The Stand-up Comic Bringing Deaf Culture to Hearing People

Greek-born but Edinburgh-based comedian Leah Kalaitzi uses British Sign Language (BSL) and an interpreter to spread Deaf Culture. In a video called Silent Laughs, the Scottish Documentary Institute follows Kalaitzi to the stage.

A Signed Bedtime Story Goes Viral

CBeebies Bedtime Story is a BBC show where a celebrity reads a children's bedtime story. A recent episode got extra attention because the celebrity, Catastrophe's Rob Delaney, signed in Makaton his story a week ago Friday. Delaney read aloud and signed Ten in a Bed by Penny Dale, becoming the first reader to do so. It caught the attention of six-year-old Tom McCartney. Watch Tom's reaction below in a video that went viral:



Delaney wanted to honor his son by telling bedtime story in Makaton, which is a variation of BSL (British Sign Language) combining signs and symbols Delaney learned Makaton in order to communication with his son, Henry, who couldn't speak and died last January at the age of two.

A study on brain tumors and cochlear implants

Researchers in Sweden say they have found no evidence to support the idea that brain tumors are more likely in cochlear implant patients. That was a concern raised by a previous case but the scientists say in their study "The number of brain tumors observed was well within the numbers expected from national incidence figures." You can access the study here.

Researchers: Kids with Implants Learn Words Faster

German researchers claim children with cochlear implants learn words faster than those with normal hearing. Niki Vavatzanidis tells News Medical that children typically need about 14 months to spot mislabeled objects, but children with an implant were able to do so after only 12 months. Another researcher said, "Children with cochlear implants could help us understand the general processes of language acquisition and determine which single steps are age-dependent." Read the full story here.

Behind the Scenes Photos of a Beauty Pageant for Deaf People

A Romania photographer gives us a glimpse of what it's like backstage at a beauty pageant for deaf and hard of hearing participates. Take a look at the photo layout in Vice here.

Deaf-blind man ordered off Flight

Frankie Thomson has flown for decades by himself, despite being deaf-blind. But he was removed from a Easyjet flight going from Edinburgh to Gatwick.Thomson was told the decision was for "safety reasons."Read the full story here.

Irish Comedian Insults Deaf with Fake Signing

An Irish comedian stood up in front of a group gathered to hear a streamed political speech and pretended to use sign language. His random gestures were not appreciated by the Deaf community, Irish Deaf Society said it was insulted by the prank. Read more about it here.

"I'm a deaf actor. That shouldn't define me"

Genevieve Barr talks about what it's like being a deaf actor in a Guardian opinion piece today. She writes:

In the same way that being deaf doesn’t define all that I am as a person, I don’t want it to define the roles I play. It’s an incredibly limiting way to live and to work. And because I have a disability that I cannot hide (or fully disguise), that means I stay firmly in the bracket of “deaf actor”, rather than “actor”. In the rigidity of the casting process, that can mean fewer than 10 auditions per year.

Read the full article here.

What it's like for a Couple to host a Deaf Orphan

The man with Usher syndrome, his wife the sign language interpreter and the hosting program that brought a deaf orphan from Eastern European their way. Read their story in San Diego's local newspaper here.

Tattoo means Deaf in One Ear

Elisa Menzel

A woman in Germany Berlin got a unique tattoo behind her left ear. Elisa Menzel says its to let people know she is deaf in that ear. A photo of it has gotten several million views on the social media sharing site Imgur. Another person who is deaf in one ear decided to get a microphone instead of a speaker.. you can see pawsed in the second photo. Read more from ABC news here and Metro here.

pawsed

Bosnian classmates reach out to deaf student

A Bosian 6-year-old started school deaf and did not know sign language. His first-grade class decided to learn along with him. Read the story from Associated Press here.

Sign added to Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest is adding sign language interpreters to its broadcasts. Producers plan to employ six interpreters for the show and they will use International Sign. Eurovision released a statement that says in part, "We always say that music is a language which is understood by everyone. And we felt that we should make this word come reality, and to offer music to everyone, including deaf people." The contest draws some 180 million viewers. Read more about sign at the contest here. Below is a sample of what it will look like.

