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February 6, 2008
Ringing in Your Ears? It Might Be in Your Jaw
People dismiss tinnitus, or a ringing in the ears, as being all in their heads. Maybe it is, but it's not a figment of the imagination, it's in the muscles and bones of our jaws. While it is possible it's just a psychosomatic (i.e. imaginary) effect, you may be experiencing a potentially debilitating condition called TMJ or temporomandibular joint syndrome.
TMJS? TMD? MPD?
Temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJS), temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), and mysofacial pain dysfunction (MPD) are three different names for one set of symptoms. These symptoms of TMJ/TMD include:
Posted @ 2:37 AM
Foxy Brown's Request for Deaf Ear Check Denied in Court
Feisty rapper Foxy Brown suffered a major blow Thursday (Jan. 24) when a Manhattan judge rejected her petition for a premature end to her yearlong jail stint in order to travel to California for medical attention.
Jailbird Foxy Brown wanted to go to California to have her ears checked and for repair of an electronic ear implant, but Acting Justice Melissa C. Jackson of the New York State Supreme Court denied her request, saying the rapper can have her ears treated right here in New York City.
Judge Melissa Jackson said she will not allow Brown go to Los Angeles' House Ear Clinic, the center where she received her initial treatment for the sudden hearing loss, for the exam and repair of a defective cochlear implant as the rapper "failed to provide proof" that a coast-to-coast trip was necessary.
Posted @ 2:32 AM
Hearing is believing for hundreds of Arizona kids
Amira Hepner lived in a silent world until last week. She heard noise for the first time in her life when a man with the Starkey Hearing Foundation turned on the child's first set of hearing aids and clapped.
Her face could hardly contain her smile. "Do you like it?" Lisa Hepner asked Amira, 7, whom she adopted from Ethiopia. She nodded yes.
"Can you hear Mommy's voice?" Hepner said, still using her hands to sign her words. Amira nodded and smiled.
Posted @ 2:30 AM
World of noise proves too much for deaf teen to bear
Nanthaporn referred to the world she entered after receiving cochlea implants three years ago.
Born profoundly deaf, Nanthaporn lived in a world with no voices until she was 16 when a public hospital doctor agreed to implant her with an artificial cochlea. Unfortunately, she didn't believe she belonged to the new world of noise introduced to her which cost her parents almost Bt1 million. "I heard all the voices but did not know their meaning," she reasoned as to why she prefers not to use an electronic device that assists her hearing.
Cochlea implantation is regarded as a safe and effective treatment for the profoundly deaf. Besides an artificial cochlea that is implanted inside the patient's ear, there is an external electronic device that sends sound-generated impulses directly to the brain and bypasses the flawed part of the inner ear.
Posted @ 2:28 AM
For a Woman Who Is Unable to Hear, More Difficulties Lie Ahead
For Ramona Palanco, life is silent. It is now becoming darker, too.
Ms. Palanco, who has been deaf since birth, lives with her husband, Gustavo Palanco, and their four children in a duplex apartment on Roosevelt Island. She holds a steady job assembling office chairs at the Pibbs Industries factory in Queens and has joined an online deaf community that speaks in sign language via Web cam.
But some of the light in her life is gradually dimming. Ten years ago, she began to suffer headaches and noticed blurriness in her eyesight. Her peripheral vision darkened; at times, it disappeared completely. A visit to a doctor confirmed the worst: Usher syndrome, a gradual worsening of vision that affects a small percentage of the hearing impaired and leads to complete blindness. At the time of the diagnosis, Ms. Palanco was 26.
Posted @ 2:27 AM
School for Deaf addressing suicide
They live in a world of silence and sometimes isolation. It can be aggravating, maddening and even tormenting.
Courtney Gunville knows well the frustrations of being deaf. The cheerful 19-year-old college freshman was born deaf. She has experienced the anxiety of feeling alone in a roomful of people.
In 2003, Gunville watched a deaf friend slip into such despair that the friend committed suicide.
Both were students at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf. So when Gunville learned that the school was launching a suicide prevention program, she was eager to help.
Posted @ 2:26 AM
With an ear for the deaf
To have an ear to hear the pang of the deaf is noble in any way. For Prof. Warren Estabrooks of Canada, it’s a mission too.
Being one among the founding fathers of the Auditory Verbal Therapy, Prof Estabrooks have plenty to share from his own experiences. He had come to Kozhikode for inaugurating one such centre in Kerala - at Govindapuram - for the hearing impaired children.
“Today, with all the available hearing devices and technology, there is no need for our children to remain deaf,’’ he told this news paper. And, implementing the auditory verbal approach could be the first option for these children to relieve themselves from dumbness, he added.
Posted @ 2:25 AM
Regional school for deaf collecting hearing aids
The hearing aids McAllen Memorial High School sophomore Jesse Mendez wears are his world.
