Providence, RI to Host Convention 2012

You're invited to attend the largest educational convention and tradeshow for people with hearing loss, their families and the professionals that educate and work with people with hearing loss.

I already have many things to share with you! First of all, you'll notice our new Convention logo that will be used from year to year by just changing the year. We believe this logo more closely ties the Convention to HLAA (unlike a separate logo created just for a specific host city).

OK, now on to the fun stuff!
In the photo above, the tall building on the left is The Westin Providence, our Convention hotel. It is connected by sky bridge to the Rhode Island Convention Center where all the events will take place. Those things you see in the river are called braziers - there's 100 of them that are lit using an aromatic wood during WaterFire events.
The keynote speaker for Convention 2012 will be Howard Weinstein who has an amazing and inspiring life story. You can read more about how he has dedicated his life to distributing solar-powered hearing aids to low-income people in developing countries in the upcoming September/October issue of Hearing Loss Magazine. You won't want to miss this engaging speaker who is traveling from Brazil to be with us.

Researchers and medical professionals from Johns Hopkins University will present the Research Symposium, How the Brain Makes Sense of the World of Sound. More information about the presenters and as well as their abstracts will be posted soon on http://www.hearingloss.org/.

Abracadabra! Back by popular demand, master magician George Saterial will perform at the banquet on Friday, June 22. George performed at Convention 1998 in Boston so many of you may already know how truly amazing he is. George is the first and only magician in the world that has received magic's highest and most coveted honors, "The Gold Medal of Excellence."

Stay tuned for more information about Saturday night's off-site event - it will definitely be an evening to remember! Look for more information on our new website that is launching in a few days!

2011 HLAA Convention Photos Submitted By Netagene

Netagene Kirkpatrick, a first time HLAA Convention attendee from Birmingham Alabama, wanted to share her photographs and experiences. Below are some of her photographs and a description of each.

Thank you Netagene!

The first place I headed when I got to the hotel and had registered, was to find the Scott family, of Hayleigh's Cherished Charms. So I am REALLY bedraggled in this picture, having gotten off Amtrak (17 hours turned into 19 because of storms in Georgia), and managed to navigate DC's Metro, a bit scary for me because I am also high partial legally blind! In this picture, taken in front of Hayleigh's exhibit, left to right: Hayleigh, her twin Vienna (they are now 12 years old), me (Netagene Kirkpatrick), and Sarah (I think she's 9 this week).

Hayleigh's Cherished Charms: Rachel Scott, on the left, then Hayleigh and Vienna

What an amazing and colorful lobby! I made this from the floor above the lobby.

Me (Netagene) with Ivey Jackson. Ivey and I both live here in Birmingham, AL. We met in person only a couple of months ago. It was his idea that we have this picture made.

2011 HLAA Convention Banquet

Netagene and her roomate Barbara at the Banquet

Rocky Stone recipient Anne Pope with Barbara Gurtov. (Anne is the Manhattan chapter chairperson, and that's the chapter which Barbara attends.)

Again, thank you Netagene for sharing! 

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HLAA Convention Workshops

I am always amazed by the amount and variety of workshops available at the convention. I wish I could have attended them all!

On Friday, June 17, I attended The Looping of America Begins with YOU! I was very late due to talking with some exhibitors from the convention about certain services and products I was interested in, so I only attended the last part of it. I learned that unfortunately, a lot of people are not told by their audiologist or hearing aid dispenser about the t-coil option and loop system. From personal experience, I was never told about this option by my audiologists and the first time I learned about it was at my first HLAA convention. I was only told about how the t-coil can be used with the telephone, which I never used it for because it did not seem to help. This workshop made me more interested in becoming more involved and helping others become aware of the loop system. I should become involved with my local HLAA chapter back home and help them advocate for the loop system to be installed in various places where it would be most helpful. After having such a wonderful experience with it at the musical, Wicked, I am more interested than ever. I don't want it to be that the only times I can use the loop system is when I attend HLAA conventions and events.

On Saturday, June 18th, I attended two workshops: What Children with CIs Need at School and Common Pitfalls of Parenting Your Child with Hearing Loss. Being an educator, I was interested in attending these workshops specifically for parents & educators. I wish I could have attended more workshops that day, but I learned that it is best to pick two and not get overwhelmed with trying to attend as many workshops as possible. I really enjoyed both workshops. They got me thinking about how I can better serve my students and their teachers and families.

