Volume 22 Issue 5

- Article 1: ALDs and Movies: Missed Opportunities and How to Overcome Them - Part 4
- Article 2: Background Noises Cause Brain Activity to Slow
- Article 3: Our Voice Unheard, Say Deaf
- Article 4: NAD Urges Bush to Choose FCC Chair Wisely
- Classifieds
- Contact Information and Disclaimers

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Contact information and disclaimers are at the end of this newsletter.
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- Article 1: ALDs and Movies: Missed Opportunities and How to Overcome Them - Part 4
By Steve Barber, Hard of Hearing Consumer and SHHH Member
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Editor: Chances are pretty good that your local movie theater has assistive listening devices to help you better understand the movie dialog. Chances are also pretty good that the batteries are dead or that no one knows how to work them, or that they don't know where they are! Why is it such potentially beneficial equipment is virtually unused? Is there other equipment that might be useful? How about other strategies to help people with hearing loss enjoy movies?

Here, with everything you want to know about maximizing access to movies, is Steve Barber. Steve maintains the North Carolina Self Help for Hard of Hearing People website (www.nchearingloss.org), which won the SHHH's "Best Overall State Website" award in 2004. Two of the website's features are a comprehensive hearing loss glossary and a very cool 3D model of the ear.

This article originally appeared on the Healthy Hearing website (www.healthyhearing.com). It is presented here in four parts. This is part four.

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C. ALD Manufacturers, Distributors and Contractors

Most movie theater ALDs are developed by large manufacturers of FM or infrared transmitters and receivers. They may be purchased directly from the manufacturer, or through a distributor. They are frequently installed and maintained by local contractors.

Whether you're an ALD manufacturer, a distributor or a contractor, there are certain things you might consider.

A good ALD should offer coupling alternatives to meet the needs of your customers. Headsets are nice for mild and moderate losses, but simply won't work for severe and profound and high frequency losses. Headsets should not only be hearing aid compatible (emit a magnetic signal that a telecoil can receive), they should have a standard 3.5 mm female jack so users can install neckloops, DAIs, or Silhouettes. Many customers with hearing loss carry their own personal favorite coupling device. Every theater should have at least a few compatible interfaces and should offer a few neckloops for people that prefer them.

ALDs should make it easy to tell the battery level. Weak or dead batteries are a major problem. When a customer gets an ALD with a dead battery or one that fails during the show, the customer becomes very annoyed!

Cosmetics matter! Newer designs that look more like high tech toys are helping make hearing aids and ALDs more of a fashion statement, rather than an embarrassment.

ALDs should avoid "conspicuous" designs and should NOT draw attention to themselves! Many people still attempt to hide their hearing loss. The last thing they want is something that will draw attention to them and their hearing loss. One popular ALD headset found in movie theaters today, has a RED LIGHT on the top of the headband. HELLO, is anyone home? The red light tells the people who give out the headsets the ALD is on and the battery is working, and that's great. However, if you told me it was designed by someone who NEVER experienced hearing loss, or had to use the product, I'd believe it.

Make ALDs so amazingly good that even people with normal hearing will want them. Hearing assistance technology will eventually become common for people with normal hearing. Rock stars, sports coaches, and even people on the street are using ear appliances for audio players and telephones. There will be a much broader market for ALDs in the future. The manufacturer that figures out how to design products for the entire market will have a huge advantage. The concept of Universal Design broadens your marketplace and helps the largest number of people.

If you're a contractor, don't just sell and install equipment ... sell complete solutions. Please offer posters, brochures, training packages and continuing service/support contracts. These may be almost as important to the success of the ALDs as the equipment, itself. You have a strong interest in making the ALDs a success, and these things can help assure success.

ALD manufacturers could start working with movie producers to build ALD features that allow end users to control the balance between dialog and other sounds via multi-track audio, or perhaps with noise canceling headset technology too.

D. Hearing Aid Manufacturers and Hearing Healthcare Professionals

Hearing aid manufacturers and all healthcare professionals play an important part in this story. So, here are some things they might consider....

