CapTel Captioned Telephone Service Finally Gets A Hearing In Massachusetts
Since I last wrote about CapTel captioned telephone service, a dozen additional states have started offering this vital lifeline for hard-of-hearing consumers. To my chagrin, my home state of Massachusetts now is one of only six states in the union that have not approved it. Read more
Joining The Hearing Mainstream, Or, How I Got My Mojo Back (Hearing Mojo, That Is)
It’s been a long while since I last posted. That’s because I have spent the last six months ramping my marketing and communications consulting business, Aquarius Advisers, to the next level. Read more
USA Today: How Starkey Founder Bill Austin Does Well By Doing Good
William Austin, CEO of Starkey Laboratories
Check Out ‘The Mobile Phone Challenge’ At Healthy Hearing
Dr. Paul Dybala, who runs two excellent web sites for hard-of-hearing consumers and hearing health professionals — Healthy Hearing and Audiology Online — asked me to contribute an article to Healthy Hearing on my experiences shopping for mobile phones that would work with my powerful hearing aids. It was a fun exercise and has driven a lot of traffic to Hearing Mojo. It’s entitled ‘The Mobile Phone Challenge.’ Check it out!
Let’s Boycott Super Bowl Advertisers Who Don’t Supply Captions
What do BlockBuster, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Expedia.com have in common? Their Super Bowl ads this year didn’t have captions. They must not want our business. Captionless ads have been bothering me ever since I began noticing how many advertisers don’t supply them, even after the first of the year when the FCC began requiring broadcasters to caption all their regular programming. The number of captionless ads on SuperBowl XL was especially disappointing. Read more
Apple Should Do More To Help Prevent Hearing Loss Among iPod Users
Ever since Apple was sued by a Louisiana man claiming his iPod caused irreparable hearing loss, I’ve been scratching my head about vendors’ responsibility to prevent hearing loss versus individuals’ responsibility to take care of their own health. Read more
Hyper-Vigilance Is The Price Of Independence For Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing People
I can relate to Thomas Jefferson’s warning that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. You need only look as far as the recent headlines about Miss Deaf Texas, killed by a train as she was distracted by text messaging while crossing some railroad tracks, to see why I regard hyper-vigilance as the price of my independence as a hard-of-hearing person. Read more
Likable “Incredible Hulk” Lou Ferrigno Is A Real-Life Inspiration For Hard-Of-Hearing People
Healthy Hearing has just posted a good interview with hard-of-hearing actor and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. Read more
Invisible CIC Hearing Aids, High-Fashion Italian Designer Shoes, And Me
Buying a pair of hearing aids can be like shopping for a new pair of expensive designer shoes: you’ve got to get exactly the right fit; they have to be sturdy and comfortable enough to wear all day; but you want them to look really good as well. It’s not an easy combination, especially the part about looking good. Read more
A Magician’s Secret Revealed: The Amazing Auditory Sleight-Of-Hand Of Speech Reading
Last night at dinner with our friends Linda and Turner, I had an insight into how the magic of speech reading works. Read more