What Children with CIs Need at School focused a great deal on FM systems and what constitutes a good acoustical environment for students. The presenter, Donna L. Sorkin, provided a lot of good tips about how to provide these things and how to make a case for them. I enjoyed hearing from others their persoanl experiences working with children with CIs and from those who are implanted themselves, including Sorkin.

Common Pitfalls of Parenting Your Child with Hearing Loss was excellent. I agreed with everything the presenter, Alison Freeman, said. This workshop went over seven common pitfalls unique to parents of deaf and hard of hearing children when communicating and disciplining them. She began the presentation with a quote, "Deafness is not a disability, the inability to communicate is." I really like this quote and think it is important for people to understand this. Freeman talked about how we should pay attention to language acquisition and how the child will best acquire it. She said that it should not matter how they acquire language as long as they are able to do so without much effort. I liked the Confucius quote Freeman used when discussing education: "Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand." How cool is that? It was especially helpful that the presenter was hard of hearing herself. She talked about her personal experiences with growing up hard of hearing. I appreciated hearing from the parents who attended the workshop. I learned a lot from them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshops I attended at the HLAA Convention. I learned a lot and I look forward to using what I learned in my work as an itinerant teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students within a public school district.

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Thanks Harris Communications!

I had a lot of fun walking around in the exhibit hall at the convention looking at the different devices, services, and information useful for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. For the first time I bought a neck loop system from Harris Communications. I bought the ClearSounds Quattro Bluetooth Powered Neckloop after trying it out. I called my mother using the device with my cell phone. All I had to do was synchronize the blue tooth device with my cellphone and then choose the t-coil mode of my hearing aid. I was pleasantly surprised by how clear my mother's voice was as it went directly into my hearing aid while blocking out background noises. I could understand her better than before. Plus, it was nice that I did not have to hold my cell phone up to the microphone part of my hearing aid, which can be awkward and uncomfortable. I am really glad that I could try the product and learn how it works. I was so impressed with it, I ordered it. I can't wait to start using it when I get home!

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More Pictures From HLAA Convention

Sharon G. and Danielle Nicosia

Ronnie Adler and Danielle Nicosia

Roberta Alterman and Joan Haber

Cochlear America Group

Photographs contributed by Danielle Nicosia. Thank you Danielle!

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Big Thanks to 2011 HLAA Sponsors!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the wonderful sponsors of the 2011 HLAA Convention.

Gold Level, $25,000

• Audiotoniq: A Wicked Evening at the Kennedy Center 

• CTIA, The Wireless Association: A Wicked Evening at the Kennedy Center

• CapTel: Awards Breakfast and Ceremony 

Silver Level, $15,000

• Cochlear: Cochlear Americas 

• Oticon: Registration Bags

• Starkey: Young Adult Scholarships & Young Adult Scavenger Hunt

• T-Mobile: President and Executive Director's Reception 

Bronze Level, $10,000

• AT&T: Friday Afternoon Exhibit Hall Social 

• CaptionCall:  Get Acquainted Party 

• Hamilton CapTel: Saturday Afternoon Exhibit Hall Social

• MED-EL: Badge holders and Lanyards

Friend Level, $5,000

• Deafness Research Foundation: Research Symposium 

• BlackBerry: Communication Access for the Research Symposium

• RIT/NTID: Three Morning Breaks

• Tracfone Wireless, Inc.: Convention Blog

• Verizon: Convention Passport

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Photos From HLAA Convention, Contributed by Laurie Pullins

Here are a couple photos from the convention. The first one is me (Laurie Pullins) with Lynn Rousseau in the Cochlear booth. Lynn was on the front cover of the recent HLAA magazine. We are both dancers and were striking a pose in the Cochlear booth where I was working. We had fun connecting through our dance stories.  

The second is me with Casey, the Cochlear bear.  :)

- Laurie Pullins

Laurie Pullins and Lynn Rousseau

Casey the Cochlear Bear and Laurie Pullins

Thank you Laurie for your photographs. Looks like you had fun!

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Recap: Sunday Awards Breakfast and Ceremony

I attended Sunday's HLAA Awards Breakfast and Ceremony sponsored by CapTel. The ceremony celebrated various HLAA members from around the country who have gone above and beyond their advocacy and outreach efforts. They honored scholarship recipients and gave out several awards for different achievements such as best state newsletter, best state website, organizing Walk4Hearing, community service, for being an outstanding young adult, and many more. Page 32 and 33 of the program includes a full list of the recipients. I sat with the young adults, where quite a few were recipients of scholarships and awards.