Never advertise hearing aids using verbage such as... "So small no one will know you're wearing them." The message it sends is "You don't want hearing aids." Sorry, but this is just the wrong message to send!

Never design or sell a hearing aid with automatic features that can't be overridden. It's true that automatic features (such as automatic volume control, noise reduction or telecoils invocation) are great for people who are unable to manage those items themselves. However, savvy hearing aid users (and we're getting more savvy every day) will not buy hearing aids that can't be controlled manually to cope with varying conditions (like coupling with ALDs in movies).

Please make sure customers who could benefit from telecoils, DAI, ALDs etc., are aware of those features and encourage them to consider them. Too many hearing aid users are missing these benefits, and these benefits make all the difference in the world.

When you sell hearing aids with telecoils, always demonstrate the T-coil function with a decent ALD. Your customers will be amazed at how great a telecoil can be in noise. If you get them hooked on ALDs, you can be sure they'll investigate DAIs and booted FM systems too!

E. Movie Audio Producers and Distributors

There are a few things you can do to help, but the future offers even greater opportunity for you to improve the situation, especially as digital distribution becomes more common.

Stop hiding the dialog in music and background and sound effects! Any audiologist will tell you that for maximal speech perception, the dialogue needs to be some 30 dB louder than the background noise. Please take heed!!!! Even the best ALDs may not help hard of hearing people when the entire soundtrack is filled with rumble and roar, music and noise, or when dialog is intentionally whispered or mumbled.

In the future, supply soundtracks for movies in multiple tracks, so individual customers (even customers with good hearing) can choose how to balance the sound effects, music and background noise with the dialog.

Digital distribution of movies (both picture and audio) will offer opportunities to help people with hearing loss and will require coordination with ALD manufacturers so their receivers can handle the two (or more) audio streams.

Finally, digital distribution and some cooperation with the receiver industry offers the promise of captioned movies visible only to those who want them. While that's not about ALDs in movies, it's an important thing to prepare for.

The Bottom Line

ALDs offer an opportunity, and they hold promise for all! I like to tell people that there's never a good time to have hearing loss, but there has never been a better time to have hearing loss. If we all work at it, the future will be wonderful, indeed ... and I'll see you at the movies.

Bio

Steve Barber has gradually lost most of his hearing over the last 25 years. He's retired from IBM and currently working as a software tester for SAS Inc. Steve has been a volunteer/leader in Self Help for Hard of Hearing People for 14 years and he served as the chairperson for the North Carolina Council for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people during 4 of his 10 year tenure with that council. He built and maintains the NCSHHH web site at www.nchearingloss.org and the Beyond-Hearing web site at www.geocities.com/nc-shhh/bhframe.htm.

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------- Eye on Washington --------------------------------
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Stay informed and protect your rights! The Eye on
Washington (EOW) is a national advocacy ezine published by
the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) that focuses on
activities occuring on Capitol Hill that affect deaf and
hard of hearing civil rights.

The EOW is open to all, members and non-members. It is
distributed once a month, sometimes more.
http://www.nad.org/ezine/ecommadmin.html

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- Article 2: Background Noises Cause Brain Activity to Slow
By Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service
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Editor: Everyone knows that it's harder to hear in a noisy environment. Even folks with normal hearing have greater difficulty when the background volume increases.

That's because it's harder to separate the sounds we want to hear from those we don't want to hear, right? Well, that's at least partly right. But there may be a bit more to it, as this story explains. This article is from Scripps Howard News Service, and is reprinted with permission.

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You're at a crowded, noisy holiday party, trying to tune into the conversation of someone standing right next to you, but he or she might as well be speaking another language.

Don't blame your hearing or even the champagne.

Researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville have found that background noises don't just cover up conversation; they may actually scramble language-processing activity in the brain.

Their experiments with rats are beginning to unravel why even perfectly loud speech may be hard to understand in a noisy room, a finding that has applications for everything from hearing aids to MP3 players.

