Police: Deaf Man Bites Another Deaf Man’s Ear

Posted on March 31, 2011 by admin

A deaf man has been accused of biting off part of another deaf man’s ear.

Davon Stewart, 26, has been charged with aggravated assault and escape while under arrest. Houston police said Stewart was attending a party at a deaf friend’s apartment on Feb. 21.

Stewart, who can speak if needed, and the other man, who communicates through sign language, got into an argument because Stewart interrupted the other man, investigators said.

The man tried to get Stewart, who appeared to be intoxicated, to calm down, police said. The man ended up pouring a bottle of malt liquor on Stewart to try to get him to pay attention, investigators said.

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Disability charity discriminated deaf worker

Posted on March 31, 2011 by admin

A CHARITY for the disabled was found to be guilty of discriminating against a deaf worker.

Sandra Cottrell has been embroiled in a three-year battle with North Tyneside Disability Forum after taking them to an employment tribunal for failing to make reasonable adjustments for her as a deaf worker.

The 61-year-old was left “distressed” and feeling “worthless” after the ordeal, which has just finally come to an end.

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‘White-Noise’ Therapy Alone Not Enough to Curb Tinnitus

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Tinnitus — what many think of as “ringing in the ears” — is the perception of sound without any real acoustic stimulation. Sound masking therapy, a common component of tinnitus treatment, is of uncertain benefit when used on its own, a new evidence review finds.
Tinnitus sufferers might hear one sound or multiple ones; they can hear them continuously or intermittently. The sounds are imperceptible to others. For most people, the phantom sounds — hissing, whooshing and others — hardly matter.
But for a small minority, tinnitus causes severe problems, such as anxiety, insomnia and even major depression sometimes leading to suicide.

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Our Brains Are Wired So We Can Better Hear Ourselves Speak

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Like the mute button on the TV remote control, our brains filter out unwanted noise so we can focus on what we’re listening to. But when it comes to following our own speech, a new brain study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that instead of one homogenous mute button, we have a network of volume settings that can selectively silence and amplify the sounds we make and hear.
Neuroscientists from UC Berkeley, UCSF and Johns Hopkins University tracked the electrical signals emitted from the brains of hospitalized epilepsy patients. They discovered that neurons in one part of the patients’ hearing mechanism were dimmed when they talked, while neurons in other parts lit up

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Hearts, hands find no need for speech

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

The ground rules at a Gallaudet University speed-dating night were simple: Five minutes with each partner. When time is up, everyone switches seats. Keep the conversations G-rated. And no talking allowed. The last rule was the easiest to follow, since Gallaudet is one of the few colleges in the world where American Sign Language dominates all nonwritten communication.
“Sooo . . .” signed organizer Aneesah Silvels, a graduate student, who used exaggerated arm movements for emphasis. “It is time to start.”
With a flurry of hand movements, about two dozen speed daters started to get to know one another on a recent Friday night as they sat in folding chairs arranged in two concentric circles in the campus student center.

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Will.i.am Suffers From Tinnitus

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am has revealed that he suffers from tinnitus, a condition in which there is a constant ringing in his ears. While speaking with Britain’s the Sun, the hip-hop star says that the only time it doesn’t bother him is when there’s loud music.
“I don’t know what silence sounds like any more. Music is the only thing which eases my pain,” he admits.
Will continues on to explain how the condition has affected his whole life.

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Young dancer wins ‘Nutcracker’ role despite hearing impairement

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

The Kansas City Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” always provides plenty of holiday fantasy. But one little angel is giving this year’s production a special magic.
You can see “The Nutcracker” and a ballerina who has overcome amazing odds at 1 and 5 p.m. today or at any of the other 13 performances through Christmas Eve at the Music Hall, 301 W. 13th St.
You’d never know it to watch her dancing to Tchaikovsky’s intricate score, but 9-year-old Gracie Hooks, who plays one of the angels, was born deaf.
“She’s profoundly deaf,” said her mother, Lauren Hooks. “But with Cochlear implants, she can hear like someone with a mild hearing impediment.”

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Deaf and Determined

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

Imagine being trapped inside your own body; able to think but not communicate clearly. A KELOLAND teen who was born deaf, is now going blind, and is also autistic faces that every day, but his teachers say his biggest handicap is being a teenage boy who’s trying to finish high school.
Jorden Curran has made some huge strides in the past few months, thanks to the Harrisburg School District.
Seventeen-year-old Curran learns the same geography lesson as his classmates; he just gets his information a bit differently. He relies on his intervener, Lynda Nix, to be his eyes and ears, because his own are failing him.
“I’ve got just small holes I can see through and I don’t know why,” Curran said. “I’ve got Usher Syndrome and it’s a genetic thing. I don’t know why but I ended up with it.”

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One weekend I found out I was completely deaf

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

One of my earliest memories is sitting on a floor playing with a toy and a woman asking if I could hear her clapping as she walked around the room. I was five years old and it was frightening because I was in a strange environment, a hospital. I was having my hearing tested for the first time and I was diagnosed as being deaf in my left ear.
Soon afterwards I was given a hearing aid. It looked like a big beige button, which fitted into my ear and I hated it. It kept falling out and I have tiny ears so there was nothing I could do to hide it.
My mum tried all sorts of things to keep my hearing aid in place, like Sellotaping it to my ear but I was forever losing it in the house or garden. I remember getting really frustrated and wondering why I had to wear this stupid thing.

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Feds arrest former Pasco caregiver on fraud charges

Posted on December 13, 2010 by admin

A 61-year-old caregiver was arrested Thursday in West Virginia after a federal investigation said she swindled funds from an 80-year-old woman, who is deaf and legally blind.
A federal indictment says Rebecca Moody, formerly of New Port Richey, falsely obtained power of attorney over the woman, and used that to get a fraudulent mortgage loan on the victim’s residence, without the victim’s knowledge. The indictment also claims Moody stole other funds from the victim, who also lived in New Port Richey.

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