HLAA Convention Exhibit Hall - Part 6

By Cheryl Heppner and Lise Hamlin

- GoAmerica
- Canine Companions for Independence
- Soundbytes
- Verizon IP Relay

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GoAmerica

GoAmerica, which has its headquarters in Hackensack, NJ, is now providing hearing aid compatible mobile phones. They specialize in providing them to consumers and hearing healthcare professions. . Their exhibit was demonstrating some options and had special pricing during the HLAA convention. They are a T-Mobile authorized dealer. The prices start at $49. Offerings include the T-Mobile Sidekick ID, T-Mobile Sidekick 3, BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry 7105t, BlackBerry 8700g, and Sony GC89. The company also provides accessories and add-ons.

I spoke with Meredith Berry and Deirdre Malloy. GoAmerica's i711.com provides two telecommunications relay services. They are IP Relay Service and Video Relay Service. They also provide a weekly e-newsletter.

A "GoRealismo" sweepstakes by GoAmerica is running through July 12, 2007. Entrants have several opportunities to win, and two winners are selected each week. The prize is up to 32 hours of remote CART and captioning services. Four hours of remote CART/captioning service is being awarded each Monday. You can find directions and a list of winners at the GoRealismo website. It also has current news releases about captioning and CART.

For more information:
Hearing aid compatible phones: 1-800-549-9800
GoRealismo Sweepstakes: www.GoRealismo.com
Relay information: http://www.goamerica.com/relay/
Device information: http://www.goamerica.com/wireless/

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Canine Companions for Independence

I spoke with Ken Kirsch, one of the trainers for the Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) hearing dog program. Ken, a long time trainer, was an observer during my training with Galaxy in Santa Rosa, California back in 2002. Not long after that he joined the CCI training staff. In recent years, CCI has given new focus to the hearing dog program and the waiting list has dropped from 3 or more years to as little as 6 months.

Established in 1975, CCI is one of the pioneers of assistance dog training. All dogs are Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, or a cross of the two breeds. They are selected for their even temperament, desire to please, social nature and adaptability. Puppy raisers socialize the puppies for 12-16 months and then the dogs who meet CCI's standards receive at least six months of rigorous specialized training under a professional instructor.

CCI hearing dogs are trained to alert their partners to key sounds through physical contact. They can be trained to respond to a doorbell ring, baby cry, kitchen timer,smoke alarm, name call and many other things. There is no charge to the deaf or hard of hearing person who receives the dogs. Currently all hearing dogs are trained at the CCI regional training center in Santa Rosa. A new regional training center now under construction in New York hopes to train hearing dogs upon completion.

CCI is now actively looking for working professionals and students who could benefit from the skills of a hearing dog. They have been successful in placing hearing dogs with adults who have late onset deafness.

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

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Soundbytes

Michael Abramowitz was the man on hand at the Soundbytes Exhibit Booth. He's the managing director of the company, based in New York City and on Long Island. Soundbytes is a catalog company that sells assistive listening devices, phones, and alerting devices.

When I asked Michael what was new and exciting, he mentioned the solar powered hearing aid battery charger. Selling for $75.00, the battery charger comes with rechargeable batteries in size 13 or 675, 4 batteries to a card. As the name implies, it is solar powered, apparently developed and used in third world countries for years now, where electricity may be hit or miss. It does have an AC adaptor.

When I took a look at their website, I noted that they feature monthly specials as well as recent additions to their product line. Not only that they sell items for people with low vision, who are deaf/blind or who are looking for voice amplification devices. www.soundbytes.com

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Verizon IP Relay

The Verizon IP Relay booth wasn't overloaded with items to sell or even multiple brochures (they travel light - or maybe they are just too hooked into the Internet to bother with paper!). Mark Lofgren, Outreach Representative for Verizon Relay Services was there to let people know about IP Relay. Mark told me that Verizon is seeing more and more use of IP Relay services. It can be accessed via Blackberry, Sidekick, AIM, MSN Messenger, or videophone. There has also been a Spanish language website which was launched earlier this year.

In visiting the Verizon IP Relay website I saw that IP-RELAY.com notes it was the first service to offer people who are deaf the ability to place calls over the Internet. They go on to say, "Calls terminating within the United States are placed confidentially and free of charge. Users have the ability to request a male or female operator based on preference. IP-RELAY.com users are not required to register or provide proof of disability." IP-RELAY.com users can place Video Relay calls as well.

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