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Tell Us What Interests You
Sunday, November 15, 2015: HLAA Boston Chapter Rap Session
At this “Tell Ws What Interests You” meeting, friends of HLAA Boston gathered in the Sloane Teaching Room at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary to discuss chapter volunteer opportunities and topics of interest for upcoming Speaker Series events.
HLAA Boston Launches 2015-2016 Speaker Series at Arsenal Center for the Arts
HLAA Boston launched its 2015-16 Speaker Series at Arsenal Center for the Arts!
New Rep’s Charles Mosesian Theater, Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA 02472
HLAA Boston Chapter begins its new season of Speaker Series events with a theater-based hearing loop demonstration project in collaboration with New Rep Theater at Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown.
The project consisted of a schedule of hearing-accessible performances of the Arthur Miller play “Broken Glass” in the Charles Mosesian Theater at Arsenal Center for the Arts. The theater was looped for the duration of the project. As part of this collaboration, HLAA Boston presented a Hearing Assistive Technologies Workshop on Saturday, September 19 .
PROGRAM NOTES:
Hearing Assistive Technologies (H.A.T.) Workshop
Paul Czech, an experienced user of Hearing Assistive Technology (H.A.T.) and graduate of HLAA’s H.A.T. training program, conducted a workshop on hearing assistive technologies emphasizing devices that work with the telecoil. (The telecoil – or “t-coil” is a small copper coil that is an option on most hearing aids and is built into cochlear implant processors. As part of this workshop, Paul explored the effectiveness of hearing loops in large area listening situations such as those involving theater and other public events.
This exciting workshop included an opportunity for theater patrons and workshop attendees to ask questions and offer comments about the effectiveness of listening in a looped environment.
Mr. Czech is an attorney who suffered a profound hearing loss in 2011 and is now a bilateral Cochlear Implant recipient. As a matter of necessity Paul began exploring Assistive Listening Devices in his efforts to continue his law practice by being able to properly represent his clients in a court room setting. This exploration took him to a number of hearing loss and audiology conferences as part of his quest for the best hearing enhancement systems. He attended a training session in Bethesda, Maryland at the HLAA National Headquarters and is now certified in the use and understanding of Hearing Assistive Technology. Please join us on September 19 at New Rep when Paul will be sharing his acquired insight into these necessary and very useful technologies.
“Broken Glass” by Arthur Miller, directed by Jim Petosa
This powerful, Olivier Award-winning, and Tony-nominated drama is presented as part of a national celebration of the centennial of the birth of playwright Arthur Miller. It is November 11, 1938, the day after Kristallnacht, when Sylvia Gellburg loses the ability to walk. Her husband Phillip desperately seeks to find the cause. After consulting Dr. Harry Hyman, it’s determined that her paralysis may have been psychosomatically induced. Hyman’s obsession with curing Sylvia uncovers a complex tangle of egos, resentment, and guilt, as well as Phillip’s own paralyzing struggle with his Jewish identity.
HLAA Boston Chapter extends deepest appreciation to our sponsor, Shanahan Intelligent Sound & Video Integration.
Listeners with Hearing Loss and Their Communication Partners – How to Make It Work, May 9, 2015
An audience of 35 attendees joined together with psychologist Sam Trychin and rehabilitation audiologist Dusty Jessen at our half-day communication strategies symposium. The gathering provided a rich opportunity for participants to acquire information and tools for preventing and reducing hearing loss-related communication difficulties and staying in better touch with our communication partners (and ourselves.)
Attendees enjoyed lunch on the patio at Cornerstone Village Co-housing and received a copy of Dr. Jessen’s manual for hearing loss management, “5 Keys to Communication Success.”
About our presenters:
Sam Trychin is a psychologist in private practice who focuses on psycho-social interventions for people who have hearing loss and their communication partners. Among his many roles as a therapist and educator, Dr. Trychin serves as the Mental Health and Rehabilitation Advisor to the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA). He has written 15 books, authored several professional book chapters and journal articles, and produced a variety of DVDs focused on strategies for living better with hearing loss. He and his wife, Janet Trychin, an audiologist, frequently conduct workshops and training programs together. Dr. Trychin serves as a faculty member of the Ida Institute of Denmark studying best practices in hearing loss treatment as well as the relationship between persons with hearing loss and their hearing healthcare providers. He has also been Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Living with Hearing Loss Program at Gallaudet University.