They may not provide him perfect hearing, but they do amplify sound and connect him to his environment.
Without them, “I feel a little confused and I’m lost,” the 15-year-old recently said.
Jesse is one of hundreds of students the McAllen Regional Day School Program for the Deaf serves who rely on hearing aids.
Posted @ 2:24 AM
Human Rights Settlement Wins Hotel Visual Fire Alarms for Deaf
The Ontario Human Rights Commission has reached a settlement between the Days Hotel and Conference Centre, Toronto Airport East and hotel guest Barbara Dodd.
The settlement will see the establishment of new fire safety practices for the hotel and sets a positive example for the use of visual strobe light fire alarms for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing individuals in Ontario hotel accommodations as an important practice to be followed by the hospitality industry province-wide.
Posted @ 2:23 AM
Verizon Offers More Help to Customers With Disabilities
Consumers who have hearing, visual, cognitive or physical disabilities are receiving more assistance than ever from the Verizon Center for Customers with Disabilities (VCCD) in Marlboro.
When the center opened in 1992, it had a staff of six representatives who handled approximately 4,000 calls a year from customers with vision, cognitive, mobility, speech or hearing disabilities. Today, as the center celebrates its 15th anniversary, its staff has grown to more than 100 representatives who now handle some 700,000 calls nationally.
Posted @ 2:22 AM
Super Bowl ad scores with deaf community
Two deaf men are driving down a dark residential street trying to find a Super Bowl party at another deaf friend's house. But neither of them brought the address, so how do they figure out which door to knock on?
On Sunday, Darren Therriault, 45, of Schaumburg will help deliver the punch line to millions of Super Bowl viewers when he stars in a 60-second PepsiCo commercial during the pregame show.
Therriault, who works at the corporation's Chicago office and was born deaf, hopes viewers with disabilities will catch the light-hearted commercial and be inspired. Since the ad debuted last week on YouTube, he says hundreds of deaf people across the country have contacted him and offered congratulations.
Posted @ 2:21 AM
Through Deaf Eyes makers accept Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University News Award
Makers of the PBS documentary Through Deaf Eyes recently accepted a silver baton as winners of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University 2008 News Award. The award ceremony, held at Columbia University in New York City, honored the creators of 13 documentaries and newscasts chosen from a pool of 510 radio and television news entries that aired in the United States between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.
The two-hour documentary, created by Florentine Films/Hott Productions and WETA-TV, Washington, D.C., in association with Gallaudet University, follows 200 years of deaf life in the United States. The award was presented at an event fitting to the art forms it celebrated, showing glimpses of the touching, colorful, thought-provoking, and groundbreaking documentary winners.
Posted @ 2:21 AM
Deaf man opens store dedicated to unusual plants
A visitor to The Silent Seed can open the door with a loud squeak and slam it behind her. A few feet away, hunched over his indoor flower bed, owner Jude Platteborze will never look up.
A light tap on his back, however, stirs Platteborze into action. He straightens up with a wide smile and extends his hand, nodding, leading the visitor into the store.
He makes her feel welcome without uttering one word. He has to.
Posted @ 2:20 AM
Oldest Deaf Man in NY Turns 105
It was a grand celebration for a man believed to be the oldest deaf man in New York State.
Cliff Leach turned 105 years old earlier this week. Saturday, the Advocates for Housing for Deaf Seniors, as well his friends and family put together a surprise birthday party for him.
Cliff credits his health with staying active late into life. He regularly bowled and golfed until he was about 90 years old.
He says he still wants to get out and play America's pastime.
"I played baseball for many, many years, in the semi-pro league. More than 20 years, that's how I kept in such good shape," Cliff said.
Longevity runs in Cliff's family. He has a 98-year-old sister living in Virginia.
Posted @ 2:19 AM
Firm fails to give deaf man a chance
An electronics company has been ordered to pay compensation to an East Molesey man who was denied a job interview because he is deaf.
In a scathing judgment, South London Employment Tribunal said Woking-based Multipulse Electronics' decision to cancel an interview with 45-year-old Keith Wynn was "founded on the worst type of stereotypical assumptions".
Posted @ 2:18 AM
UOG professors helping to aide Guam's deaf community
Imagine this: what if you weren't able to hear the sounds around you? No music, no laughter and you probably couldn't even hear, say, a newscast either. Well, the University of Guam is trying to bring common technology used across the globe to our island in hopes of helping both the young and old open their ears through the development of a Guam cochlear implant center.
Richard Fe, an associate professor of special education at UOG, says hearing aids are a thing of the past in comparison to today's cochlear implants. Unlike a hearing aid that amplifies sound to make it loud enough for an impaired ear, a cochlear implant bypasses the damaged part of the ear and sends sound signals directly into the hearing nerve.
Posted @ 2:17 AM