I’m Still Waiting For CapTel Captioned Telephone Service In Massachusetts
Last night I finally got some answers to my questions about why CapTel service still isn’t available in my home state of Massachusetts, even after 35 other states have gotten the captioned telephone service up and running. Read more
CapTel Phone Captioning Now Available In 32 States
I’m still a CapTel wannabee. With Sprint Nextel’s recent announcement of the addition of CapTel Relay Service in New Hampshire, the real-time telephone captioning service is now available in 32 states. It’s also available to current and retired federal employees including military veterans, as well as to U.S. tribal members. But it’s not available in Massachusetts, where I live. Read more
London “Hearwear” Exhibit Shows Off High-Fashion Hearing-Aid Designs
A group of collaborators in the UK is bringing high fashion to hearing aids with an upcoming exhibit at one of the world’s leading museums for design, the Victoria & Albert (V&A) in London. Hearwear — The Future of Hearing, which opens tomorrow, is the brainchild of the UK’s largest organization for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, RNID (formerly the Royal National Institute for the Deaf). Read more
European Union To Employers: Quiet Down!!
With the World Health Organization declaring noise-induced hearing loss as one of the world’s most prevalent, irreversible industrial diseases, the EU has passed strict new regulations requiring employers to quiet down their workplaces or face stiff penalties. Read more
Only 12.9% Of U.S. Doctors Screen For Patient Hearing Loss At Annual Checkups
One of the things I like best about my family doctor is the way she interviews me during my annual physical about everything going on in my life. In her view, early identification of the causes of potential disease, ranging from big issues like job stress and emotional or marital problems to relatively minor issues such as too much caffeine, are just part of the preventive maintenance a healthcare provider is supposed to perform during the annual checkup. Read more
Hard-of-Hearing Population Tops 30 Million In U.S., With More Than 20 Million Untreated
The total population of Americans with hearing problems topped 30 million in 2004, according to the Better Hearing Institute’s seventh update to its landmark MarketTrak hearing-aid adoption survey. Moreover, fewer than a quarter of those hard-of-hearing individuals are receiving help for their hearing problems. Read more
Visor Card Can Eliminate Confusion With Police
I recently went white-water rafting with my family on the Kennebek river in Maine following the heaviest winter snows and spring rains in recent memory. On the bus to the drop-off point upriver, the guide explained emergency procedures in the event anyone fell out of the raft. I couldn’t hear the directions, but my wife filled me in. Read more
“Musical Ear” Auditory Hallucinations Finally Get A Medical Diagnosis In The New York Times
I’ve written several times about the weird phenomenon of hearing noises and music in my head ever since my sudden hearing loss, and when I cited Dr. Neil Bauman’s fascinating, in-depth book on auditory hallucinations, Phantom Voices, I made a rather strong statement about the lack of research that’s been done on the subject by the traditional medical and scientific community. Read more
Good Design Trumps All Else, Even In The Portable Bed-Shaker Market
OK, I finally bought the bed shaker I was stressing about in a post a few weeks ago. I’d been planning to buy Shake Awake, because several people had recommended it to me. But I went with the Sonic Shaker portable vibrating alarm clock from Sonic Alert instead. Read more
In Memoriam: Jack Kilby Made Today’s Hearing Aids Possible
It’s a little-known fact that Jack Kilby, the inventor of the microchip, was also a hearing-aid pioneer. The Texas Instruments engineer and Nobel Prize winner’s death yesterday at the age of 81 has spurred a slew of stories about the invention of the integrated circuit and the dawn of the computer age. Read more