Technology

Consumer Reports evaluates Personal Sound Amplification Products (PSAPS)

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Hearing Loss: No More Suffering in Silence? This widespread problem is associated with depression, isolation, and possibly, dementia. We report on affordable solutions and what’s being done to give everyone access to treatment.

CR Magazine image of "hero suffering silence"By Julia Calderone
February 02, 2017

Age-related hearing loss has long been thought of as an inevitable part of getting older, more a nuisance than a life-altering medical condition—at least by those not experiencing it.

But that’s all changing.

In the past two years, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) have published reports calling untreated hearing loss a significant national health concern­, one that’s associated with other serious health problems, including depression and a decline in memory and concentration. Several studies even suggest a link between hearing loss and dementia.

The estimated 48 million Americans affected by hearing impairment didn’t need that memo.

More than 100 years ago, Helen Keller, who was deaf and blind, described the isolation caused by hearing loss aptly when she said: “Blindness separates people from things. Deafness separates people from people.”

Lise Hamlin, director of public policy for the nonprofit Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) echoes that sentiment. “We’re social creatures,” she says. “When you shut down the ability to talk and interact with people, that isolation affects your health and your ability to participate in society.”

Recent research shows that the number of Americans of working age with hearing loss has declined slightly, but it continues to be a problem for seniors, affecting 28.6 million Americans ages 60 and older.

Despite the prevalence of hearing loss and the negative impact it can have on health and quality of life, relatively few people seek treatment. Almost half of the 131,686 Consumer Reports subscribers surveyed for our 2015 Annual Fall Questionnaire reported having trouble hearing in noisy environments, yet only 25 percent had their hearing checked in the previous year. And according to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, just 14 percent of those who could benefit from hearing aids actually use them.

People don’t seek help for several reasons. A common one, according to NAS, PCAST, and others, is that they can’t afford it. NAS reports that hearing aids cost an average of $4,700 per pair in 2013 and can climb to almost twice that price. And they’re usually not covered by health insurance or Medicare.

No wonder the market for less expensive, over-the-counter hearing helpers known as PSAPs (personal sound amplification products) is growing.

We dug deep to find out why hearing aids and treatment for hearing loss can be so costly, and what’s being done to bring solutions within reach. We also tried several PSAPs to determine whether they’re an affordable alternative to hearing aids for some people.

Here’s what we uncovered. [Full story]

 

Events

MA Governor’s House 1 Budget Funds MCDHH  To Continue Its Mission

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photo of Heidi ReedFrom Heidi Reed, Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing (MCDHH):

As we know, the mission of the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing (MCDHH) is committed to providing accessible communication, education and advocacy to consumers and private and public entities to that programs, services and opportunities are fully accessible to persons throughout  Massachusetts who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. The Governor’s House 1 Budget (H.1) was announced this week and funds MCDHH  to continue our mission for FY18  as summarized below.

H.1 line item 4125-0100  allocates $5.6M for MCDHH. This figure is a $243K (5%) increase over FY17 estimated spending, and will fund  MCDHH at a level equal to the FY17 GAA. (General Appropriations Act).

H.1 Snapshot:

•       Level support for Referral, Case Management and Social Services, and Communication  Access Technology & Training Services. These  MCDHH programs provide interpreters and CART services for more than 30,000 requests, provide more than 1,000 families with support for navigating state services,  and train state agencies, elderly services, police, and emergency responders on the needs of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities.

•       Level support for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Independent Living Services (DHILS).  In FY16, DHILS delivered over 23,000 service hours by providing information and referrals, peer mentoring, advocacy and skills training and a variety of independent living skills.

•       Provides Assistive Technology (AT) funding which serves as a last resort for highly vulnerable and elderly constituents who primarily request hearing aids in order to manage progressive and permanent hearing loss. Funding will support approximately 54-55 elderly constituents.

•       Supports collective bargaining and step increases.

•       Includes MCDHH cost savings from  reducing $76K in renegotiated office leases and from 9C cuts of $200K during FY17.

