letsloopseattle

The article below is by Gael Hannan, writer, actor and public speaker who grew up with a progressive hearing loss that is now severe-to-profound. Gael’s writing is informative, funny, and she is able to put into words just what I’m thinking. Gael will be presenting at the National HLAA Convention in Portland, OR, June 27-30. We hope to see you all at the Convention in the “City of Roses”!

Why People with Hearing Loss Should Meet Other People with Hearing Loss

If you have hearing loss, do you know any other people with the same issues? Beyond your grandma, have you ever met another hard of hearing or late-deafened or deaf person – swapped notes, shot the breeze, commiserated, shared battle stories and laughed at all the crap that goes along with hearing loss?

If not, perhaps you’re happy being the token ‘harda-hearing’ person in your family or workplace. Or maybe you don’t see any benefit in personally connecting with other people with hearing loss (PWHL).

It’s possible that some people don’t want to associate with other people who may be, God forbid, wearing hearing aids or those plastic curly-cue things stuck on the side of the head. What if people think I’m from a hard of hearing group home or something, out on a day pass?

Many people feel they get sufficient support from their hearing health-care provider who has fitted them with hearing aids, with some other assistive technology thrown in. Or they surf the Internet, which is stuffed to overflowing with advice blogs, professional sales pitches, and inexpensive gizmos that claim to let you hear your neighbor talking in his sleep.

Well, here’s another sales pitch: for a happier, more accesible life, check out a meeting of people with hearing loss.

Just one meeting – that’s all I’m asking. Try an information seminar, or go to a monthly meeting of a local hearing loss group. Better yet, go to a conference where you may possibly have the time of your life. Just once, try it.

And why should you do this? Well, on the practical side, you will leave the seminar or conference with a better understanding of how modern hearing technology can connect you to anything – your TV, your car, your phone, or your beloved. You’ll learn neat communication strategies to use at work or in social situations. And you will discover that PWHL are not a homogeneous group of needy people; we’re really just members of the general population with technical issues and a habit of saying ‘what’ a lot.

But those are peanut-sized benefits compared to the big one: you will come away with a new sense of your hearing loss, an attitude shift that may be subtle or dramatic. You’ll experience either a warm positive glow, or the feeling you’ve been slugged with a golden sledgehammer. And both of these are good signs.

When you get home, your family will notice something different about you. They won’t be able to put their finger on it – but they’re thinking maybe something about the eyes and they will be right. Your eyes aren’t crazed, just a little shiny, glittering with the passion of the newly converted. You left the house frustrated with your hearing challenges, and have come home with a new sense of, “I have hearing loss – and hooray, that’s OK!”

It’s very liberating. I know, because it happened to me.

After the closing banquet of my first PWHL conference, about 12 of us went to a pub. We were looking for a place that had room to accommodate our group, and was quiet enough to allow us to communicate. A few places were assessed and rejected – too dark, too loud, busy, bad décor – before the group found a suitable, almost empty place, with only one other occupied table, a quartet of ‘hearing’ people sitting in the corner.

I will admit this: 12 hard of hearing people are loud. We talked loudly and laughed louder; our conversation was punctuated with frequent cries of ‘What did you say?! What did she say?!” I was embarrassed and even cringed at the annoyed looks coming from the ‘hearing’ people.

But then came that crystal-clear, life-changing moment. I thought, “So WHAT if we’re loud? We’re smart and funny, we’re paying for our beer, and this is how we communicate!”

That night I learned – I really got – that there’s no shame in hearing loss. (I also learned that small groups of PWHL work best in a pub.) But my outstanding take-away from the conference was a new perspective, the sense of normalcy about hearing loss that isn’t easy to absorb through the written word, either online or in articles. This was news to me – the understanding that I am just one of many people who are dealing with a challenging issue as we go about our lives.

Since that first Canadian Hard of Hearing Association conference, I’ve attended events around the continent, frequently as an invited speaker. I’ve met what seems like thousands of people, inspirational, provocative, compassionate and interesting people, who help each other along the road to becoming knowledgeable PWHL. Some have become close friends, and I look forward to seeing them each year at the one event where I can truly relax, knowing that my communication needs will be both understand and met.

In 2013, there are several national consumer national conferences that you should consider:
• Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) – Portland, OR, June 27-30
• Canadian Hard of Hearing Association (CHHA) – Edmonton, AB, May 23-25
• Say What Club (SWC) – Williamsburg, VA, May 15-18
• Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA, Joint Conference with TDI) – Albuquerque, NM, October 16-20
• Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Losses (AMPHL) – Austin TX, April 5-7

I will be speaking at the first three (HLAA, CHHA, and SWC), so come and meet me there – maybe we can inspire each other. Make it your annual holiday. The conferences offer fabulous bang for the buck, but if you’re looking to cut costs, consider sharing a room; stretch your food money by popping buns from the buffet table into your pocket for breakfast. The excursions are great, but the best stuff happens at the conference – the workshops, informal social events, the exhibition of technical devices and simply talking to other PWHL and soaking up a world of experience.

But if you don’t have a spare three days, check out information seminars and association meetings in your local community and state or province. Ask your audiologist or hearing instrument specialist about where to go, and then take him or her along with you. (Professionals can always stand to learn a little something from the people they serve.)

