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Current NewsAwards and Recognition are listed at the bottom of this page.Past NewsDebra Hackman -- Widex Professional Training Audiologist, Sept 17th, 2011 Recap Debra Hackman presented "The Answer Is Clear." She summarized the Widex product line, reminded us that over 40% of people over 65 years old have hearing loss, then discussed the design, technology and environmental considerations that result in Widex hearing aids and the software programs that reside in their processors. She talked about the history of hearing aids and the audiogram, with special focus on where the vowels and consonants appear on the graph. Perry Able, November 20th, 2010 Recap Perry Able, a Vice President of Beltone New England, traced the history of hearing aid technology and discussed features of their newest hearing aids. He donated TV Ears for a special drawing and additional grab bag prizes for our Holiday Luncheon. Caitlin Parton, October 16th 2010 Recap Caitlin Parton presented her remarkable life story. She had a Cochlear Implant procedure Frank Callahan; Movement, Motivation and Hearing Loss: A New Prescription, September 25th, 2010 Recap Our
season chapter meeting kicked off with speaker Frank Callahan, RN and Certified
Personal Training, and who works at Nursing and Hospice Care of Fairfield
County. He spoke about “Movement, Motivation, and Hearing Loss - A New Prescription.” Weaving life anecdotes about hard of hearing
folks that Frank knew and his own divorce and wife’s passing, he built a case for
doing daily exercise. He demonstrated
breathing, stretching, and cardio vascular exercises that free endorphins to
raise one’s energy and spirit to a more positive state. At one point he had the audience "dancing in the aisles." Disaster Preparedness, June 16th, 2010 Recap On June 16th, Jonathan Brown, Chapter Vice President, presented suggestions on how to better prepare for a disaster with special emphasis on communication issues. His focus was based on the City of Norwalk's program for people with Special Needs during a disaster, which includes lessons learned from hurricane Katrina. Wilton Schools Workshop May 27th, 2010 Recap For the third consecutive year, Marcia Zola and Alan Gould designed and delivered our successful hearing loss program to 363 Fourth Graders at Cider Mill School in Wilton. There were two modules: How to Communicate with the HOH, and Dangerous Noise: Protecting Your Ears. Pat Gould and Pat Bailey assisted in the delivery. Future plans are being discussed for additional school systems and adding delivery resources from Sacred Heart University. The Opera Life of Betty Jones, Chapter Member and Opera Singer -- May 15th Doug Jones, Betty's husband, presented her opera career to our chapter on May 15th. In the mid-seventies, when in her 40s, at the Wilton Playshop, Betty sang the contralto Madam Flara in The Medium, a short (one hour long) two-act dramatic opera. This launched her singing career around the world. George Shank gave Betty a scholarship to go to New York and develop her skills. Subsequently, she sang The Messiah in the local church, Bloody Mary of South Pacific in South Africa. She then performed in San Francisco, Seattle (singing Aida), Phoenix, Washington (D.C. -- singing Valkerie), West Virginia, Mexico City, and Germany. In 1973 she sang Rosen with Pavarotti at his first appearance. In 1978 with 5 hours notice, she sang in Carnegie Hall. She sang with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. She sang Tosca in Weisbaden, Germany, on their opening night after renovation. Starting in the late 80's, she gradually lost her hearing, which forced her into retirement. Doug and his family helped Betty adjust to her loss. Watch for Betty's book on the subject when it is published. Doug's summary of Betty's career was truly entertaining and remarkable.