"Some people have a tremendously difficult time understanding speech in a noisy environment, and we've all had the experience of having someone tell us something, but we can't tell what it is that they are saying," said Purvis Bedenbaugh, an assistant professor of neuroscience and the person who led the studies. "This research is the first step toward looking at why that would be."

Their research was published earlier this year in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The scientists examined how brain cells in alert rats responded to specific sounds while one of three standardised noises played in the background.

The background noises were static, the conversational murmur at a busy restaurant and the disjointed whir of a rewinding tape recorder.

Scientists discovered that brain activity actually decreased in the presence of the background sounds. And the extra noise not only covered up the target sounds, it also interfered with the brain's ability to process or interpret information about sound, even though the sound was clearly heard by the ears.

Industrial safety experts have noted for years that many workers with normal hearing who wear hearing protection are surprised to find that they actually hear speech from their co-workers more clearly because background noise is reduced.

Bedenbaugh and his colleagues are now trying to apply their findings to better designs for hearing aids, cochlear implants and ear-phones that might filter out the growing cacophony of everyday life and allow the brain to hear the most important sounds.

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--------------- Captioned Movie Directory ---------------
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Want to know what captioned movies are
playing in your area? If you live in southern California,
Denver, Chicago, Washington DC, Portland OR,
or Victoria or Vancouver, BC
point your browser to:
http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/lcl/lcl.htm
and click on your city!
Updated Weekly!
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- Article 3: Our Voice Unheard, Say Deaf
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Editor: My wife says that if you have to be deaf, this is the best time to do it. Things are far from perfect here in the US, but the situation for people with hearing loss is much better now than it was 20 years ago.

People in other countries aren't so lucky. The following article from South Africa's Daily News provides one example. This article is reprinted with permission.

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Cape Town: South Africa's deaf community of over four million are not enjoying the fruits of democracy, with sign language not an official language and about 95% of deaf people illiterate.

"The president (Thabo Mbeki) must stop saying everything is fine in South Africa, it's not. We are scared to go out, people mock us. We can't communicate because people don't know how to sign," said David Petro, a spokesman for the Cape Town-based Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA).

Petro said that in every aspect of life, which hearing people took for granted, deaf people encountered difficulties and were openly ridiculed.

Speaking via an interpreter, Petro related an incident he experienced as a typical example of the frustration the deaf had to deal with daily.

Two years ago, while walking to the shops, he passed a library and noticed a broken window.

He tried to tell a security guard about the window, but the man put a gun to his head after Petro tried to sign with his hands. He was hit, pepper-sprayed in the face and had his hands tied behind his back.

Petro said he reported the assault to the police, Independent Complaints Directorate and the Human Rights Commission.

"To date, nothing has happened. When I reported the matter, the police at Diep River police station laughed at me."

Petro said he was later taken to Wynberg Magistrate's Court by members of the same police station, who had responded to a complaint from a neighbour, only to sit with only his shorts on while his matter was processed.

"The prosecutors and police were laughing at me, they couldn't understand. Hearing people mock sign language - they think it's a stupid language, a monkey language," said Petro, adding that he was even sent to Valkenberg psychiatric hospital because of the communication breakdown.

Petro said that by recognising sign language as the 12th official language, the government would go a long way in empowering the deaf community who had, for example, to pay for TV licences for programmes with no subtitles or limited sign interpretation.

He said that without proper access to information, the country's laws were not understood, the president was not heard and everyday chores became a nightmare.

"Racism in the deaf community is very strong, which comes directly from a lack of information."

Petro said deaf members of families were often abused, with pension and social grants unlawfully kept from them, or only partially handed over.

He said that with only about 2% of teachers at special deaf schools actually signing in classrooms, illiteracy rates were compounded.

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- Article 4: NAD Urges Bush to Choose FCC Chair Wisely
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Editor: I think most people do not realize the importance of the choice of FCC chair, especially to people with hearing loss.