On a side note, I thought the bacon served at the ceremony was delicious, I would award it the best bacon I've had while in DC.

The only problem I had with the ceremony was that the loop system did not work properly. It was looping a conference that was happening next door. Unfortunately, we could not take advantage of the loop system during the ceremony. At least we had captions to help.

I was very inspired by everyone in the room. It makes me want to get involved more with my state HLAA chapter and to advocate more for the deaf and hard of hearing. There is so much more to be accomplished! I am especially interested in advocating for more hearing loop systems to be installed, after having such wonderful experiences with it at the HLAA Convention.

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Wicked, the Musical, Fully Accessible For the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

I was lucky to attend the musical, Wicked, at the John F. Kennedy Center, thanks to a wonderful friend, Susie, who gave me her ticket when she decided not to go!

It was AWESOME! I really, really enjoyed it. Usually, I am not a big fan of musicals, especially if I can't follow the story, dialogue, and singing. But this performance was captioned, included infrared hearing loop systems, (provided by Ampetronic), and sign language interpretation. I was told that there were seven caption boards installed in the theater for this performance!

This was the first time I used a hearing loop system at a live performance. It was so easy, all I had to do was select the t-coil switch on my hearing aid. I heard the singing and talking clearly. If I missed something, I looked at the captions. For the first time ever, at a live performance, I was able to follow everything that was happening. I did not miss a thing. It made me want to cry as I thought about how I often miss out on so much at other uncaptioned movies and performances. I honestly believe that if this performance was not captioned and looped, I would have missed out on a lot and probably would not have enjoyed it as much. Why can't it be like this everywhere else?

The sign language interpreters did an excellent job, might I add. They conveyed the emotions of the actors extremely well. Their signing was clear and understandable. They did an outstanding job! But, I preferred the captions, as they were on stage. If I were to rely on sign language interpretation, I would have had to look back and forth at the musical and the interpreters, which would have made it difficult for me to watch the performance. Perhaps if I was sitting in front of them within sight of the performance, it would have worked out better. But, I enjoyed watching them sign, as I glance at them every now and then.

Overall, it was truly a magical experience. I am so happy I got to go!

Below, I included some pictures from the Kennedy Center, where a live band played lively swing music. I attempted to try out some swing dance moves with an HLAA Convention attendee (an experienced dancer). I think I did okay; I only stepped on his toes a couple of times. Nevertheless, we had fun dancing to the music! I was really impressed with the Kennedy Center, which I took a few pictures of. If anyone has any pictures to share, please email them to ehwhathuh@yahoo.com.

Many, many, many thanks to Audiotoniq and CTIA-The Wireless Association for sponsoring this event!!!

John F. Kennedy Center

Live swing music performance

John F. Kennedy Center

Costumes from Wicked musical

John F. Kennedy Center

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Audiotoniq Will Offer Free Membership to HLAA!

Just to let you know,

 

Audiotoniq tweeted:

 

After our hearing aid system is available this fall, each customer will recieve a free membership to #! What a great organization too!HLAA

 

Awesome. :)

 

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Recap: Young Adult Scavenger Hunt

First of all, I want to apologize for not keeping up with this blog, as much as I should have been. I just got back from spending time in Hershey, PA with my two adorable nieces and my sister. After the breakfast and award ceremony on Sunday, I left immediately for Hershey, PA. It was about a two hour trip. I was able to get a nap in, luckily. I was exhausted, still trying to recover from all the excitement and fun I had at the convention. When we got there, I went to "Chocolate World" ate a lot of candy and then afterwards I crashed into a deep sleep at the hotel we stayed at near by. We went to the Hershey Park amusement park the next day. My niece was happy that I was willing to ride all of the roller coasters with her, even though I thought I was going to have a panic attack and lose it on some of the rides. We had so much fun. We were there all day until after 5:00 and did not actually leave to go home until after we ate dinner, which was around 8:00. We did not get home in Virgina, until late at night. Man, we were wiped out!

Now I am feeling well rested, after sleeping for ten hours. It's funny, I kept dreaming about hearing aids, meeting deaf and hard of hearing people, and trying out FM systems, as if I never left the convention (which is not a bad thing).

Anyway, here is what happened at the Young Adults Scavenger Hunt, which took place Thursday, at 5 p.m. Before I went, I became a little worried, because it looked as if it was going to rain. I was told that a good portion of it will be spent walking around outside in the National Mall area. But, one of the volunteers, Zac La Fratta, assured me that it should not be a problem and that we should not let some rain spoil the fun.

