I was surprised when I came across this article: Implant may help deaf hear music as I thought the implant helps with everything. So it was an interesting read. I guess it’s hard for me to say how well an implant works with music because I’ve never had hearing to begin with. But when I learn a song by heart, I can follow along with the music. I’ve lost my place while listening to the song and found it.
Today is speech therapy day, so we’ll see what I learn. Been practicing “asked” and saying “s” like a “z” where appropriate. I hope it makes a difference.
Implant Helps with Music
Geology
This fascinating report says Deaf Students May Have Advantage in Studying Geologic Faults. It makes sense without reading it because we have a sensitivity to vibrations. In reality, “… students who use American Sign Language (ASL) are often already adept at this 3-D thinking, and it may give them an advantage when grappling with the intricate networks of geologic fault systems.” So it doesn’t apply to everyone… just those who are fluent in ASL. Great finding, isn’t it?
Rapper Is Losing Hearing
Foxy Brown Reveals She Is Going Deaf. She has a rare condition that affects 1 in 10,000, but the article doesn’t say what. She may not have been in this position had she sought help as soon as she knew something was wrong. Whenever something changes… listen to your body and get the help you need. Stubborness only gets you in trouble.
Rebuilt
Michael Chorost wrote Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human. It’s the story of him losing is hearing and regaining it with a CI.
I admire people like him because it’s harder to have hearing and then lose it than it is to be born without it. When you’re born without hearing, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Braille TTY
From DeafNetwork: Compu-TTY, Inc. has announced the availability of a new Braille TTY, the VTouch Braille TTY. The lightweight and portable TTY is only three pounds. The VTouch does not have batteries in the Braille display like older models. Plus, it comes with one adapter and one cable between the TTY and the Brailled display. Older models had two AC adapters, making it easy for some to confuse them.
The TTY has a Braille display on the terminal itself, and can connect directly using a telephone line or acoustic couplers for standard telephone handsets. It also has a built-in answering machine with password-enabled remote message retrieval.
Also, the TTY has a tactile ring pager, so that if someone is away from the TTY, she or he can still know when a call is coming in by feeling the pager’s vibrations. The device retails for a hefty $5,995.
Meet the Lugnuts
Last week’s therapy included reading a page of sentences, some of which caused my tongue to twist. The fun part was the listening that we did for the latter half of the session. I met the Lugnuts, a family with seven kids. They liked to watch TV all day long, shop at the mail (all of them together!), and sing made up songs. First, I listened to the whole story with the text in front of me. No problem.
Then the therapist played selections out of order and I had to figure out what was said. I started off strong, but then began faltering when we switched from Real Player to Windows Player. Odd, eh? I think the volume changed. Not sure.
We also found another difficult area – words that end in -sked such as asked, masked, and tasked. I had no idea that the -ed was pronounced with a “t” sound. It’s hard to say “skt” as I pause between “k” and “t.”
I’ve been catching myself “hearing” a few words at times. For instance, a friend of mine called and left a message for my son since our sons were scheduled to play together. When the phone rang, I checked caller ID and saw it was her. I listened and heard the first two sentences which mentioned my son’s name and that she would pick him up in 30 minutes. Everything after that was a audio blur. (Found out it that her phone was not charged, so she would not be able to send me a text message as originally planned).
The Reality behind Katrina
The Washington Post interviewed a Gallaudet student who was affected by Katrina as well as two employees who discuss emergency preparedness and awareness. Lisa Fabstein, a spokeswoman for Washington, D.C.’s Metro, said it best: “But right now if people need to evacuate, realistically, deaf passengers would just follow others out.” That’s what I do when in alone such situations (getting off an airplane and doing a fire drill, for example).
Phone Access for Hurricane Evacuees with Speech Disabilities
From Deaf Network of Texas: Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita who have a speech disability need to know that they can use a free telephone service 24 hours a day. This service, called “Speech to Speech” (STS), provides communication assistants (CAs) for people who have difficulty being understood on the telephone. STS is a form of relay service.
STS is provided through the TTY relay in each state. Unlike TTY, STS enables people with speech disabilities to communicate by voice through a CA as many people with speech disabilities have difficulty typing.
People with speech disabilities can dial toll free to reach a patient, specially trained CA who is familiar with many speech patterns and has excellent language recognition skills. This STS CA places telephone calls for them and repeats their words exactly in a 3-way calling environment. Every month users make about 12,000 calls nationally. STS is the only way for many people to communicate by telephone with people who are not accustomed to their speech.
Many STS users have Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, ALS, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or stroke. Other users stutter or have had a laryngectomy or other conditions affecting clarity of speech.
STS also helps people who use speech synthesizers (also called Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices. AAC users may ask the STS CA to set up the call, negotiate the menu, introduce the call explaining AAC and then go into the background. This enables AAC users to communicate independently once the other party is on the line.
Bob Segalman, Ph.D. has cerebral palsy and developed the concept of STS. Now it makes telephone use much easier for him. To try out STS, report problems or get more information: Call 800-854-7784 and ask for Dr. Bob Segalman (direct 916-362-0982). You may also visit the STS website: http://www.stsnews.com/ or contact Katherine Keller at info@stsnews.com to place you on the STS List Serve.
For a list of U. S. Speech-to-Speech access numbers go to:
http://www.stsnews.com/RelayNews/STSDialUpTelnumbers.html
You can also access STS by dialing 711 and asking for Speech to Speech. If the communications assistant can not place a call for you, please let Bob (drsts@comcast.net) know stating your name, date and time of call, location, and telephone number.
Monster Garage
What in the world does the show, Monster Garage have to do with this blog’s topic?KVUE of Austin reports that students from the Texas School for the Deaf appear in an upcoming episode of the show on Discovery Channel. The episode was shot on the school’s campus as it has its own auto-body garage.
They’ve been challenged to build a rat-rod, which is a hot rod built from junk-yard parts, in five days from scratch. Very cool.
Safer Cochlear Implant Surgery
Forbes.com reports that researchers have developed a safer and less invasive method for doing implant surgery. The procedure doesn’t call for a large scalp ear flap like the current approach does. Another advantage is that the implant is turned on sooner as there is less trauma from the surgery.
I wish I knew what from the surgery caused my severe vertigo. This doesn’t happen to everyone and it certainly scares me away from having a second implant.