One of the most important issues currently facing our community is the determination of the status of digital communications, such as Voice over IP (VoIP). We are already seeing a decline in traditional telephone service as VoIP service explodes. Traditional telephone service provides hearing aid compatible telephones and funds relay services and telephone distribution programs.

Will digital services provide the same benefits? Well, it depends on whether they are categorized as information technology or communications technology. The providers are lobbying for categorization as information technology, because then all the rules that provide services to people with hearing loss do not apply.

And who makes that determination? You guessed it, the FCC. So do take a minute to do a bit of lobbying yourself. The following article tells you how.

Oh, and if you want to follow the link to read the complete letter, be sure to paste both parts of link into your browser address bar in the correct order!

Here's the NAD press release.

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Silver Spring, MD -- The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) sent a letter to President Bush urging him to pick a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairperson who is aware and sensitive to how telecommunication issues can disproportionately affect, include or exclude individuals with disabilities. Chairman Michael K. Powell will resign from his position as FCC Chair in March.

In the letter, Nancy J. Bloch, NAD CEO noted: "Your New Freedom Initiative (NFI) is intended to ensure that individuals with disabilities 'have the opportunity to learn and to develop skills, to engage in productive work, to choose where to live, and to participate in community life.' For many deaf and hard of hearing individuals, the biggest barriers to community life participation are telecommunication barriers. The FCC can do much to take down such barriers. Your appointment of a Chairperson who is committed to bringing the goals of NFI to the FCC could be a historical landmark, on par to your father's signing the Americans with Disabilities Act into law."

To read the complete letter, copy and paste the following link to your browser url window: http://www.nad.org/atf/cf/{A2A94BC9-2744-4E84-852F-
D8C3380D0B12}/Bush%20Letter%20re%20FCC%20Chair.pdf

The NAD is urging people to contact President Bush and ask him to select a Chairperson for the FCC with an eye to promoting the NFI in the area of Telecommunications.

Individuals can take action quickly at: http://www.nad.org/fccchair

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- Classifieds
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One Relay Service, one Pager and Accessories, one Call for Papers, two Events and one Education Opportunity appear in this issue. (Ads appear after this brief table of contents.)

Relay Service
Sprint Federal Relay CapTel Program

Pagers and Accessories
Deafpager.com

Call For Papers for ALDAcon
ALDA International Convention
Salt Lake City, UT
September 7 - 11, 2005

Event 1
Jewish Deaf Congress Conference 2005
Tampa, Florida
July 3 to 10, 2005

Event 2
California SHHH Conference
Buena Park, California
February 18 - 20, 2005

Education Opportunity
Gallaudet University
Masters in Social Work (MSW) Program
Washington, DC

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Relay Service
Sprint Federal Relay CapTel Program
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Media Contact:
Stephanie Taliaferro, 913-794-3658
Stephanie.c.taliaferro@mail.sprint.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sprint Provides Free CapTelSM Phones for Hard of Hearing Federal Government Employees and Veterans

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - July 7, 2004 - Sprint (NYSE: FON), the leading provider of telecommunications relay services (TRS), is working with the General Service Administration (GSA) to provide up to fifty (50) free CapTelSM phones every month for federal government employees (civilian and military), Federal retirees and veterans. CapTel offered by the Federal Relay, fully FCC compliant, is an assistive technology aimed at easing communications for the more than 24 million Americans who are hard of hearing, have experienced hearing loss later in life or deaf individuals with good vocalization skills.

CapTel relay service is a leading-edge technology developed by Ultratec, Inc. of Madison, Wis., which allows people to receive both voice and text captioning, nearly simultaneously. A special CapTelTM-equipped phone is required in order to place a call through the CapTel Relay Service. The CapTel phone works like any traditional phone with callers talking and listening to each other, but with one very significant difference - captions are provided live for every call. The captions are displayed on the CapTel phone's built-in screen so the user can read the words while listening to the voice of the other party. The conversation can flow naturally, allowing for normal interruptions and expressed emotions. CapTel through Federal Relay is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week (Spanish - 8am to Midnight Eastern daily)

"Sprint is pleased to provide yet another communications alternative for federal employees who are hard of hearing or deaf," said Mike Ligas, region vice president, Sprint Relay. "Using CapTel through Federal Relay can be a life changing experience for many by allowing them to communicate better with their family, friends and for business purposes."