MCDHH will continue to be authorized to have revenue from interpreter fees. Our revenue funds are reinvested for communication access.

4125-0122    Chargeback revenue, capped at $250,000.

4125-0104    Interpreter services Revolving/Trust fund revenue $350,000

We at MCDHH look forward to continued collaboration and partnerships with the Baker administration, the Legislature, and our constituents in our strong commitment to improving accessibility and quality of services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing adults and children throughout the Commonwealth.

Thank you for your dedicated service to the Commonwealth through partnership with MCDHH.

Heidi L. Reed

Commissioner
MA Commission f/t Deaf and Hard of Hearing
600 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111
Email: Heidi.Reed@state.ma.us
Voice:  617-740-1611
TTY:  617-740-1711
Fax:  617-740-1810
VP     617-326-7546

Events

HLAA Plymouth Chapter Has Full Line-up of Planned Presentations

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Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 7 PM at the Plymouth Public Library

Please come and join us for this smaller meeting HLAA Plymouth Chapter upstairs in the board room to talk about our chapter and share ideas for the future!

 

photo of Kevin FranckTuesday night, March 21, 2017 at 7 PM at the Plymouth Public Library

Join us to hear from Kevin Franck, an HLAA National Board Member from Concord, Mass to speak on What National HLAA Does For You. 

Here’s a chance to learn about Hearing Loss Association of America and what’s going on at the national level: advocacy, hearing aid benefits, movie captioning, HLAA staff, Hearing Loss Magazine, and HLAA membership.  For more information, go to: HLAA membership benefits. 

 

photo of Jonathan O'DellTuesday night, May 23, 2017 at 7 PM at Plymouth Public Library

 Jonathan O’Dell returns to Plymouth HLAA to talk about technology and answer our questions about hearing loss management. 

 

For information about upcoming events and opportunities to become involved with HLAA Plymouth Chapter, contact Sandy Spekman at sspekman@gmail.com.

Accessibility

Wheelock Theatre

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picture of Wheelock Family TheatreWheelock Family Theatre
180 The Riverway, on the campus of Wheelock College in Boston’s Fenway district

The Wheelock Family Theatre is a professional, non-profit theatre associated with Actor’s Equity, the union of professional actors and stage managers. Wheelock Family Theatre seeks to improve the lives of children and families through the shared experience of live theatre.

All performances are open captioned. FM receiver listening devices are available for use at any seat.

Selected performances of every production are interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL). For additional information or a schedule of ASL-interpreted performances, contact the Box Office at tickets@wheelock.edu.

TICKET PRICES

Prices for Wheelock Family Theatre productions are based on where you decide to sit:
Section A (center orchestra or front mezzanine) $38.00
Section B (side orchestra or mid-mezzanine) $32.00
Section C (far right/left front orchestra or back mezzanine) $26.00
Section D (rear mezzanine) $20.00
ADA $20.00 – $38.00

MBTA

Wheelock Family Theatre is a five-minute walk from the Fenway or Longwood T stops on the Green Riverside line (D train). Bus stops on Brookline Avenue and Longwood/Beth Israel are only five minutes away.

Driving

Located in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood on the campus of Wheelock College, Wheelock Family Theatre is easily accessible from Rt. 9, Rt. 2, and Storrow Drive. The theatre is located on the Riverway, between the intersections of Brookline Ave and Longwood Ave.

PARKING

Wheelock Family Theatre patrons are offered discounted parking at the MASCO garage at 375 Longwood Avenue, between Brookline Avenue (Longwood Medical Area) and The Riverway. The garage is located behind Temple Israel and is only a short walk to the front doors of Wheelock Family Theatre.

To receive your discount at the MASCO Garage, Wheelock Family Theatre patrons should ask for the discounted parking ticket at the Box Office on the date of attendance.

To learn about upcoming performances and purchase tickets, visit Wheelock Family Theater’s website.

