to Banking and Insurance (S)
AN ACT relating to
health insurance coverage for hearing aids and related services.
Be it enacted by the General
Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:
(1) As used in this section:
(a) "Hearing aid"
means any wearable, nondisposable instrument or device designed to aid or compensate for
impaired human hearing and any parts, attachments, or accessories, including earmolds, but
excluding batteries and cords; and
(b) "Related services" means those services necessary to
assess, select, and appropriately adjust or fit the hearing aid to ensure optimal performance.
(2) A health benefit plan shall provide coverage, subject to all applicable copayments,
coinsurance, deductibles, and out-of-pocket limits, for the full cost of one (1) hearing aid
per hearing impaired ear up to one thousand four hundred dollars ($1,400) every thirty-six (36)
months for hearing aids for insured individuals under eighteen (18) years of age and all
related services which shall be prescribed by an audiologist licensed under KRS Chapter 334A
and dispensed by an audiologist or hearing instrument specialist licensed under KRS Chapter
334. The insured may choose a higher priced hearing aid and may pay the difference in cost
above the one thousand four hundred dollar ($1,400) limit as provided in this section without
any financial or contractual penalty to the insured or to the provider of the hearing aid.
(3) A health benefit plan shall not be required to pay a claim filed by its insured for
payment of the cost of a hearing aid under the coverage required by subsection (2) of this
section if less than three (3) years prior to the date of the claim its insured filed a claim
for payment of the cost of a hearing aid under the required coverage and the claim was paid by
any health benefit plan.......................
(15) The policy or policies provided to state
employees or their dependents pursuant to this section shall provide coverage for obtaining a
hearing aid and acquiring hearing aid related services for insured individuals under eighteen
(18) years of age, subject to a cap of one thousand four hundred dollars ($1,400) every
thirty-six (36) months.
Legislation has been introduced this session of the General Assembly that would require health insurance companies to provide coverage for hearing aids for children up to the age of eighteen. If passed, the legislation would provide for coverage for one hearing aid per hearing impaired ear, up to $1400 per ear, every 36 months.
The bill, known as SB152, is sponsored by Senators Tom Buford and Vernie McGaha, and is a first step toward securing health insurance coverage of hearing aids for all those in the Commonwealth affected by hearing loss. It was filed in the Senate on January 30, 2002 and cleared the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee by a unanimous vote on February, 21, 2002. A similar bill introduced last session, passed the Senate on a 32 -1 vote, cleared the House Banking and Insurance Committee, but was not called for a vote on the House floor.
Instrumental in getting the legislation introduced was a study group, formed by the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, that spent many hours over the last year researching the issue and drafting language for the bill. The Hearing Aid Legislation Study Group, chaired by Commissioner Trish Freeman of Harrodsburg, has members from all major organizations, schools and professions that represent the interests of, or serve the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as parents of children with hearing loss.
Organizations represented on the study group include: the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Kentucky Chapter of Self Help for the Hard of Hearing, the Kentucky Chapter of the Alexander Graham Bell Association, the Louisville Deaf Oral School, the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center, the Kentucky School for the Deaf, the KY Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Commission for Children with Special Health Care Needs and the Education, Arts and Humanities Cabinet.
Please take a moment to contact your legislators and ask for their support of this important legislation. Legislators can be reached by calling and leaving a message at the legislative message line at 1-800-372-7181. If you would like to try and speak directly to your legislators, you may call the citizen contact line at 1-800-592-4399 or you may call the TTY message line at 1-800-896-0305. The legislators need to hear from you about this bill. Please call and tell them what passage of SB 152 would mean to the hearing impaired community.
---Trish Freeman
Chair, KCDHH Hearing Aid Legislation Study Group
Editor's note: Since this was written, the bill has been sent to the Senate floor where it should be voted on early in the week of 2/25/02. Then it will go on to the House. Five other states have this coverage: Connecticut, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oregon and Rhode Island. California has now proposed this coverage for kids also.
* In the U.S., one out of 12 30-year-olds is already hearing-impaired and one in 8 50-year-olds suffer from hearing loss
* After President Bill Clinton was fitted for hearing aids, more than 1 million other baby boomers identified themselves as experiencing hearing loss
* There are more baby boomers aged 45-64 with a hearing loss (10 million) than there are people over the age of 65 with a hearing loss (9 million)
* Thanks to the above, were all losing our hearing at a younger age than we were 30 years ago
* Of the 10 million Americans aged 45 to 64 who have a hearing loss, 6 out of 7 do not yet benefit from wearing hearing aids
* Hearing loss is second only to arthritis as the most common complaint of older adults
* Only about 10% of hearing losses are helped by surgery or other medical treatment
* 90% of hearing losses can be treated with the use of hearing instruments
* Only 16% of physicians routinely screen for hearing loss
* Noise above 80-90 decibels on average over an 8-hour workday is considered hazardous
* Firearms, music, airplanes, lawnmowers, power tools and many appliances are louder than 80 decibels and potentially hazardous to hearing with prolonged exposure
* A live rock concert produces sounds from 110 to 120 decibelseasily high enough to cause permanent damage to hearing over a 2- to 3-hour period
17th International SHHH Convention
June 21 - June 24, 2002
The SeaTac Double Tree Hotel
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
18740 Pacific Highway South (aka International Boulevard)
Seattle, Washington 98188
206 246 8600 (voice)
Friday, June 21st through Monday, June 24, 2002
(800) 222-8733 (voice) or
1-800-368-1133 (TTY)
Senate Bill 152 Insurance Coverage for Hearing Aids
SECTION 1. A NEW SECTION OF SUBTITLE 17A OF KRS
CHAPTER 304 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
Hearing Aid Legislation Clears Senate Committee