HLAA Exhibits #10 2008 Hearing Loss Association of America Conference - Reno, NV
By Cheryl Heppner, 7/1/08
Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
The Telecommunications Industry Association is located just a few miles up the highway from NVRC, at 2500 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington. Their exhibit offered demonstrations of a number of cordless telephones that comply with the new TIA-1083 standard. This is the standard that reduces interference caused by digital cordless telephones when they are magnetically coupled with a hearing aid or cochlear implant with a telecoil. Yes! Now we have a standard for hearing aid compatible cordless telephones as well as wireless phones.
According to the TIA, consumers first started to complain to telephone manufacturers about this cordless phone problem in 2004. Undesirable magnetic fields when hearing aids were used in the telecoil mode were suspected to be the culprit. Results from several studies involving the TIA, Gallaudet University, HLAA, Etymotic Research, and Motorola led to standards on the magnetic field oreintation needs of hearing aids. Manufacturers are now developing products that meet the performance required by those standards.
TIA is still at work, now seeking to allow the TIA-1083 standards to be applied to newer telephone technologies such as Wi-Fi, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Bluetooth, and USB. A vote on this expansion of the standard is now being taken, with the voting period ending on July 15, 2008.
Something you'll be seeing soon is a package label that identifies phones that comply with TIA-1083, making it easier for consumers to locate them. It's got a blue background with white lettering at the top "Compatible with Hearing Aid T-Coil" and TIA-1083 at the bottom. In between, there's the ear icon with some new embellishments.
Hearingimpaired.net
Anne and Wayne Wicklund are HLAA conference regulars, but Snow, a distinguished and dignified white German Shepherd who always competes with them for attention. Snow serves as Wayne's hearing dog, and the catalog from hearingimpaired.net has a news clip about Snow's being named the mascot and honorary member of the Ambassador Club in his hometown.
Hearingimpaired.net offers a variety of products for people with hearing loss and people with hearing dogs or other assistance dogs. Some their offerings are variations on mainstream types, such as the reflective vest popular with athletes that has "Hearing Impaired" on its front and back. There's a yellow plastic bracelet with those two words on which a name and phone number can be written, which comes in youth and adult size. "Great for kids at a playground and informationve in a hospital/nursing home," they said.
An interesting gadget is the cellular bracelet which uses two hearing aid batteries and flashes to alert you if there's an incoming call on your cell phone, or the silver cellular pen with a light on the top that does the same thing. Both must be within 1-3 feet of your phone.
A 3x5 inch visor coated visor card has information and instructions to communicate your needs to a hearing person, designed for situations like being stopped by police. A wallet-size emergency response card has similar information. A law card that is 3x6 inches-plus contains a copy of the federal law permitting a service dog entrance to public places.
What really had Wayne excited this year is his new multi-function, hands-free leash. It's intended to keep your dog leashed when your hands are occupied with other things. It's length and design allow it to be worn across your chest like you'd wear a beauty pageant sash, with just enough slack to keep your dog nearby. Or, if you prefer, it can be wrapped around your leg when sitting. It comes in short, medium or long sizes and in colors of red, blue, green and orange.
Each year Dry & Store's Katie Pindzola has some good new stories for me, and of course the latest about her company's technology that helps keep hearing aids and cochlear implant processors healthy. Last year the hot news was the improved brick dessicant for the Dry & Store, which now has a new model called the Zephyr. The Zephyr's biggest difference is that it doesn't include the germicidal lamp that's part of the Global and Professional models. Katie has always been available to provide information and answer questions about the Dry & Store, but she leaves the selling to the hearing assistive technology vendors in the exhibit hall.
This year Katie waxed enthusiastic about the Clik, the newest product from Dr. Daniel Schumaier of the Ear Technology Corporation, which also makes the TransEar for unilateral hearing loss as well as the Dry & Store. Clik is expected to hit the market later this summer, possibly in August.
Dr. Schumaier, a dispensing audiologist, has come up with this hearing instrument for people with the very common mild to moderate high frequency hearing loss. It's an open-fit type of hearing aid that is designed to allow individuals with hearing hearing loss to more actively participate in selecting the settings that work best for them. Instead of having the audiologist program the hearing aid, the individual, working with the audiologist, selects the appropriate setting with a fingertip. Tech-savvy folks can fine tune the hearing aid settings when they're out in the real world.
Clik has, according to the product literature, a state-of-the-art digital signal processing chip and wide dynamic range compression signal processing. It also has a digital volume control, directional microphones, telecoil, feedback cancellation, and layered noise reduction technology. It's reputed to be kind in the power consumption when drawing on its size 312 battery.
