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May 26, 2007
Untreated hearing loss linked to less income
Workers with hearing problems are losing more than snippets of conversation, they're losing money.
Two-thirds of people who suffer from hearing loss are below retirement age and still working. If you're one of them, trying to hide or ignore the problem could cost you, a new study has found.
Posted @ 7:35 AM
Serious Hearing Loss Among Sacrifices Soldiers Make for Our Nation
This Memorial Day, the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) will pause to remember the price our military pays for protecting our freedoms – even when it does not cost their lives.
Gunfire can have a profound impact on soldiers’ hearing, and the long-term effects carry over to their post-military lives. A recent study published earlier this year in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery found soldiers are at substantial risk of hearing loss due to the “impulse noise” associated with gunfire, often leading to acoustic trauma in 10 to 15 percent of soldiers returning from active military duty (Olszewski, et al, Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 2007, Vol. 136, Number 1).
Posted @ 7:33 AM
More young people lose hearing
Loud noises -- from blasting boomboxes and blaring ear buds -- can damage hearing at any age, even those of the youngest listeners.
Hearing loss is fairly common among senior citizens, with one in four adults over 60 and one of three over 70 experiencing it, said Helen Morrison, Texas Christian University associate professor of communication sciences and disorders. But now hearing loss is occurring at younger ages, largely because of noise exposure.
Posted @ 7:30 AM
Judicial system doesn't meet needs of deaf, protesters say
About 50 deaf people and advocates protested in front of the Brazoria County Courthouse on Thursday, saying that deaf people are often not provided sign-language interpreters when they are arrested or appear in court.
"Communication access now!" and "deaf power!" they shouted, some with their voice, others in sign language.
Posted @ 7:29 AM
Deaf man's home is wrecked by burglars
A deaf Manton man returned home from a night out to find his house had been ransacked and flooded by burglars. Jamie Potts, who has been deaf since birth, has been left devastated after finding his home wrecked and his daughter’s toys stolen.
His uncle, John Potts, says his nephew has been to upset to speak about the matter and added that he didn’t deserve what happened.
Posted @ 7:28 AM
HDTV messes up service for deaf
For two months early this year, Janel Edmiston and her family enjoyed their new Panasonic high-definition TV, which occupies a big chunk of the family room wall in their Elk Grove home.
But for Edmiston, who began losing her hearing at age 23, the pleasure was fleeting. In March, she said, closed captioning that came via her cable box disappeared.
"It's not that I'm addicted to TV, but I was missing out on time with my family in the evenings," Edmiston said of losing the captioning feature. "I'd go into another room (to read or fold laundry) while they were watching TV. ... Without captions it's like they are speaking Russian."
Posted @ 7:26 AM
Communication tool can pose risks for deaf students
Two-hundred students attend classes in grades K through 12 at the Tennessee School for the Deaf in South Knoxville.
Because 75 percent of them live on campus during the week, security is a top priority.
But the sprawling fence that surrounds the grounds offers no protection from the latest safety concern: internet predators.
Posted @ 7:25 AM
Child deaf-mutes sold to China pickpocket ring
Chinese police have detained the vice-principal of a school for deaf-mutes and other special needs children for selling 10 students to a ring that trained them to become pickpockets, the Guizhou Metropolitan Daily reported.
Police rescued the victims, the youngest of whom was 12, in Jiangxi and Henan provinces this month, the online edition of the newspaper said.
Posted @ 7:24 AM
High school senior, man, killed in crash near Jefferson
A high school senior and a Colbert man are dead, and another man injured, in a crash near Jefferson that happened after the three attended a "Deaf Awareness Day" at Six Flags Over Georgia.
Georgia State Patrol trooper Curtis Bradshaw says 18-year-old passenger Kyle Redd of Jefferson and 24-year-old Destin James Hattaway were killed early yesterday when a 2003 Toyota pickup Hattaway was driving hit a tree head-on on Georgia 335.
Posted @ 7:23 AM
Love is blind (and deaf)
A deaf couple who first saw each other at school decades ago, and who have both since lost their sight, have brought light to their darkness by getting married.
Pierre van Zyl and Marianne du Preez, both 65, tied the knot on Saturday after a 37-year romance.
They met at the De la Bat School for the Deaf at Worcester many years ago.
Posted @ 7:23 AM
Mass. firefighter learns ASL to better communicate with deaf
Kyle Labrecque admits he hated high-school Spanish so much, he dropped the course after only a few months.
"I just didn't like it," he admitted.
But years later, Labrecque, an eight-year veteran Nashua firefighter/EMT, decided to learn a language some say is the most difficult of all to learn: American Sign Language.
Posted @ 7:22 AM
Deaf people not well served by Liberals
The province is failing in its role in ensuring all citizens are treated equally by dismantling American Sign Language programs and support services for deaf and hard of hearing children. The erosion of these services - in favour of oral or auditory-verbal programs - flies in the face of a court decision in 1989 that extended the right to the deaf to have ASL taught in classrooms.
Posted @ 7:21 AM
Current Budget would hurt services for deaf, hoh Ohioans
Community Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has been in existence in Portsmouth for the past 22-plus years. We serve the following counties: Ross, Pike, Scioto, Gallia, Jackson, Adams, Highland, Lawrence, Meigs and Vinton.
The biennial budget now under consideration in the Ohio Senate includes a change that could have devastating impact on the deaf and hard of hearing community in Ohio. Ohio House Bill 119 has allocated an additional $2 million to the Rehabilitation Service Commission, far below the minimum $8.5 million required to receive a fourfold federal match of $32 million.
Posted @ 7:20 AM
Teachers Trained to Improve Education for the Deaf
Twenty-four teachers educating deaf learners have embarked on a five-day training course to support the development of inclusive education in South Africa.
The training workshop is an agreement between the Swedish and South African governments to support the Programme of Development of Inclusive Education in the country.
Posted @ 7:20 AM
Deaf teen aims to build on success in N.Y.
If she wanted to, Anna McCall could go out and snag a well-paying job as a Web site designer fresh out of high school.
That's the assessment of Dave Banks, Anna's Web design instructor at the GASC Technology Center. He said the Michigan School for the Deaf teen is one of his most talented students.
Posted @ 6:22 AM