For further information on Federal Relay or CapTel service or to obtain a free Federal CapTel phone, qualified Federal employees/retirees or veterans need to complete and submit an application form, visit http://www.captionedtelephone.com/availability/FRS.phtml. Additionally, you can contact Randy Murbach, Contract Manager, by e-mail at randy.g.murbach@mail.sprint.com.

How CapTel Works

As the user dials the phone number of the person they wish to call, the CapTel phone automatically routes their call through the CapTel call center and connects them to their called party. At the call center, a specially trained operator uses a customized voice-recognition computer and re-voices whatever is said by the called party. The voice-recognition software transcribes the operator's voice into captions that appear on the CapTel's bright display screen for the user to read. The user also hears the other party's voice on the phone to the best of their ability, just like any other amplified phone.

Sprint Relay Background

Sprint has nearly 14 years of experience in providing relay services to persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or speech disabled to communicate with hearing persons on the phone. Relay service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with no restrictions on the number of calls placed or call length. Sprint is one of the leading employers of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people in the industry. The 'Sprint Relay' team is comprised of individuals who are daily users of the service, and have greatly influenced the development and quality of Sprint's products and services. For more information on Federal Relay, visit www.fts.gsa.gov/frs/ and Sprint Relay at www.sprintrelay.com.

Sprint Government Systems Division is based in Herndon, Va., and offers the full range of Sprint product and service offerings for federal and state government customers.

About Sprint

Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With approximately 65,000 employees worldwide and over $26 billion in annual revenues in 2003, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local communications services in 39 states and the District of Columbia and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

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Pagers and Accessories
Deafpager.com
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Deafpager.com has a new Hot Accessories section with the latest and hottest accessories for your Sidekick and Blackberry!

The newest item in our inventory is color bumpers for your Sidekick II - easy to put on, easy to take off! The hard part is trying to decide between Pink or Purple? Maybe it would be easier to decide between Red or Blue? Made up your mind which color you like? Only $8.95 per set!

Still can't make up your mind? Don't worry, we sell sets of three for only $20.95! We also have auto chargers for the Sidekick II for only $7.95! Visit our site for our excellent selection of cases and pouches. We offer qualified customers a Free Sidekick II (after rebates) as well as color Blackberries for qualified customers for $49.99 after rebates. We now have an unlimited data-only plan for the new Motorola A630!

Check all these deals out and more at our website: www.deafpager.com! Email: info@deafpager.com.

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Call For Papers for ALDAcon
ALDA International Convention
Salt Lake City, UT
September 7 - 11, 2005
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The Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA Inc. http://www.alda.org/) is now accepting proposals for workshop presentations at its 17th annual international convention to be held at the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake City September 7th-11th. ALDAcon is a convention held by, and for people who are late deafened, HOH, or have family or friends dealing with any degree of hearing loss. In addition ALDAcon has features speakers who are well known to the D/deaf community, such as I. King Jordan, Dr Robert Davila and Cheryl Heppner.

To request a Call for Papers or more information on our program you may contact
Carolyn Piper
Program Chair
wicwas@wcvt.com

For general information on the ALDAcon 2005 please contact planning chairs
Kathy Evans <patches_alda@yahoo.com>
Linda Lewis <utmtns05@yahoo.com>

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Event 1
Jewish Deaf Congress Conference 2005
Tampa, Florida
July 3 to 10, 2005
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Something exciting is coming to Tampa, Florida in 2005!

It will be a conference of a different kind!

It will be Jewish Deaf Congress Conference 2005 at Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay Hotel (a 4 star property) from July 3 to 10, 2005.

For the first time in JDC history we will have a HANDS-ON conference on Jewish wines, Jewish jewelry, Jewish roots, Jewish cooking and much more.