Mark Hall, Caption Mic, April 17th Recap Mark Hall discussed the Caption Mic (pronounced "Mike") software and other products that he markets then answered questions about TV, theater (both types of) captioning. Caption Mic is speech recognition software, used locally or remotely, that lowers the cost and increases the availability of captions for live events. It can be used in classrooms, broadcasts, webcasts, distance-learning, and pre-production applications. Typically there is a 1.5 second delay on the TV screen, compared to a 3 to 5 second delay using other captioning means. In two hours, the user trains the system to recognize his/her voice, then reiterates the speakers words into a special microphone, adding punctuation and other tags as they go. He/she then saves the text file, optionally formats it, and distributes or broadcasts it to the audience. Mark went on to discuss recent FCC rules pertaining to captioning specifications and new rules that TV broadcasters must follow. They can be found at www.fcc.gov. Both Mark and Barbara made the case for being captioning advocates with content providers, theaters, and the FCC. Dr. Rob L. Weiss, Healthy Hearing and Balance, March 20th Recap Dr. Weiss gave an informative presentation and fielded questions on a broad range of topics. It started with the anatomy of physical process of perceiving sound. It included: hair cells, presbycusis, challenging hearing environments including military acoustic trauma, tinnitus and candling. On the balance topic, he discussed the balance mechanism including one's eyes, one's vestibular system (located in the ear) and one's proprioceptors (sensors in one's feet). He mentioned tests his office does for balance, and described BPPV – a common balance problem he treats where the patient has “rocks loose in the head.” Dr. Andrew Parker, Audiology and Hearing Aid Services of Fairfield County, February 20th Dr. Andrew Parker discussed a wide-range of hearing aid innovations, hearing disorders and the Lyric hearing aid, in particular. He said the latter was a new approach that was not for everyone. The aid is totally invisible since it sits deep in the ear canal. At $1750 per ear for a year's service no matter how many aids one needs (at least 3), no one can argue with Dr. Parker. In the informative talk, he discussed some of the principles of volume amplification and achieving clarity in hearing. Our questions and answers covered such diverse subjects as brain fog, bi-cross aids, new noise filters, and lipoflavoids, which aid Tinnitus sufferers. City of Norwalk Emergency and Disaster for Those with Special Needs Roundtable – January 26th Barbara and Jonathan attended this roundtable with about 60 other agency and social services representatives. We discussed the special needs of vulnerable groups during emergencies and disasters. The roundtable breakout sessions that were organized into the Preparation, Response and Recovery phases brainstormed and discussed needs for Communications, Sheltering and Evacuation, and Maintaining Independence. The leaders asked each group present to complete a plan focusing on these issues. Jonathan volunteered to participate on their Communications subcommittee and some of our SC members are drafting our plan and framework, to be presented, in part, at our June meeting. January Chapter Meeting Roundtable –
January 16th Recap About 35 members volunteered topics and discussion points on the following topics: Restaurants, specifically: How to Turn the Music Down, Where to Sit, and How to Hear the Names of Specials. Other discussion topics included: New ALD Developments, Public Meeting Protocols, CaptionMax Equipment (Voice Captioning), Induction Loops and T-Coils. Jonathan and Barbara moderated the meeting. Pat Bailey found mention of the “Acoustic Cloud” baffling device especially useful for her community. Alice Bianco, from Darien, mentioned Mark Hall as a potential speaker.
Holiday Party – December 5th Recap About 40 members, spouses and guests attended our annual holiday party at the Four Points Sheraton in Norwalk. Vendors donated great door prizes that were greatly appreciated. After a sumptuous meal, we were treated to an entertaining magic show. Good camaraderie and fun for everyone. Thanks to Mary, Barbara, Peg and others for this great way to kick-off the holiday season. Barbara Nagot - Cablevision's "12 on Health" November 21st and 22nd Barbara Nagot, appeared on Cablevision's "12 on Health" this weekend in our outreach effort. Gillian Neff interviewed Barbara on topics pertaining to hearing loss, and our www.hearez.org web page was displayed to inform viewers where to get additional information. Erica Nair, November 21st Recap Erica Nair, Au.D., Territiory Outreach Specialist, Cochlear America, made a return visit to our chapter and presented the latest developments in cochlear implants (CIs). Cochlear America is the smallest of three companies in the U.S. to make these devices. With 32 million people having hearing loss, just over 1 million benefit from a cochlear implants. A typical correction improves a person's hearing from a severe-profound loss level to 20 dB with excellent speech recognition. In fact, CIs do a much better job than hearing aids at the high-pitch frequencies where speech recognition occurs. The oldest person to receive an implant in Connecticut was 101 years old, and babies are being implanted as young as 6 months. Erica discussed many aspects of CIs and the implanting procedure. We had five chapter members with CIs in the audience, so it was an exceptionally informative session. Dr. Natan Bauman, October 17th Recap Dr. Natan Bauman, Ed. D., M.S., Eng., FAAA and is Founder/Director of the Hearing Balance and Speech Center, with locations in Norwalk, Branford, Bristol and Hamden CT. His presentation included a very understandable description of the ear parts and their functions. He talked about different types of hearing loss and what he looks for when giving a hearing evaluation to better match a hearing aid to each individual. Also, he talked about his newest innovation called the N&V Earpieces that are custom made receivers for each individual. Using high fidelity electronics, N&V Earpieces can produce sound that is "tru to life," clearer, and give the wearer the ability to hear different sound pitches that standard hearing aid receivers cannot do. He also had a hands on display that included the N&V Earpiece and ALD's. Many asked if they could have a personal consultation in his office to discuss some of the devices. Elaine Abrams, Safe Steps, September 12th Recap The September 12th Chapter Meeting welcomed Elaine Abrams, RN, MPH in a return visit. She discussed "Safe Steps," a program backed up by Yale research that described hands-on ways to prevent falls and create a safer home environment. Risks include difficulty in walking, getting up or sitting down, losing your balance; taking four or more medications on a regular basis; drops in blood pressure, dizziness; problems with vision, hearing, numbness in feet, memory, confusion; foot pain and ill-fitting shoes; and hazards at home including lighting, slippery surfaces, etc. She offered many strategies and resources including www.fallprevention.org. Awards We Have Received Our chapter has received the following awards:
Our chapter presented the following award:
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