Cheryl Heppner - This and That

By Cheryl Heppner

• For those readers who don’t know the entire alphabet soup of acronyms particular to deaf and hard of hearing persons, HLAA stands for Hearing Loss Association of America. It was formerly known as Self Help for Hard of Hearing People. And please know that you’re not alone; new words and acronyms keep getting added all the time!

• “Tall Guy” found me and sent me an email! The man who gave me printed copies of slides for the Research Symposium is Richard Neely of Dallas, Texas. I sure hope he comes to Milwaukee next year.

• Gallaudet University was conducting two studies during the conference. One was on texting in live conversation and the second was to study video cell phones for lipreading. Don’t those sound exciting? I talked with Dr. Judy Harkins as she was recruiting people at a table in the registration area, and later spent some precious minutes with Paula Tucker during her lunch break. It’s awesome to reflect on the last 20 years and realize how instrumental Gallaudet’s research has been to advances in our telecommunications and media access.

• Elvis was in the building and lots of people spotted him. They’ll be able to prove it too, with the free picture they taken with him at the Sprint Relay Exhibit. I saw him again at the Cochlear exhibit, or were my eyes deceiving me?

• Speaking of pictures, Abbie Cranmer (waving)wrote an HLAA convention blog starting on June 17. There are lots of photos, exhibits and events she covered. The final blog is at http://hlaaconvention.blogspot.com/, and if you go to the end you can click on Older Posts for links that will take you to her previous entries.

• I discovered on this trip that airports are much more fun. Now that the new air travel access regulations are in effect, it was great to see captioning on most televisions as I walked through the terminals.

Thanks to everyone who has written to tell us how much they appreciate the conference reports. There’s more coming when we find time to do the writing.

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

CSD-DTV Help Center

By Cheryl Heppner

The CSD-TV Help Center for deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind individuals has been busy helping those who are encountering problems with the digital television transition. Their individual assistance has helped consumers seeking information, including assistance in obtaining coupons and converter boxes and installation. The switch to digital TV has caused consumers to have a lot of questions, and individuals who are able to see their programs but depend on captioning are still reporting widespread problems with the captions. These include captions that are garbled, are early or delayed, in the wrong place, flash on and off the screen, overlap each other, or fill up the entire screen.

CSD-DTV Help Center has been helping to document those problems. They appreciate consumers who have gone to their website to fill out a questionnaire so they have more information and data about the difficulties people are experiencing with captions. It’s at http://dtv.c-s-d.org/survey.

At the end of May the DTV Help Center got a 30-day contract renewal, and they’re hoping to get another extension so they can continue their work. They have done a truly remarkable job of making it easy to contact them with all these options:

Voice: 1-877-DTV-4YOU (1-877-388-4968)

TTY: 1-877-TTY-4CSD (1-877-889-4273)

Videophone IP Address: DTV03.CSD.TV; DTV05.CSD.TV

Videophone Number: 866-351-1950; 866-401-3519

AIM: DTVCSR07; DTVCSR008

Email: DTVHelp@c-s-d.org

Website: http://dtv.c-s-d.org

Their hours of operation are also lengthy: 7 am to 1 am CST, 18 hours a day and 7 days a week.

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

Wireless Hearing Solutions

By Cheryl Heppner

Brenda Felcoskie, the company’s Customer Service representative, shared information about the wireless products this new HLAA exhibitor carries. The company has a full-time audiologist and product engineer on staff. It offers inclusive trainings on induction loops.

Ten models of bedside clocks with or without a bed shaker were being advertised. I also picked up a brochure on their InLoop system for TV or home theater use. This system can be either wired or incorporated in a cushion that you sit on. The signal from the InLoop is picked up by a hearing aid or cochlear implant T-coil and the audio is sent directly to your hearing aid or cochlear implant. You do not need additional equipment or headphones.