Luckily, it did not rain while we were out and about, and everything went well as planned.

The point of the Scavenger Hunt, which was managed and brought to us by City Hunt, was to find as many of the list of objects and scenarios as we can and to take pictures of them with the cameras they provided us. Some of the scenarios included acting like monkeys on the Metro, looking as if one of us walked on the moon, and taunting a large prehistoric animal with giant tusks.

We broke up into teams and took off to the Mall area in D.C. taking the Metro. We had to find and take as many pictures as we could before we had to stop and meet everyone at a certain location and time.

My team was super enthusiastic and competitive. We decided to name it "The Winners." I thought my team did a great job. I loved their enthusiasm. Throughout the scavenger hunt, we were able to talk for a bit about our lives and what brought us to the convention, which was nice. It was great to see so many people my age and younger with hearing loss, which I do not experience much back at home.

It was fun as we rushed around the Mall area taking pictures of random objects and recreating bizarre and silly scenarios within the museums and outside in various places. We took so many pictures and laughed as we tried to recreate well known scenes within the museum such as a scene from the movie, Jurassic Park, where I pretended to be a driver of a Jeep, frantically driving away from T-Rex (well, the skeletal remains), with everyone sitting in the "car" with me, looking terrified, pretending to scream.

Once it came close to the time we were supposed to meet with everyone, we speed walked back to our meeting place, Crystal City Sports Pub. We were supposed to be on time and not allowed to run, as part of the rules. Some of us cheated, including myself (I just wanted to catch up with my team, I got caught in the turnpikes at the Metro as they sped off!).

There at the pub, we looked at the pictures on large television screens. There were plenty of embarrassing pictures of me, of course. I loved looking at what the other teams did. It was hilarious!! Unfortunately, my team did not win. Team "Rain Haters" did. Congratulations "Rain Haters"! I thought it was unfortunate that we named our team, "The Winners." Oh, well, we had fun and that is all that matters. It was a great way to meet and get to know everyone too. :)

City Hunt's Facebook page has pictures from the scavenger hunt, check them out, they are pretty funny! I have a few pictures I took with my camera, shown below. If anyone would like to contribute photos from the scavenger hunt, please email them to me at ehwhathuh@yahoo.com.

Thank you Starkey, for your generosity in sponsoring this event! And thanks to City Hunt adventure guides for doing such a great job putting this together!


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*If there are any pictures that you are in, and you want me to take them down (privacy reasons) please let me know and I will take them down as soon as possible. I apologize in advance.

Been Busy, Stay Tuned For More

Sorry, I have not been blogging much since yesterday. Been very busy having fun!

I am on my way to the Awards Breakfast and Ceremony, sponsored by Ultratec, CapTel. The Banquet last night was great. I enjoyed the Capitol Steps' performance. Afterwards, I hung out with various people, including the young adult group until the wee hours of the morning. We had some very deep and interesting conversations about growing up with a hearing loss. I learned a lot.

I will be writing a lot about what happened and will include lots of pictures, please come back and check often!

I'll see some of you at the breakfast. : )

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Young Adults of HLAA Convention

It is great to see so many young adults at this convention! I think they are a fantastic and inspiring group. I had fun with them at the Scavenger Hunt, generously sponsored by Starkey. I will be writing about this event soon in my recaps, once I get a chance to.

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Send Me Photos and Stories From HLAA Convention!

If you would like to contribute to this blog, please send me your photos and stories to ehwhathuh@yahoo.com. I will post them here, when time allows it and if they are relevant to the convention.

I would appreciate it!

I would like to thank Tracfone, again, for sponsoring the HLAA Convention blog. We really appreciate it! Tracfone is America's largest "No-Contract" cell phone service provider. If you are interested in getting a cellular phone services without the contract, visit their website:  http://www.tracfone.com/

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Favorite Quotes From the Convention

Whew! For a minute there, I thought I lost my notes! I was hyperventilating, as if I lost my hearing aid.

Anyways. . .

These are my favorite quotes from the convention so far:

Aargh, I'm so hungry! Why did I skip breakfast? I may start chewing on my hearing aid!

What? Did you say you have a robot at home?

Never underestimate strength in numbers.

Set aside your political views, focus on the issue at hand and work together to solve the problem.

My cochlear implants are my diamonds.

This is the blogger lady (someone introducing me).

