Other Issues
Here's where we put all the issues that don't fit nicely into our
other categories!
Railroad Safety
March 2006 - he recent death of Tara Rose McAvoy is a reminder of the
special dangers that railroads pose to people with hearing loss. If
you'd like someone to speak to your organization about railroad dangers,
Operation Lifesaver can help!
Economic Impact of Hearing Loss
May 2006
Hearing
loss is costing Australia almost $12 billion a year with 160,000 people
not working because they can't hear well enough, a new report has found.
Compiled by Access Economics, the report found the loss to the economy
equated to $3,314 for every one of the 3.55 million Australians who have
some form of hearing loss. Of the total financial $12 billion in economic
loss, more than half of it - $6.7 billion - is due to productivity loss.
And apart from the direct loss to the economy, Access estimates that
people with hearing loss suffer another $11.3 billion in what it terms
"disease burden".
Full Story
Music Appreciation
Wendy's Musical Adventures at the 2006 HLAA convention
July 2006
Losing the ability to understand speech is certainly the most
common issue reported by people with hearing loss. Losing the ability to
enjoy music might be second. So many of us are fascinated by people who
continue to pursue musical endeavors, in spite of their hearing loss. One
such person is Wendy Cheng, a cochlear implant user who is also amateur
musician and viola student. Wendy also manages a website and listserv for
musicians with hearing loss. Please visit http://www.aamhl.org to learn
more about the Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss or to join
the listserv. Here's her
article
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hearing Loss and Music: Enjoying Music with Cochlear
Implants or Hearing Aids
Here's another of Wendy's reports on the 2006 HLAA Convention. The
workshop Wendy is reporting on has some great tips on
how people with hearing
loss can increase their appreciation of music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2007
Music as an input to a hearing aid poses some
interesting problems both for the hearing aid design engineer and for
the hearing health-care professional. The following discussion equally
concerns the fitting of hearing aids for musicians, as well as for those
non-musicians who like to listen to music. In many cases, as will be
seen, the question really is “which hearing aid manufacturer would be
willing to make subtle changes for individual customers?”, rather than
“what is the best set of electro-acoustic parameters for users who
listen to music?” In order to understand the programming and internal
algorithm changes necessary for music as an input to a hearing aid or a
cochlear implant, four primary, physical differences between speech and
music need to be understood. Full
Story
July 2007 -
Here's our report on
the wonderful AAMHL concert performed at the 2007 HLAA convention!Housing
May 2007 - A Visit to a Senior
Residence for Deaf and OHL Folks
Coping with Hearing Loss
April 2008
Restaurants are fun places. Good friends, good
food, generous libations. Let the good times roll at the local,
neighborhood watering hole where everybody knows your name. Problem is,
some restaurants are just too noisy. Clatter, the general background din
and yet another toast to "Scully" at the next table. Might be easier to
zap some mac and cheese in the microwave. The problem is exacerbated for
those who use hearing aids. Regardless of the device's technology, a
hearing aid can only do so much in a crowded bistro with tile walls. Man,
does that deliver an echo to the eardrum.
Full Story
