A couple of international news.
What a scary situation to be in. Six deaf Israelis rescued in Nepal.
Indian deaf cricket team goes to Pakistan and promotes peace between the two countries. Nice to see a happy story.
Israel and Indians
Working with Kids
Thanks to email and the Internet, it’s possible for me to volunteering with kids without a worry.
Dallas Professor Wins Grant
A professor in my hometown has won a $1.5 million grant for improving a hearing aid device. “The end result of the project will be to enable users of cochlear implants to hear better in noisy situations and listen to music.” Isn’t that what Cochlear’s whisper feature is for? We can listen to music with our existing implants. So what’s different about this?
Dr. Philip C Loizou says, “In the near future, we envision patients being fitted with at least three distinct programs—one they can use in relatively quiet environments, one for noisy environments and another for listening to music.” Maybe it will be easier to use. I never use the whisper feature and my implant has two programs. It’d be nice to have more options and control them with a quick switch.
Deaf Town and Apartments
The groundbreaking ceremony for apartments in Seattle designed specifically for Deaf and Deaf-Blind victims of domestic violence and sexual assault takes place on March 28. The complex will have 19 units of affordable housing, integrated services, and technology.
Elsewhere in South Dakota, planners are working on creating an entire town for the deaf. Why South Dakota? Doesn’t the Washington, DC area, Rochester, NY, and California contain the larger deaf populations? Learned something new… quoted from the article. “Elsewhere, because of proximity to schools and businesses tied to the deaf, large concentrations of deaf people have gathered in cities like Rochester; Washington; Olathe, Kan.; Frederick, Md.; and Sioux Falls, S.D.”
100 families from around the world have already declared they plan to live there. Full story at New York Times (may require free registration) and another from Indystar.
CI Controversy in Pittsburgh
Ah… the controversy’s flame continues burning strong… The Toledo Blade reports, “The family stopped at a fast-food restaurant and encountered students from a New York school for the deaf. They took one look at Nino’s [cochlear] implant and started signing feverishly with the help of their interpreter. They assailed Mrs. Russo for choosing the implant for her son. But she was having difficulty conversing with them because of the signing.”
Again, I say, it’s the person’s choice as the mother says, “At this point he has no desire to learn [ASL].” I understand the deaf culture’s concern the culture will vanish as every child gets an implant. The majority of the world is hearing and the ability to communicate makes life easier. When a person who doesn’t know English and moves to the US, he will struggle until he has some command of the language. The same applies for the deaf.
The line about “People with implants usually experience less fatigue,” is true. When I attended a few conferences, I barely made it through the last day or so. It was then I learned that lipreading and communicating the way I do is more tiring than for the average person. [Resource: Eddie ]
Pilar
Leda Maliga has announced a documentary about cochlear implants. Her film Pilar will be screening at two festivals in April. It is a portrait of her sister and follows her over eight years starting months before she was implanted with a cochlear implant. It covers the operation, the day they activated the device, and the years of learning to use the implant.
The film will screen on April 24 at 3pm at the Artivist Film Festival at the Egyptian Theater and on April 25 at the Newport Beach Film Festival (time TBD) It will be screening with other hearing theme related films at both festivals, including What’s Bugging Seth.
Hearing Dogs
I’ve heard from people who have hearing dogs and they love them. It’s hard work for both the dog and the owner. I couldn’t imagine putting that much energy into ensure the dog stays on top of things. Besides, I’ve got three kids instead 🙂
FDA Approves New Cochlear Implant System
The Nucleus Freedom implant has received FDA approval this month. You can see photos and details in this news release. According to the release, “is the only speech processor designed to be water resistant and the only system to offer SmartSound(TM) technology, a combination of three unique sound technologies designed to enable better hearing in everyday listening situations.” It offers the following features:
* The first and only two-microphone system designed to soften distracting background sounds allowing for focused listening in crowds.
* Automatically adjusts sound levels to deliver a balance of clarity and comfort. Ideal for listening to music and in dynamic environments.
* Whisper enhances softer sounds allowing recipients to understand them more clearly.
* Up to five days of battery life. Unlike other systems that rely on brand-specific rechargeable batteries that last only a few hours, the Nucleus Freedom can operate on one set of commercially available batteries for up to five days, depending on the user’s coding strategy and rate.
I have a Nucleus and it uses disposable batteries that last three days. Five days sounds nice… but don’t know if my coding strategy would last that long. Not all other implant systems use rechargeables. In fact, only one does (at least, at the time when I made my decision).
Deaf History Month
March 13 – April 15 is Deaf History Month. When I lived in DC, we had deaf week at the Department of Transportation. We set up speakers and a showcase. Gosh, I can’t remember the details and I was on the planning committee. Probably because I was pregnant with my first. Anyway, you can get the details from Jamie Berke, the longtime Deafness / Hard of Hearing guide for about.com. I met Jamie when I lived in DC. We had a few meetings regarding captioning and have stayed in touch after all these years.
Sign Language Dialects
I’ve previously talked about how like people who have accents, sign language also has its accents. I saw it for the first time when watching Four Weddings and a Funeral, which took place in the UK. The Mirror briefly discusses these dialects.