HLAA Convention Exhibit Hall - Part 5

By Cheryl Heppner

- Hearing Haven, LLC
- AT&T
- sComm, Inc.

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Hearing Haven, LLC

Hearing Haven, LLC is a hearing aid repair and upgrade business located in Carrollton, Texas. Jeremy L. Collinsworth is the Resource Manager. The company can repair all brands and styles of hearing aids, such as Rexton, GN ReSound, Oticon, Siemens, Phonak, Widex, Starkey, and Unitron.

The owner and founder of the company has operated an all-make hearing aid repair lab since 1989, and worked for a large hearing aid manufacturing company prior to that. All hearing aid repairs come with a 12-month warranty. They claim to take back hearing aids under warranty that malfunction with no questions act.

The upgrade service interested me. Hearing Haven says it can take a hearing aid that is several years old and upgrade it to newer technology for much less than a new hearing aid. They work from a copy of your audiogram, at least one hearing aid, and information about what problems you are experiencing with it. They can upgrade most custom made hearing aids, but not behind the ear aids.

There's a hearing aid "cloning service" which can take your current hearing aid, duplicate the shells, and put new or refurbished electronics into the copy. Hearing Haven points out that this gives a backup in case one of your hearing aids fail or is lost. Also of interest is their new shell or shell repair service, which helps children and adults who have grown or changed weight, thus making a hearing aid too tight, too loose, or prone to feedback.

For more information: <http://www.hearinghaven.com>

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AT&T

I had the pleasure of talking with AT&T's Pamela Dennis-Thomas. AT&T, which recently completed its merger with Cingular, has a colorful new brochure on Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) to assist in choosing and using a digital wireless device with your hearing aids. It's in question and answer format and can be found at many telecommunication company websites. A sample:

Q: How will I know if a phone is HAC-compliant?

A: HAC-compliant device packages are mared with "M" and/or "T" ratings to reflect how the wireless device will work with the hearing aid in microphone mode ("M") and telecoil mode ("T"). Only wireless phones that are tested and meet the minimum rating for HAC, "M3" or "T3" and higher, will be labeled.

AT&T also had copies of its Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) application form. If you have a permanent hearing or speech disability which prevents your ability to communicate over voice networks, you can qualify for AT&T's TAP. For $29.99 per month you will get 5,000 messages (text,picture, IM and video), unlimited Internet usage, free 911 calls. If you make a voice call, it is 40 cents per minute. BlackBerry devices are not compatible with this rate. You will need to have a certificate of disability by a health care or hearing health professional, a nonprofit agency like NVRC, or a VR counselor, independent living center director, etc.

Ms. Dennis-Thomas gave me a printout from AT&T's website on hearing aid compatibility. It lists 18 hearing aid compatible phones that tend to perform better with hearing aids, along with their "M" and "T" ratings. These include a Nokia, two LGs, seven Samsungs, and seven Motorolas.

AT&T still has its National Center for Customers with Disabilities, which you can reach at:

1-866-241-6567 TTY

1-866-691-7265 (alternate TTY)

1-866-241-6568 Voice

For the AT&T website on hearing aid compatibility: http://www.wireless.att.com/about/disability-resources/hearing-aid-compatibi lity.jsp

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sComm, Inc.

sComm, Inc. was founded Jason Curry, who is deaf, and his father, David in 2001 to eliminate frustration and speed up interaction in face-to-face communication between people who are hearing and people who are deaf. The company is based in Independence, MO.

Sales Associate Lynn Garretson was staffing the exhibit, which featured the company's UbiDuo. It was developed through support from a grant by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. It's being used by some government agencies, medical centers, and educational institutions.

The equipment is like two TTYs or two small typewriters with clever upgrades. They attach to each other side by side and can fold up with one on top of the other, into a neat square that protects both keyboards. The keyboards are full size and felt very comfortable when I tested them in a conversation with Lynn.

If you are having trouble hearing or speechreading someone, you can break out the UbiDuos and type to each other, sitting across from each other so you can make eye contact when not typing or reading. Lynn told me the story of using the UbiDuo in a doctor's office and other places, and how people have told her it's like finally meeting her for the first time.

The UbiDuo allows conversations to be saved for future use, You can turn the UbiDuos on and start using them immediately; no time is lost to startup. Connection is wireless and your conversations appear on each other's Duo in realtime. The retail cost is $1,995; at the HLAA conference the company offered a special rate of $1,795.

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

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