InLoop information: www.inLoop.tv

Wireless Hearing Solutions: www.wirelesshs.com

Toll free: 888-224-4988

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

Hearingimpaired.net and MrPAWS

By Bonnie O’Leary

Hearingimpaired.net and MrPAWS by Snow make accessories and signage for people with hearing loss. I was very attracted to the variety of colorful, unique products imprinted with the hearingimpaired.net logo on display at this exhibit – bracelets, pins, desk and car decals, t-shirts, doorknob hangers, hospital packs, combo packs, and athlete’s safety vests. I was also drawn to the gorgeous, white German shepherd dog named Snow, sitting patiently behind the exhibit table, ears perked sharply upwards, wisely appearing as if he could answer questions about the display of service dog supplies such as coats, leashes, collars, and auto decals. He even looked smart enough to read the Law Card – a plastic coated copy of the Federal law permitting a service dog entrance to public places.

A Personal Story

Anne Wicklund, who co-owns this international company with her husband, Wayne, noticed how I was straining to understand her in the din of the exhibit area, so she suggested we move to a seat in the quieter hallway. I was very touched by her immediate and genuine concern for my struggle to listen. And it is this genuine concern for the frustrations of all people with hearing loss that inspired them to launch their company in 2001 when Wayne suddenly lost most of his hearing. The Wicklunds, who hail from Fountain Hills, Arizona, had previously owned other businesses, including a mobile check-cashing company, a real estate business, and a security dog company. In search of others who had hearing loss, they discovered the Sun Lakes chapter of what was then SHHH. They made “hearingimpaired” pins to take to the meeting to give away, and everyone wanted one! That was the first hearingimpaired.net product. It generated such a successful response that the Wicklunds created their website, and the idea took off from there.

Product Line Grows

When Wayne realized he hadn’t heard traffic honking at him from behind, he and Anne developed their second product, the hearingimpaired.net automobile window decal. Suggestions and requests for products poured in through their website. For instance, a marathon runner who is hard of hearing asked if Anne and Wayne could design a vest for her to wear in meets and trainings, and the bright orange hearingimpaired.net athletic vest was created and added to the product line. Anne told me they enjoy hearing from their website visitors, especially if they have an idea for a hearingimpaired.net product that should be created.

Snow

Not long after Wayne lost his hearing, Snow came into the Wicklund’s lives, and Wayne focused his training so Snow would alert him to sounds, dangers, people and situations. Having Snow with him all the time introduced Wayne to the challenges of access to public places with a dog, so the line of service dog products was created and added to the hearingimpaired.net catalogue.

To learn more about the range of products available, suggest new ones, or contact Anne and Wayne, visit www.hearingimpaired.net and www.MrPAWS.com.

See more of Bonnie O’Leary reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

SafeAwake

By Cheryl Heppner

Timothy Shaffer, President and CEO of SafeAwake showed me the new pyramid-shaped SafeAwake and answered a barrage of my questions. SafeAwake was developed through a grant from the National Institutes of Health, through which Combustion Science & Engineering, Inc. found the technology to be effective at waking sleeping people in sleep tests. SafeAwake has a flashing white light, and a high decibel, low-frequency audible signal.

I held the round bed shaker in my hand as I listened to an explanation of how it vibrates intermittently, the most optimal way to alert from sleep. The bed shaker reminded me strongly of the quirky mouse that came with my first iMac computer.

Mr. Shaffer explained that the ShakeAwake was built like a medical device and that the final piece of UL approval is expected in October 2009. He wants to be able to sell the product commercially and believes it will also be a good choice for any heavy sleeper with or without hearing loss. Already the power supply for this low-voltage device has UL approval.

From the SafeAwake website: “Conventional home smoke alarms typically warn people to the danger of fire through sound. That leaves deaf and hard-of-hearing people at high risk – especially while sleeping, because ordinary smoke alarms may not be jarring enough to awaken them.”

The company has its headquarters in Columbia, Maryland.