Once at the root of the audiology profession, aural rehab has become an often difficult-to-access component of hearing healthcare. Dusty Jessen, Au.D., C.C.C.-A., is a practicing audiologist committed to integrating an aural rehabilitation program of communication management strategies into the services she offers her clients. Her successful “5 Keys to Communication Success” system of materials for patients, their families and friends and hearing healthcare professionals has been widely received as an effective, powerful instrument that can help people with hearing loss to achieve improved communication and well being. Dr. Jessen teaches about her approach to aural rehab at professional conferences and through her writings in the ASHA Leader and has presented a webinar on the HLAA website as well as a workshop at the HLAA Convention.
Thanks to our sponsors:
- Massachusetts Academy of Audiology
- Caption Call
- Hamilton Relay
- Medel
- Oticon
- Advanced Bionics
Living Well With Hearing Loss: Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants – And Other Important Solutions, April 11, 2015
Living Well With Hearing Loss: Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants – And Other Important Solutions
When: Saturday, April 11, 2015
Where: Cornerstone Village Common House, 175 Harvey St., Cambridge, MA
Twenty five participants joined with loops advocate Juliette Sterkens, Au.D., for a breakfast meeting-presentation on all things hearing: hearing loss, hearing aids, t-coils, hearing loops and cochlear implants.
In a 2013 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine, audiologist Juliette Sterkens noted that her long term goal is to make America more accessible for people with hearing loss and to be remembered as someone who helped her many patients enjoy life because of the audiology services she provided. Dr. Sterkens is well on her way to achieving those ends.
The recipient of a number of prestigious awards from professional organizations and HLAA, Dr. Sterkens has conducted a wildly successful accessibility initiative in her hometown Osh Kosh, Wisconsin and, now retired from active practice, continues to work as a hearing loops advocate. Dr. Sterkens travels across the country, working with HLAA chapters and hearing healthcare patient and professional groups to increase awareness about hearing loss the need for expanding the number of hearing-friendly places.
Can Persons With Hearing Loss Learn How to Listen More Effectively?
An auditory training hands-on workshop with Geoff Plant, President of the non-profit Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation (HRF)
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles St., Boston. Meltzer Auditorium, 3rd floor
This unique workshop offered participants an opportunity to observe individuals with hearing loss as they worked with Geoff Plant in real-time auditory training sessions. We learned by watching and through group discussion. Geoff offered information about what the research from rehabilitation audiologists tells us about how to use auditory training to achieve positive communication outcomes. We connected with old friends & new aquaintances, and enjoyed some home baked refreshments.
Geoff Plant, President of the non-profit Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation (HRF) in Somerville, MA, is a long time provider of auditory training to children and adults with hearing loss, including those fitted with hearing aids, cochlear implants, and tactile aids. The Hearing Rehabilitation Foundation offers auditory training and listening support to people from all over New England and works internationally to develop innovations in communication training for people with hearing loss.
Hearing Loss and the Holidays: A Pot Luck Luncheon Party and Rap Session
Where: Cornerstone Village Function Room, 175 Harvey Street, Cambridge, MA
Gatherings with family and friends can be the heart and soul of the winter holidays. Listening in large groups with multiple conversations can test our fortitude. At this warm gathering with delicious food and supportive company, guests talked about their “communication pet peeves” and best strategies for living well with hearing loss – and everyone took home a copy of the excellent communication strategies manual “Cut to the Chase” by Dusty Jessen, Au.D.! We also tried out our new portable hearing loop, which provided an excellent signal to those of us who are able to use t-coils on hearing aids and cochlear implants.
Maximizing Hearing Technology for Everyday Listening Success
Hearing Assistive Technology Conference for People With Hearing Loss with Brad Ingrao, Au.D.at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Sponsored by HLAA Boston and ALDA Boston
Morning Presentation: Maximizing Hearing Technology for Everyday Listening Success
We are fortunate enough to live in a time where a plethora of hearing technologies exists to address a wide range of types and levels of hearing loss. Too often, however, we stop at hearing aids or cochlear implants and never really utilize all the tools at our disposal. This session demystified Hearing Assistive Technology and provided a map for adapting HAT tools to the full range of listening situations in everyday life.
