Hydrangea Blue
Hearing Loss Through the Generations
By Brenda Battat
From the solitude of an English garden to the high-tech hearing of a cochlear implant, the author talks personally about what hearing loss meant 70 years ago and what it means four generations later.
Signals of Love: A Tribute to Chelsey the Hearing Dog
By Sara Laufer
“Chelsey’s unconditional love, enthusiasm, and companionship amplified my quiet world with boundless and vibrant energy, and changed the complexion of it from pale to golden.”
Chelsey Laufer, my beloved hearing service dog, died on February 2, 2006, at age 15-1/2. As I work through the anguish of losing her, I am remembering our enduring love for each other, the extraordinary times that we shared, and the tremendous good that “Chels” did in this world.
Message from the President of the Board
By Richard H. Meyer
Intro Blurb:
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
-- Cicero, 54 B.C.
In my final column as president of your Board of Trustees, thank you is the only fitting thing to say. Thank you for the opportunity to lead the Board of an organization that means so much to me and to you. And thank you, especially, for the enthusiasm and friendship that I witnessed over and over at the great HLAA Convention in Orlando this past June.
I would like to thank Terry Portis, the staff of the national office, my fellow Board members, and our entire membership.
People have known for centuries that individuals do not succeed on their own. We’ve all seen this in our families, in our workplaces and certainly in great organizations like the Hearing Loss Association of America, where so many people volunteer their time to help our small staff make a difference in the hearing loss world.
That Old Familiar Squeal
Acoustic Feedback Cancellation Systems and Open-Ear Hearing Aid Fitting
By Mark Ross
Here is a discussion about acoustic feedback and what can be done about it in the current market.
The presence, or threat, of acoustic feedback has long been one of the major problems in the fitting and wearing of hearing aids. Acoustic feedback occurs when some of the amplified sound leaks from the ear canal and is picked up by the hearing aid microphone and then re-amplified. This starts the cycle of leakage and re-amplification (the “feedback loop”) that results in the squeal we know as “acoustic feedback.”
Emergency Preparedness and People with Combined Vision and Hearing Loss
By Elizabeth Spiers
The word “deaf-blind” does not mean complete deafness and complete blindness, even though some people have little or no useable vision and hearing. Most people who are deaf-blind have some residual vision and hearing.
A fairly large number of Americans are hard of hearing with limited vision. They may have limited visual acuity, and/or limited peripheral vision.
Ginny Thornburgh: Changing Attitudes About Disabilities By Anne Pope.
“Advocacy is the fine art of nudging people forward on a path they may not have considered.” Ginny Thornburgh has been practicing this art for most of her adult life.
Interviewer Anne Pope talked with long-time HLAA member Ginny Thornburgh about her work at the National Organization on Disability."
As a mother, as the director of the Religion and Disability Program for the National Organization on Disability (N.O.D.), and also as a person with a hearing loss, Ginny Thornburgh uses gentle persuasion and creativity to change attitudes about disability.