Marie’s Story

A new film opening tonight that tells the story of a French teenager born deaf and blind. Set in the late 1800s, Marie's Story tells the saga of Marie Heurtin who is played by deaf actress Ariana Rivoire. She is taken to a convent where Catholic nuns teach her to sign. Read the film's New York Times review here and the NPR review here. Below is the movie tailer.

Getting to Know...The Big 3 Implant Makers

Cochlear implants are likely to become a lucrative market in the future as baby boomers grow older and the number of people suffering from hearing loss increases. There are three main companies making implants.

· Cochlear Limited – This Australian company got its start the early 1980s. Cochlear dominates the market with 70% of the market share and $700 million in sales each year. Cochlear makes the Nucleus cochlear implant, the Hybrid electro-acoustic implant and the Baha bone conduction implant. It  voluntarily recalled its Nucleaus 5 unit in the fall of 2011 because moisture caused a few of the implants to shut down.

· Advanced Bionics – Started in 1996 and acquired by Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific in 2004, Advanced regained its independence in 2007. A Swiss company, Sonova Holding, bought the Valencia, California-based cochlear-implant maker in 2009. With about one fifth of the market, Advanced is number two in the field, though a recall forced the company to make layoffs this year. Phonak is one of its brands. Advanced Bionics recalled the HiRes 90K implant in 2010 after two patients suffered from severe pain and overly loud sounds.

· Med-El – This Austrian company founded in 1989, the company received approval for distribution in Europe in 1994 and FDA approval in 2001. Its U.S. offices are located in Durham, North Carolina.

Meet the Implant Pioneers

They are known as the "Electronic Couple" by helping to create the first cochlear implant. The Guardian deems them the husband and wife who "helped the world to hear." Read the full article here.

Silent Shout

Image from Signmark video "Score"

Rapper Signmark is back with an new album after a four year break. The Finnish singer (real name Marko Vuoriheimo) received international acclaim five years ago for his song Speakerbox. The first deaf person to sign a deal with an international record label, his new album, Silent Shout, includes a song in southern Chinese sign language. Here's a sample.

Interpreting in Germany

While several videos of sign language interpreters at concerts have gone viral in the U.S., interpreting music in Germany is considered worthwhile by many venues. Interpreter Laura Schwengber says, "They raised all sorts of objections, saying that an extra person wouldn't fit on stage, that it would distract from the band, that it would turn the event into a show just for disabled people. The organizers were basically worried what the reaction would be." Find out how she's made a breakthrough in an article from German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle here. Below is a video of Schwengber interpreting the music of Keimzeit.

Made for iPhone hearing aids

Apple is partnering with a Danish company to create something new for iPhone users--hearing aids connected directly to the iPhone. The ReSound LiNX was developed by hearing aid manufacturer GN ReSound. It will work like a bluetooth, allowing users to get sound right from the phone--without a connecting device. There's more information from GN ReSound here.

ISL Awareness Week

The Irish Deaf Society is calling for recognition of Irish Sign Language in honor of International Week of the Deaf, which begins tomorrow. The theme of the week is Equality for Deaf People. Read more from the Irish Deaf Society site here. Here's a video produced by Irish Deaf Society explaining how to order a pint using ISL.

Implant inventors to get award

The inventors of the cochlear implant are getting a big award next week. Graeme Clark, Ingeborg Hochmair and Blake S. Wilson will share in the Lasker Award for clinical medical research--along with a quarter of a million dollars.  The 78-year-old Graeme Clark is an Australian doctor who was motivated to pioneer the first multi-channel implant by watching his deaf father struggle in his daily life.  Austria electrical engineer Ingeborg Hochmair worked with her husband, Erwin Hochmair, to develop their own multi-channel implant in Europe, eventually starting MED-EL--one of the "big three" cochlear implant makers. She now serves as CEO for the company. Blake S. Wilson is co-director at the Duke Hearing Center. He is strategy advisor for MED-EL and is credited with inventing many of the critical signal processing strategies used in implants today.  The award will be given to them a week from Friday (Sept. 20) in a New York ceremony.  Read more about the award from the Lasker Foundation here and a video interview with the three winners here (no captions). Below is a video from Australia's The Age, a daily newspaper out of Melbourne, Australia in which Graeme Clark explains the inspiration that led him to develop the prototype prototype (no captions).