Sincerely,

The Blogger Lady, (e

Don't Forget to Stamp Your Passport

The neat little HLAA 2011 Convention passport opens up revealing the workshop schedule, and Exhibit Hall floor plan. As you attend the exhibit hall and visit each vendor be sure to have each of them stamp your passport. When you have visited all of the exhibitors and had them stamp your passport, go to the HLAA booth (#1) and enter a drawing, submitting your passport, to win FREE registration for HLAA Convention 2012 in Providence, Rhode Island!

Thank you, Verizon, for sponsoring the Convention 2011 passport.

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Special Events For Today, Saturday, June 18th

While many of you will be busy attending workshops and socializing, don't forget that these two Special Events will take place today.

3:30 p.m. - 5p.m.  Exhibit Hall Social: A Dog's Day Afternoon

                               Sponsored by Hamilton Cap Tel

7 p.m. - 10 p.m.   A Capital Celebration (Regency Ballroom)

Many people refer to this event as "The Banquet." At this event, we will be bidding farewell to the HLAA Convention attendees while welcoming attendees of the 2nd International Hearing Loop Conference. Another highlight is the presentation of the Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award, which will be presented to former HLAA Board of Trustees member, Anne Pope. After dinner and dessert we will be treated with a performance from award-winning comedy troupe, The Capitol Steps. I have spoken with some attendees who gave them rave reviews. They highly recommend seeing them.

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Keep Checking Back!

Please keep checking back for any updates and information about this convention. I will be doing a lot of recaps of recent events, especially of Wicked (which was AWESOME!!!).

I have been busy having too much fun and socializing! Now I am on my way to the workshops. I will be attending mostly the Parents & Educators workshops, since I am teacher myself, they seem the most interesting  and useful to me at the moment.

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Exhibit Hall Photos

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Friday, June 17 Special Events to Look Out For

If you look at the "Special Events" page of your program, page 29, you w

ill see that there will be some interesting and fun events today.

• At 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. in the Independence Center be sure to check out "PhotoFun Booth" where you will get your photo taken with a colorful background which will be printed and given to you as a neat Convention souvenir! 
• At 3:30 -5 p.m. the Exhibit Hall Social "Retro" will take place. Don't forget to bring your passport! Thank you AT&T for sponsoring this event! 
• Then there is Wicked at the Kennedy Center. It will be fully accessible with captioning, infrared hearing loop system, (provided by Ampetronic), and sign language interpretation. How cool is that?! Please note that any assistive listening device you use at the convention will not be compatible with the Kennedy Center's system. The Center will have plenty of listening devices available. This off site event is sponsored by Audiotoniq and CTIA-The Wireless Association. Thank you Audiotoniq and CTIA! 

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Just Arrived!

I arrived at the convention around 10:00. The plane trip could not have been better. I had an entire row to myself, where I could stretch out and relax, instead of rubbing elbows with some stranger sitting next to me. Before I knew it, I was on a shuttle to the hotel from the airport. I could not believe that I could check into my room immediately, which was really nice. Staying at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, will be super convenient. I am really liking my room so far. Not bad. Then I registered for the convention. Everyone has been very helpful and nice, making this trip easy for me.

As I write this blog post, I am still taking it all in, trying not to get overwhelmed. There is so much to do and see! But I am excited and happy to be here. I can't wait to see some friends I made last year at the Milwaukee convention.

I am planning on attending Exhibit Grand Hall Opening at noon. Then I will go to the Newcomers' Session. I don't think I went to the Newcomers' Session last year, which would have been helpful, since I was a first timer. Later at five, I will go to the Young Adults Scavenger Hunt, which will take place at the National Mall. I am hoping the weather will be okay. It looks as if it is going to rain, unfortunately. But, I was assured that there is a backup plan in case this happens. Whether it rains or not, I will enjoy meeting everyone and hopefully I will see familiar faces. After I am finished with the scavenger hunt, I will be sure to go to the Get Acquainted Party at 8:30 p.m.

This is going to be an action packed afternoon and evening! Glad I am wearing comfortable shoes.

Right now, I am trying to figure where I should grab a bite to eat, my stomach is screaming at me to stop blogging. I think I am going to stay in the hotel or try to stay close. I don't want to do too much walking around, tiring myself. I am drinking my third coffee for today, which should help. :)

Thanks to our sponsors:

Before I end this post, I would like to give many thanks to Starky for sponsoring the Young Adults Scavenger Hunt, CaptionCall for sponsoring the Get Acquainted Party, Oticon for the registration badges, Med-El for the badges and lanyards, Verizon for the Passport, and for Tracfone, Wireless Inc. for sponsoring this blog!

