HLAA Convention Exhibits - Part 2

by Cheryl Heppner

- Harris Communications
- Integris Health/Hough Ear Institute
- Hearts for Hearing
- Alternative Communication Services, LLC
- T-Mobile USA, Inc.

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Harris Communications

Harris Communications is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with weekly specials at its website that are 25% off. Harris also publishes a 73-page catalog of its products. During the HLAA conference, all items at the booth were 15% off the usual price, and Harris Communications also paid the sales tax.

Katie Casey showed me something new at Harris Communications, the Comlink wireless FM system made in Minnesota. This system will be available in about 8 weeks. It uses a small receiver worn on the ear and a miniature, battery-operated wireless sound transmitter that is placed near the speaker, radio, TV, or computer you want to hear. Sound can be amplified up to 40 dB. When not in use, the earpiece automatically switches to off to save battery life. The range is 10-15 feet. If used with a wire attached, it has a range of 40 feet, and if used with a power adapter accessory it has a range of as much as 100 feet.

Harris also sells a device similar to HATIS, designed to give undistorted sound to hearing aids with telecoils for use with cellular or cordless phones. It sells for $40. Another useful device that Katie called my attention to is the Kidde wireless smoke alarm. The alarm has a low pitch for people who hear well in that range, and when it goes off there is also a voice that repeatedly tells you to wake up.

For more information: 800-825-6758 V; http://www.harriscomm.com

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Integris Health/Hough Ear Institute

I talked with Integris Health staff Kela Thompson, Au.D. and Tate Bay, MS, CCC-A, who is the Audiology Clinic Manager. Integris Health has a cochlear implant clinic at the Hough Ear Institute in Oklahoma City. The clinic was established by Dr. Jack Hough in partnership with Integris Baptist Medical Center and it was one of the first in the U.S. It does followup testing for newborns who fail the newborn hearing screening and genetic testing.

Hough Ear Institute is also doing some exciting research -- "working to find a cure for deafness in this generation" -- under the direction of Richard Kopke, M.D. The research team has worked in partnrship with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation to discover several combinations of medicines that appear to prevent or reverse noise damage to the inner ear. Hough is also working with Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to develop a safe and effective delivery system for gene therapy to humans. Hough's Middle Ear Research team is developing an totally implantable electromagnetic inner ear device in collaboratin with researchers from the University of Oklahoma.

For more information: Integris Health http://www.integris-health.com Hough Ear Institute info@houghearinstitute.com

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Hearts for Hearing

June Cashion was representing Hearts for Hearing, an Oklahoma City nonprofit organization. Its mission is to maximize the abilities of children and adults who are deaf or hard of hearing to listen and talk.

For more information: http://www.heartsforhearing.org

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Alternative Communication Services, LLC

Alternative Communication Services, LLC (ACS) is a full service voice-to-text company that specializes in realtime captioning, CART, remote CART services, and text interpreting (C-Print and TypeWell). I spoke with Phil Hyssong, Managing Partner, and founder Mike Cano (who is much loved by Galaxy).

A new company, ACS has already attracted some talented providers, picked up new clients, and added new services. As examples, it has a contract to provide captioning during emergencies for a TV station in Florida, and it is also providing a confidential voice mail retrieval service that will listen to your voice mail messages, transcribe them, and provide an accurate text copy by e-mail at your chosen interval.

ACS has set a lofty goal. Its booklet says ACS exists to provide the highest quality voice-to-text services possible, and its slogan is "where the client AND the employee matter." CART is a staple at NVRC's community events and workshops, and we've begun using remote CART in the past two years when a live CART writer was unavailable. ACS is one of two remote CART companies we've used with very good results. The ACS booklet defines Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) as the act of listening to an event (meeting, class, seminar, training session, teleconference call) transcribing all that one hears (using a stenographic or voice recognition process) and sending that transcribed text to the user.

For more information: http://www.AlternativeCommunicationServices.com

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T-Mobile USA, Inc.

T-Mobile USA provides wireless voice, messaging and data services. I spoke with Brandon Cagle, a retail sales representative. I made sure to compliment T-Mobile for being the leader in offering a text-only plan for those individuals who don't hear well enough to use a cell phone, and thus don't want to pay for phone service. The text-only plan costs $30 per month, and if the phone is lost or stolen no one can use it for calls that incur charges.

T-Mobile has several hearing aid compatible (HAC) phones. There's the Nokia 6133 ($49) which is a quad band phone with a camera/video capture, Bluetooth wireless technology, instant messaging, memory slot with 128 MB SD card, games, battery and a charger. The Motorola RAZR V3T ($99 with $50 mail-in rebate) is also a quad band phone with a camera, video playback, Bluetooth, instant messaging, micro memory slot with 128 MG SD card, battery and charger. The Samsung t21 ($29) is a compact, simple phone with instant messaging, phone book games, battery and charger. All three phones have hearing aid compatibility ratings of M3, T3.

Currently, T-Mobile's most popular plan is the 600-minute plan for $39.99/month. The Great Value Plan is for 1,000 minutes" for $49.99/month, and the Family Plan is for 1,000 minutes at $69.99/month. The Myfaves 600 Plan for 600 minutes for $49.99/mo. gives unlimited calling to the five numbers you call most, wireless or wireline, as well as free domestic long distance and digital roaming charges anywhere in the US. Numbers can be changed once per month. There are many other plans to choose from.

For more information: http://www.T-Mobile.com

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