Afternoon Presentation: Music and Hearing Loss – Obstacles and Solutions
Dr. Brad Ingrao has been an audiologist for 20 years, but has been around hearing loss nearly all his life. Before earning his Bachelor’s in Education of the Speech and Hearing Handicapped and Masters of Education in Audiology from the State University of New York at New Paltz, he studied music and worked in the family business alongside his hard of hearing Uncle. During his time at New Paltz, Dr. Ingrao supported himself as a Sign Language Interpreter. This skill came in handy years later when he adopted a Deaf child, now 22.
After several years in private practice and specialty clinical services, Dr. Ingrao returned to school and earned his Au.D degree from AT Stills University.
During his career Dr. Ingrao has worked in small, family-owned practices, large specialty Ear Nose and Throat clinics, multi-national audiology software and diagnostic equipment companies and has taught at two universities. He has presented at state, national and international conferences on hearing loss, has written numerous articles in professional journals, authored a chapter in the book Making Music with a Hearing Loss: Strategies and Stories and has provided technical and anatomical illustrations for several audiology text books and resources for parents of deaf and hard of hearing children.
Dr. Ingrao served as a consultant for the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center at Gallaudet University, a regular columnist for “Hearing Loss” Magazine from the Hearing Loss Association of America, and a member of the Consumer Electronics Association R4WG19 working group on accessibility. He is a former Member of the Board of Trustees at Hearing Loss Association of America, Florida and Member of the Board of Directors at Hearing Loss Association of Sarasota.
Dr. Ingrao currently is Supervisory Audiologist at New Mexico V.A. Health Care and resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Katherine Bouton Featured at Mass Eye and Ear’s Annual Forum on Hearing Loss
This year on September 20, Mass Eye and Ear’s annual forum on hearing loss issues, “Have You Heard?” featured a guest appearance by Katherine Bouton, HLAA Trustee and author of the memoir Shouting Won’t Help! Why I–and 50 Million Other Americans–Can’t Hear You.
Ms. Bouton’s highly-acclaimed book, telling the story of adult-onset hearing loss, was published in 2013 by Sarah Crichton/Farrar Straus & Giroux. She is a former editor at the New York Times, where she was deputy editor of the Sunday Magazine for ten years. She also held senior editing positions on Science Times, the Sunday Book Review, and Culture. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and elsewhere.
Katherine has had progressive bilateral hearing loss since 1978, and in September 2009 received a cochlear implant. Her writing and speaking now focus on hearing loss and other disability issues. Her blog What I Hear appears on the Psychology Today website. She is currently working on a practical guide to living with hearing loss, tentatively titled “Come to Your Senses: Learn to Live Better with Hearing Loss.” She has been a member of HLAA since 2010 and was appointed to the Board of Trustees in October 2013.
The “Have You Heard” forum also included leaders in research on the causes of and treatments for hearing loss: Dr. Sharon G. Kujawa, Chair, Department of Audiology at MEEI, and Dr. Charles Liberman.
| Dr. Sharon G. Kujawa
Associate Professor of Otology and Laryngology Director, Department of Audiology |
M. Charles Liberman, Ph.D.
Harold F. Schuknecht Professor of Otology and Laryngology Director, Eaton-Peabody Laboratories |
Celebratory Collaboration: HLAA and ALDA Boston Chapters
“Collaboration” was the theme of Celebration ’14 – the May 10th evening of fun, learning, and inspiration at MIT in Cambridge, planned by the Boston Chapters of Hearing Loss Association of America and the Association of Late Deafened Adults to salute the work of the many hearing loss support groups and hearing health professionals in our region.
Members of the hearing loss community from all over New England gathered together for a program of three presentations.
In her opening remarks, Massachusetts Commissioner for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Heidi Reed discussed the importance of partnerships among hearing healthcare professionals and hearing loss support agencies and organizations in providing relevant resources to meet the needs of our diverse population of persons with hearing loss.
Accessibility Specialist Valarie Burrows and the Accessibility Department of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston were honored with the Excellence in Accessible Programming Award for providing exceptional resources to those with physical and sensory disabilities.
Finally, our guests were treated to a performance of the outrageously funny – and very powerful – “Ear Rage” by its author, the renowned hearing loss advocate, Gael Hannan.
A reception followed the presentations, where guests mingled with old friends and new acquaintances until well after closing time!
Deep appreciation to our sponsors – Oticon, Shanahan Sound, Advanced Bionics, Med El, Hamilton Relay, and Sebastien’s Catering. Special thanks to all of the Celebration ’14 volunteers, especially Jonathan O’Dell and Carol Agate for their photographs! Enjoy!