Participants will be actively involved in activities. Jewish Deaf people and their non-Jewish friends are more than welcome to join & learn "how to do it" while having fun too.

The hotel rates are only $89 a night, no matter how many people in a room. So come and share room with your friends. (psssst, Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay averages $165 a night and its an incredible deal)

Additional information and details can be found at:
www.jdc2005.com
See the website to see what's happening!

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Event 2
California SHHH Conference
Buena Park, California
February 18 - 20, 2005
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California SHHH Conference: Surviving and Thriving in a Sea of Sound.

Our conference is aligned with the objectives of SHHH. We have education, advocacy and support topics throughout our program. It's not good enough just to survive a hearing loss, but to thrive is what SHHH is all about.

We are welcoming all of the newest CIAI members, as well as families to join us on Presidents' Day weekend (a school holiday weekend). We feel we are offering everything from a location with plenty of activities at Knott's Berry Farm, to top speakers in the field of hearing loss, to some of the most entertaining workshops we have seen, to representatives from SHHH National. Our goal is to be able to bring you the best that SHHH has to offer.

Instead of a single host chapter, the team bringing this conference to southern California includes members from all of the southern California chapters. We have the opportunity to capitalize on the talents and skills of the entire southern California SHHH membership!

* Friday Night Welcome Reception
Dr. Terry Portis, executive Director of SHHH from Bethesda MD, asks "Can anything good come from hearing loss?" Terry has spent the last two years visiting and talking with SHHH and hard of hearing people across the country, and has some insight to share with us.

Jayna Altman is a member of the SHHH-CA Board of Trustees and was Miss Orange County 2004. A profound hearing loss has not deterred her from her goal to becoming an audiologist working with children. A dancer and performer, Jayna will give us a taste of her own experiences as a hard of hearing college student and pageant contestant in her talk "Navigating the Realities of Hearing Loss."

* Saturday Workshops
12 workshops are available, in four sessions. There is an exciting roster of informative and uplifting workshops covering advocacy and education issues such as hearing loss coping skills, support, cochlear implants and new technology. You will absorb a wealth of information from these experts.

* Saturday Lunch Speaker
As a special feature, we are hosting Dr. John House, President of the House Ear Institute in Los Angeles and one of the Medical Advisors of SHHH National. Dr. House heads one of the most renowned institutes of hearing research. The Institute has achieved an international reputation as a leader in its field. HEI scientists continue to improve and develop hearing aids and auditory implants, innovative treatments and intervention methods. We are privileged to have Dr. House join us with his talk "Hearing Help Through the Years".

* Saturday Evening Banquet
Heather Whitestone McCallum will be the featured speaker for the Saturday night banquet. She is sponsored by Cochlear Corporation. She continues her mission to advocate that "Anything is Possible".

* Sunday Morning Breakfast
On Sunday morning, we will feature a special session on cochlear implants, with Dr. Laurie S. Eisenberg as our speaker. She is a researcher at the House Ear Institute, and will share with us the latest in the field, along with answering questions from the audience. Come hear "What cochlear implant users have taught us over the past 30 years".

Additional activities/attractions include:
* SHHH-CA Board of Trustees Meeting
* Shopping Raffle and Prizes
* Exhibit Hall
* Special Knott's Berry Farm Discount tickets for SHHH-CA attendees

For additional information, visit the conference page of our website:
http://www.shhhca.org/shhh-conference.htm

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Education Opportunity
Gallaudet University
Masters in Social Work (MSW) Program
Washington, DC
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Become a School Social Worker with Deaf/Hard of Hearing Children:
If you have an undergraduate liberal arts degree, a GPA of 3.0,
and want to work as an MSW school social worker, take advantage
of the final incoming class to participate in our Department of
Education Grant. You will receive half tuition waivers and $6,000
for two years. Sign language skills required to participate in
classes. Applications accepted until spaces are filled.
Contact: mary.arcari@gallaudet.edu for more information.

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- Contact Information and Disclaimers
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