December 18, 2009
Cochlear implant program at ECU celebrates 10 years
East Carolina University's Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Cochlear Implant Program of Eastern Carolina.
On Oct. 24, 12 cochlear implant recipients, their family and friends joined ECU speech and audiology faculty to commemorate the occasion.
More than 80 adults have received implants and services since 1999 from the program's team of specialists: faculty and staff in the ECU Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic, Dr. Bradley Brechtelsbauer with Eastern Carolina ENT-Head & Neck Surgery, and speech and audiology professionals at Pitt County Memorial Hospital.
Posted @ 2:48 AM
Early treatment hope for tinnitus
Research has raised the possibility of successfully treating the ear-ringing disorder tinnitus soon after its onset.
Some forms of the condition are associated with spontaneous nerve activity in the brain.
A team from the University of Western Australia showed this activity is, for a time, dependent on nerve signals generated in the inner ear.
Posted @ 2:45 AM
Making Deaf Children: Eugenics is Eugenics is Eugenics
With a new $4.8 million building slated to open next October, the Children's Center for Communication and Beverly School for the Deaf expects to nearly double its enrollment.
The 132-year-old institution was on the brink of closing five years ago but has since bolstered its programs, has redefined its mission and is now operating at full capacity. There are about 50 families in the parent/infant/toddler program, which starts teaching children sign language almost from birth, and 52 students attending classes on campus, said Judy Gansberg, public relations manager.
Posted @ 2:44 AM
Incoming Gallaudet President Hurwitz keeping many roots in Rochester
Alan Hurwitz heads for Washington, D.C., next month to become president of Gallaudet University — the world's leading liberal arts institution for the deaf.
But he realizes that much of his future life will remain anchored in Rochester.
He forged his career at Gallaudet's traditional rival: the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, or NTID, one of eight colleges at Rochester Institute of Technology. Joining as a science professor in 1970, he became its first deaf dean in 1998 and president in 2008.
Posted @ 2:42 AM
Deaf postal worker greets customers with a smile
Most days, Joe Ortiz, 46, works at the Seventh Street branch of the U.S. Postal Service.
He'll greet you with a smile and handle your business quickly and efficiently. It's only then that you realize you haven't heard him speak during the transaction. Ortiz, an employee of the Postal Service for 25 years, is deaf, but that doesn't slow him down.
Posted @ 2:41 AM
Family benefits from community help in dealing with deaf daughter
Bailey Vincent Clark, 23, a mother of two, recently discovered she is hearing impaired. While pregnant, she and her husband of almost 5 years, had to refinance their home just to pay for the hearing aids she needs in both ears.
So when her now-5-month-old daughter, Follin Marie Clark, began to show signs of being hard of hearing, she and her family were concerned.
Follin wasn't responding when her sister made loud noises. She didn't make even basic baby sounds for more than 5 minutes a day, said her mother as the teething infant sat in her lap chewing on her own fingers.
Posted @ 2:40 AM
Woman interprets for the deaf in Cincinnati parishes
Angela Dornbach didn’t hear her full name spoken until she was in first grade, but she understood a spiritual message loud and clear at a very young age. Now, at the age of 72, she can be found interpreting for the deaf at several Cincinnati Catholic parishes.
Born on Christmas Day 1937, Dornbach was called “Angel” by family and friends as a child. Raised by deaf parents, she became familiar with seeing an angel performed in sign language to identify her.
Posted @ 2:39 AM
Expressions of Silence Christmas celebration Sunday
It's one thing to get excited about Christmas when you can see and hear the joys of the season unfold in front of you.
It's another for those unable to absorb the sights or sounds of a holiday celebration.
Those challenges won't keep students at the Montana School for the Deaf and the Blind from getting into the holiday spirit on Sunday and passing it on to the rest of the community.
Posted @ 2:37 AM
Ho ho ho, 'Deaf Santa' signs to kids
Some 112 public school children who are deaf or hard of hearing got to tell "Deaf Santa" what they want for Christmas at a holiday celebration yesterday at Pearlridge Center. But absent from the crowd were about 20 of their Neighbor Island buddies, whose school districts couldn't afford the flights to O'ahu this year.
To accommodate children who couldn't come, organizers tried to link up Santa to Neighbor Island classrooms by video conference. Only one classroom was able to connect; the other three didn't because of technical difficulties or because they were busy catching up on other schoolwork.
Posted @ 2:36 AM
Regional agency reaches out to deaf, partially deaf
In today’s loud world, more and more people are losing their hearing because of noise pollution caused by such things as music, sirens and construction work.
These growing numbers — contributing to the approximately 63,000 deaf and partially deaf people living in Ventura County — underscore the importance of Tri-County GLAD, a private nonprofit that empowers this demographic through a range of services.
Posted @ 2:34 AM
Entertaining the needs of deaf people in our theatres
What I want for Christmas is a subtitled DVD of Mamma Mia, the box-office breaking film with its host of famous stars all singing and dancing exuberantly and taking obvious delight in generally making fools of themselves -- (or so I've read!).
Big films like this are never subtitled on first release so a trip to the cinema is just plain frustrating. I found this to my cost when I took my grandchildren to see Jurassic Park on its first showing in Belfast some years ago and was quite unable to share their enjoyment of the film.
Posted @ 2:33 AM
A Child with a Happy Heart
Twelve-year-old Josiah Schwartz will grab your hand and lead you to his garden. He will show you the petunias he planted and the fence he painted and the spot where a towering tree once stood before Hurricane Wilma knocked it down.
He will tell you he has a happy heart. But it was not always so.
Posted @ 2:31 AM