*Please do not be surprised to see several grammatical errors amd mispellngs. Most likely, if time allows it, I will go back and make these corrections later.

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"Like" Us on Facebook and Audiotoniq Will Donate $1

A new hearing aid company, Audiotoniq, is giving us $1 for every person that “like us" on Facebook during the convention. So please feel free to "like" away!   

Thank you Audiotoniq, along with CTIA – The Wireless Association, for sponsoring Wicked at the Kennedy Center. 

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Presenting Hamilton CapTel!

HLAA attendee, Hamilton CapTel, among the first to contribute to “growing ecosystem” of smartphone technology for the deaf and hard of hearing was mentioned in one of Wall Street Journal Blogs:

The Wall Street Journal’s technology blog, Digits, recently covered Hamilton CapTel’s new App for Android, calling it “representative of an important trend–a growing ecosystem of smartphone technology aimed at easing traditional barriers of communication for the deaf and hearing impaired.”

Hamilton CapTel offers smartphone apps for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone mobile devices and will be showcasing all three at booth #16 at HLAA. The company, which has been providing captioned telephone technology for over a decade, is dedicated to finding ways to use technology to facilitate clearer communication between individuals who experience hearing loss and their friends, family and co-workers. Such solutions, Hamilton CapTel believes, can improve the lives of all those directly and indirectly affected by hearing loss.

Read the full article from the Wall Street Journal Digits blog below.

App Watch: Captioning Your Phone Calls

By Tom Loftus

Losing your hearing doesn’t mean you have to stop using your cellphone.

A free smartphone app that provides captioning for phone conversations debuted in the Android Market late last month. 

Called Hamilton Mobile CapTel, the app also is available on iPhones and BlackBerry devices and comes from Nebraska’s Hamilton Relay, a provider of traditional relay services for the deaf and hard of hearing since 1991.

The app works like this: The user dials a number via the app’s touchscreen display. A captioning service is looped in—a process that takes several seconds—and the app then calls the original user’s device. Upon answering the call, the user is connected to the other party, and the app then captures the text of the conversation. To work, the device must be on a network that offers simultaneous voice and data access.

The idea itself is not revolutionary; caption calls have long been available. In fact, Hamilton Relay’s signature product, the CapTel 800i, is a traditional desktop phone, with a built-in caption screen. Yet the app is representative of an important trend–a growing ecosystem of smartphone technology aimed at easing traditional barriers of communication for the deaf and hearing impaired.

Given Hamilton Relay’s customer base, the eventual development of a smartphone app was a no-brainer, said Hamilton Relay vice president Dixie Ziegler. Thirty six million Americans experience some degree of hearing loss. Of that number, the majority first encounter problems with old age, Ziegler said. “So many have been able to use a telephone or mobile phone their whole life” but then face the prospect of having to give that up, she said.

The company’s bulky 800i was not going to cut it for those used to mobile phones. Hamilton Relay was encountering more customers who were familiar with mobile technology, so the company looked for an answer that married its established closed captioning service with a smartphone’s ease of use.

App development was done in house. While the team consulted developer forums—finding developer community support very helpful—it “didn’t need a tremendous amount of help,” said Ziegler. The app took 90 days to build.

The main challenge, said Ziegler, was making sure that Hamilton Relay’s technology integrated with the device’s contact list application—meaning that the experience of finding a number and then making a call through the app had to be as seamless as possible.

Ziegler says the company does not have a complete sense of how many new customers it has picked up from its app store listings.  The largest set of app customers are those who were already using, or will soon start to use, Hamilton Relay’s telephones.

But it’s not a stretch to predict that the demand for similar apps will increase.

Last October, President Obama signed into law a video and telecommunications act encouraging the development of improved hearing aid compatibility for Internet phones and captioning of television programs.

Some businesses are taking initiative on their own. Already some movie theaters are installing digital closed-captioning systems that use handheld devices. On the app front, the deaf use the iPhone 4’s video functionality to sign to each other. People with hearing problems, and particularly those having issues later in life, are getting vocal.

“With Grandmom—the older generation—if something didn’t work, no one thought about going to technology. You were just deaf.” said Lise Hamlin, director of policy for the Hearing Loss Association of America. “But this generation is really demanding answers and looking at technology.”

Post written and provided by Hamilton CapTel. 

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Hearing Aid Decorated For 2011 HLAA Convention

What do you think?

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