Advocacy

Reveal, Don’t Conceal: Ten Steps for Managing Hearing Loss in the Workplace – January, 2017

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photo of Holly CohenReveal, Don’t Conceal [Link no longer available, October, 202o] is a 10-step tool for managing hearing loss at work, created by Holly Cohen for the Workplace Issue of Hearing Health, an online publication of the Hearing Health Foundation in New York City.
Holly Cohen is past president of the New York City chapter of HLAA. She is an avid theater goer – and an advocate for captioning in theaters through the Theater Development Fund (TDF), a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. Holly coaches persons with and without hearing loss on issues related to employment. She presented a workshop on practices to reduce hearing loss stigma at the 2016 HLAA Convention in Washington, D.C.

 

Speaker Series

Living Well with Hearing Loss: Gael Hannan on Tearing Down the Fence of Family Hearing Loss

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Gael Hannan

Gael Hannan is a very funny woman. She is also a force for hearing loss advocacy. Among her many roles, she is editor of the blog Hearing Views on Hearing Health and Technology Matters, where she discusses important issues that impact both audiology professionals and the people with hearing loss that they serve.

Does a relative’s hearing loss cause challenges in your family?  If so, you’re a member of a very large club.

No matter how much love there is, when hearing loss interferes with the easy flow of communication, it’s easy to get irritated, annoyed and tired, over and over and over.  And it’s a shock when hearing aids don’t completely remove the problems, because that’s the nature of hearing loss.

But no matter how corny this sounds, from experience I can tell you that with time, effort, strategies and love, family communication can improve.

Ten days ago, I had cochlear implant surgery. Two years ago, I would not have believed that this change was around the corner.  And, because I haven’t yet experienced activation of the technology, I can’t imagine how I’ll be hearing two years from now.

But what I do know is that my family and friends will play a powerful role in how well I adapt to the coming changes. The following is a piece from my book, The Way I Hear It: A Life with Hearing Loss:

The sharpest sting of hearing loss
Is felt in our relationships.
For some, the sting is momentary,
For others, the blow is powerful enough
To redirect traffic—  (Read on here.)

Medicine, Science & Technology

Two New Hearing Aids Win Awards For Innovation

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photo of Resound Enzos deviceThe annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas January 5-8 honored two new hearing aids with awards for innovation.

Both communicate with other smart devices, a technology that already exists in other hearing aids.

But, unusually, these are for those with severe to profound hearing loss, a niche market not often addressed.

Both of these hearing aids, the ReSound Enzo pictured above and the Oticon Opn, won CES innovation awards for their ability to connect to a user’s other smart devices, including phones, tablets and even household devices such as smoke alarms. The Oticon Opn, according to the manufacturer, “can be programmed to talk directly with doorbells, smoke detectors and other smart devices.”

Actually, it’s the other way around: These devices talk to the hearing aid. Your smart doorbell, smoke alarm, lighting, safety equipment and appliances can be programmed to send a signal through your hearing aid to let you know, for example, that someone’s at the door or that the smoke detector has gone off. As Victoria Woollaston wrote in Wired , “Missing vital sounds like smoke alarms can be a matter of life and death.”  [Full story]

Living

Learning to Live Well

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Shari Eberts

I have read about the five stages of grief — denial & isolation, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance — and they remind me a lot of the stages of hearing loss. This makes sense, because for many, myself included, the loss of hearing is something to be mourned, to be missed, to be fought. We hide it, we hate it, we ignore it, we are sad about it, and eventually we accept it, or at least the lucky ones of us do. But for people with hearing loss, these are not the only steps.

With hearing loss, it is a process of not only grieving, but also of learning to live again in a new and different way. There is fear. There is reliance on other people like doctors and audiologists. There is technology to learn, new habits to create and accommodations to request. There is acceptance, but even with acceptance there is the constant battle of self-advocacy. It is exhausting, but it is worth it.

Here are my stages of hearing loss. What are yours?  [Full story]

Shari Eberts is a hearing health advocate and avid Bikram yogi. She blogs at LivingWithHearingLoss.com and serves on the Board of Trustees of Hearing Health Foundation and Hearing Loss Association of America. In 2015 she was named a HearStrong Champion for her work to change the stigma surrounding hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story it will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing loss. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.