That’s my pitch for why PWHL should meet other PWHL….hope to see you somewhere this year!

This article is originally published in Hearing Health & Technology Matters.

For more blogs by Gael Hannan, please visit: http://hearinghealthmatters.org/betterhearingconsumer/

“In Organic We Trust” Shown at Northlake Unitarian’s Looped Auditorium Friday January 20, 2013

Imagine walking into a performance of “Rent” and being able to hear clearly with the push of a button? Sometimes, all I want to do on a rainy night is go to a movie and be able to hear! I want to share an awesome movie experience with you!

Upon arriving on this freezing foggy evening, I was warmly greeted with a hot cup of tea and a cookie. Selecting a seat inside the center aisle, about four rows back, I was positioned perfectly to test the hearing loop system. The film was introduced to the dozen or so attendees without amplification. Fortunately, I was sitting close enough to speech-read the presenter as she announced “…Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business and eventually denigrates to a racket…” As an organic gardener, I was most intrigued, by the lure of this compelling documentary.

Once the lights dimmed and the film began, I switched my hearing aids from M to M/T to T and back, before comfortably settling in at the full T position. It’s been some time since I’ve “watched” a movie without reading the closed captions. Within seconds, I realized I would be able to rely fully on my Telecoil for complete understanding.

In Organic We Trust, Filmmaker, Kip Pastor features a series of narrative interviews with consumers, experts, and farmers on what “organic certified” really means. While this format was great in terms of telling a cohesive story, frequent changes of the filming environment often creates inconsistencies in audio recording. For a person with hearing loss, these slight alterations can make it difficult to catch every single word. Quality audio prevailed in this lively documentary; permitting stable audio throughout. In interviews where the speaker faces the camera, speech reading is possible; though I didn’t need to speech read to understand. Even dialogue and narrative that occur beyond the camera’s eye come through clear and crisp. Filmed with overture music, background noise, machinery roar, and foreign accents In Organic We Trust duplicates real life listening situations. These same noise filled environments impact daily communication for me and 36 million Americans with hearing loss. With the loop system, and a push of a button on my hearing aid, I was able to clearly hear and understand all of the speakers in the film.

I can’t begin to describe how awesome it was to sit back, relax, and actually understand a movie without fumbling with a headset/neck loop or having to read captions. It’s empowering to participate in a community gathering without having to ask permission to hear.

Each month Northlake Unitarian Church holds a Social-Justice Movie night. Previous showings include: Climate Change is Simple, Hot Coffee, and The Line; engaging films showcasing today’s hot topics. A discussion circle follows the film, with a call to action considered. Though I couldn’t stay for the discussion of In Organic We Trust, I’d like to think the leader would have facilitated the discussion to keep me in the loop! All sound that goes into the microphone is transmitted automatically through the loop. By using the microphone and passing the microphone to each group member who wished to speak, everyone’s voice would be sent clearly and directly to my hearing aid and to yours as well. Stay tuned to find what’s on tap for the next Social-Justice Movie Night coming up 2/22.

Do make time to see this enlightening film! Check out the trailer complete with closed captions! Take a moment to, let them know you appreciate captions, and consider signing the petition.

Read through the following links to see what’s happening and learn about upcoming events!

The Silver Tsunami is coming soon!

Join us on Monday, October 1, 2012 at 11:00 AM at the Mercer Island Community Center for this CandidatesForum on Washington’s Aging Readiness.

Help us get the word out! Print, share and post this flier in your community and with your friends.

We hope to see you there!

For our second “Be in The Local Loop” feature, we are highlighting one of the first loops installed in downtown Seattle, the hearing loop at Volney Richmond Auditorium in the nonprofit medical center, Virginia Mason.

Where is it?

The Volney Richmond Auditorium is located on level 1 of the Lindeman Pavilion at Virginia Mason’s downtown campus. The room features auditorium style seating and is host to classes, speakers, and presentations.

The venue is located at 1201 Terry Avenue, Seattle, WA 98164

Why is it important?

Virginia Mason visitors who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants (CI) will now be able to leverage the hearing loop technology with their assistive device. The visitor must turn on the telecoil program with a simple push of a button on their hearing aid of CI. Almost all CIs and 68% of hearing aids are telecoil-enabled.

The Volney Richmond Auditorium features several conferences, events, speakers, and classes open to the general public. The looped venue provides hearing accessibility for all those who attend. Additionally, it provides a public space for other organizations and individuals to host events at no charge and ensure every individual with hearing aids or CIs can have an enjoyable experience. Interested groups may contact Virginia Mason room scheduling at (206) 583-6053 for additional information.

What was the process for looping the auditorium?

Christa Quekett, a Virginia Mason Medical Center audiologist, was instrumental in initiating the hearing loop initiative at the center. Once approved, Spencer Norby, owner of HearingLoop NW, installed the hearing loop in Virginia Mason and installed the system under the carpeting.

The actual loop is a copper wire laid under the carpet, giving off an electromagnetic signal that can be picked up by a receiver.

Spencer hid the wiring in architecture details such as crown molding. Check out the photos below to see the process from start to finish!

A panel of hearing loop specialists at the official launch of Let’s Loop Seattle, hosted at the Virginia Mason Volney Auditorium