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

Alternative Communication Services (ACS)

By Cheryl Heppner

Its website proclaims that Alternative Communications Services (ACS) exists to provide the highest quality voice-to-text services possible, delivering Onsite CART, Remote CART, Captioning, Closed Captioning and Text Interpreting services to consumers throughout the world, recognizing the unique strengths of each individual in the process.

I visited with Phil Hyssong to learn more about what ACS business is like these days. Phil said that 60% of their work is now done in education settings. What’s changed, though, is the source of those requests. At one time most of the demand came from higher education institutions which were providing accommodations for graduate students. Then there was a jump in the number of requests for undergraduate students. Now the company is seeing an increasing number of requests to accommodate high school students. Can grade school and the great potential to increase reading levels be next?

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

Hamilton Relay

By Cheryl Heppner

Hamilton Relay was featuring the new CapTel Model 800i, which is designed for people who have high speed Internet access, telephone service and standard electrical power. This phone has been eagerly awaited for some of its advances, particularly the ability to have a second phone line without paying the monthly charge for a land line. A major advantage of the second line is the ability for people to call you directly without having to first dial a toll-free number for the captioned telephone service.

Some of you may remember Hamilton’s Mitchell Levy from his days working for Virginia Relay. He was my guide in exploring this exciting new CapTel, walking me through feature after feature. Here are some things I found:

- The display screen is sharp with clear text, and you can choose from three sizes – small, medium or large.

- There are choices for color of both background and text, with the ability to preview what the choices will look like before you select them.

- Call History allows you to see a Caller ID for missed calls.

- You can save over 95 phone numbers and you can edit them whenever you want.

- You can choose to save a conversation, review it or delete it.

- There is an answering machine and voice mail capability.

- Ringer volume and pitch can be adjusted.

- You can select either tone or pulse dialing.

- When software upgrades are available, you can push a button to download them.

- A distinctive blue button can be pushed to connect with customer service at any time.

- You can mount the phone on the wall if you desire.

- There are speed dial keys for one-touch dialing of frequently called numbers

- Captions can be turned on or off at any time during a call.

- Volume can be adjusted up to 40 dB

And the best news: Hamilton Relay has a special offer right now. For $99 you can pre-order a CapTel 800i. Shipping is free and they even throw in a Starbucks gift certificate. To sign up: http://www.hamiltoncaptel.com/800i/index.html

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.

Panasonic

By Cheryl Heppner

My first stop was with Panasonic, which has its booth located right inside the entrance to the Exhibit Hall. It was great to reconnect with Tony Jasionowski, Sr. Group Manager for the company’s Accessibility Technology Liaison and Alliance Group. Tony introduced me to some of the company’s newest line of digital cordless phones whose boxes all displayed the logo for meeting TIA standards for hearing aid compatibility.

The models on display included the KX-TG6441 with one handset at $69.95 retail and the 2-handset KX-TG6432 model at $79.95. Panasonic’s cordless line now has lots of options with features such as conference capability, Ringer ID, lighted handset keypad, speakerphone on handset, handset locator, handset intercom, and Call Waiting Caller ID. There are 27 different cordless phone choices. All have DECT 6.0 (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication), which operates on the 1.9GHz frequency and is designed to offer excellent sound quality, reduced interference, long range and extended battery life.

Panasonic is one of the companies I have pestered to make it easy to access captions on their line of televisions by having a caption button on the TV remote control, as well as one on the TV itself in case the remote is lost or the battery dies. Tony proudly showed me the remote for the sleek 42” Panasonic TV that the company has donated for a drawing here at HLAA, and even more proudly handed me the remote control. There in the top row of buttons was a clearly marked “cc”. Of course that merited a big hug! The cc button’s addition to the remote has now become a company standard. If you’re as delighted as I am, you can send your thanks to Tony at jasionowskit@us.panasonic.com.

See more of Cheryl Heppner reports of the 2009 Hearing Loss Association of America Convention at NVRC.