« August 2007 | Main | October 2007 »
September 18, 2007
Hearing Aid Wait Up to 3 years
Patients are waiting between three weeks and three years for NHS hearing aids depending on where they live, according to a report.
The British Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists (BSHAA) said the average waiting time remained almost nine months, and a third of hospitals had even longer lists.
Although some hospitals reported no waiting list for those replacing analogue with digital aids, the wait was more than six months at over half of hospitals in the UK, the organisation said.
Posted @ 4:45 AM
Younger Cochlear Implant Recipients Have Stronger Language Skills than Non-Implant Hearing Aid Recipients
Children with profound hearing loss who receive cochlear implants before the age of 6 show significant gains in language acquisition, and compare favorably with other children who can hear, according to a new study.
The research, first presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation’s Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in Washington, DC, indicates that children that receive cochlear implants scored higher on language assessments test, compared to children fitted with non-implanted hearing aids.
Posted @ 4:44 AM
Cover Your Ears!
Q. At what decibel level does noise start to do irreparable hearing damage? Are regular subway commuters in danger, for example?
A. The risk of hearing loss from loud noises depends on both the level of sound and the length of exposure, and at least one study of New York City subways has found that the hearing of commuters may be in danger if they ride a noisy train or wait in a noisy station for long enough.
Posted @ 4:43 AM
Man inspired by Keller visits Ivy Green
When Tom Cooney was 9 years old, he opened a Who's Who book about famous people to find a subject for a school report and saw the name Helen Keller.
"I chose her because she's deaf," he said.
Cooney is deaf, too. Now in his 70s, he traveled to Tuscumbia for the first time Saturday, not only to speak at Hook Street Baptist Church on Saturday and Sunday, but to visit Ivy Green, Keller's birthplace.
Posted @ 4:26 AM
Pair brings gift of hope and hearing to Vietnamese orphanage
Separated by alphabets, culture and history, Joan Haber and the inquisitive Vietnamese orphans silently measured each other from across the schoolroom.
Husband Steve had been to the city decades earlier, when he was slogging through war zones with an airborne unit and the place was still known as Saigon.
But Joan Haber, a complete stranger to the neighborhood, wondered if she knew something about these deaf and hearing-impaired children that their Vietnamese peers did not. A victim of degenerative hearing loss, Haber tested them with a few words in her adopted sign language. The response was immediate and effusive.
Posted @ 4:24 AM
Deaf teenager allegedly raped by father
The police need interpreters to help a 16-year-old girl, who is deaf and unable to speak, reportedly raped by her father and now pregnant, in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.
Kabankalan police commander, Chief Inspector Calixto Mabugat yesterday said they will get people who know sign language so they can understand the testimony of the minor who was endorsed to them by her teachers Friday after being reportedly sexually-molested by her father in the last three years. The girl, whose name is being withheld, was repeatedly raped by her father since she was 13 years old, reports said.
Posted @ 4:22 AM
ISD welcomes new Hall of Famers
There were smiles, some emotional tears and a whole lot of kind words for the newest members of the Iowa School for the Deaf Hall of Fame.
This year's inductees, honored during Saturday's homecoming activities, are William P. Johnson, Robert Schulze and the late Kenneth D. Derby.
"This is an important event in the deaf community every year," said ISU superintendent Jeanne Prickett. "It represents the finest contributors by their works and personal achievements."
Posted @ 4:21 AM
K-9 officer likely will be blind, deaf on one side
A police dog shot in the head early Tuesday by a robbery suspect has likely lost sight in one eye and may be deaf in one ear, a Joplin police officer said.
Officer Travis Walthall, supervisor of the Joplin Police Department’s K-9 unit, said by telephone that the dog, Cezar, is expected to survive the gunshot wound unless complications arise.
Cezar was in stable but guarded condition Tuesday at Academy Animal Hospital. Mark Storey, 201 E. 15th St., is the veterinarian for the department’s police dogs.
Posted @ 4:20 AM
Lawsuit Against the California School for the Deaf Settled
The Youth & Education Law Project (YELP) at the Mills Legal Clinic of Stanford Law School and Bingham McCutchen LLP obtained a court order from a U.S. District Court judge approving a settlement involving a deaf child with autism who had been excluded from services and programs at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, California (CSDF).
Posted @ 4:19 AM
Children learn how loud sounds now can imperil hearing later
It doesn't take a blaring iPod to put a child at risk of hearing loss later in life. Things as seemingly innocent as using a hair dryer, playing a video game or being near traffic can do damage as well.
That's the focus of "Dangerous Decibels: Defending Young Ears," a statewide education program launched Thursday by the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The commission will provide classes from kindergarten through eighth grade with DVDs and activities explaining the hazards of loud noises.
Posted @ 4:17 AM
Musicians taken precautions to prevent hearing loss
Student musicians who protect their hearing today may still hear the beat of the drum after graduation, says a Purdue University audiologist.
"A number of famous musicians, old and young, are living with hearing loss," says Lata Krishnan, a clinical associate professor of audiology and a band parent. "One study found that three out of every four rock and jazz musicians have a hearing disorder, and it's estimated that 15 percent of American teenagers have permanently lost some hearing.
Posted @ 4:16 AM
RIT Sponsors National Art Competition for Students with Hearing Loss
Rochester Institute of Technology announces its second annual Digital Arts, Film and Animation Competition for high school students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Students with hearing loss in grades 9-12 can compete for cash prizes and an all-expenses-paid trip to Rochester, N.Y., for the awards ceremony and an exhibition of their work.
Posted @ 4:15 AM
Former Miss America Educates Auburn On Hearing Loss
Most of us take our hearing for granted, but a former Miss America says you should do everything you can to protect it. She was in Auburn Monday discussing hearing aid technology.
Miss America 2005 Deidre Downs was at Auburn University, where students learned first-hand about permanent hearing loss. She also told them how technology is helping people hear again. Downs has dealt with it since childhood, but she's hearing better than ever.
Posted @ 4:14 AM
September 13, 2007
The Future, Today: Digital Hearing Aid Industry Transitions to Patient-Focused Model
The technology to purchase hearing aids online has revolutionized the digital hearing aid industry. In the past, those who were hard of hearing sought care through a system that was centered on the provider. The patient made an appointment, traveled to the clinician's office, sat through a battery of hearing tests, spent hours being fitted for an appropriately-sized hearing aid, only to leave empty-handed because the hearing device still needed to be manufactured and shipped. When the hearing aid finally did arrive, if it was not adjusted properly, the patient was back to square one.
Posted @ 1:31 PM