Hearing Aid Volunteers

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point is looking for volunteers to help with a study on hearing aids. The effort is being lead by a graduate student majoring in audiology. She’s hoping to figure out whether someone's ability to tune out background noise is tied to satisfaction with hearing aids. Volunteers should be between the ages of 55 and 90 years old. The participants also need to have had hearing aids for three months or more. That would include people who have them but don’t wear them.

Here’s where to write for more information: bgaba977@uwsp.edu

Kentucky Meetings

A series of town hall meetings are scheduled for the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Executive director Liz Hill and her staff plan to meet the public and address local concerns as well as offer information about state legislation concerning the deaf and hard of hearing.

Here’s the meeting schedule:

• Saturday, Jan. 17 in Madisonville
• Saturday, Feb. 21 in Danville
• Saturday, March 21 in Prestonsburg
• Saturday, April 25, Cold Spring.

More information can be found here.

Gallaudet Coach Honored

The new baseball coach at Gallaudet University will get a soccer award this Saturday. Curtis Pride is the recipient of the 2008 Jerry Yeagley Award for Exceptional Personal Achievement by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Pride is a former Major League outfielder and will be officially honored at the NSCAA All-America Luncheon in St. Louis this weekend.

According to the NSCAA, the award is supposed to go to a recipient who "exhibits the qualities of sportsmanship, integrity, respect and concern for others, leadership, generosity and appreciation and should exhibit a strong work ethic and have the ability to rise above adversity."

Here's where you can get more info.

Lip Reading School Opens

The country’s first lip reading school will start offering classes starting next month. The Master’s Lip Reading Academy in Chattanooga will focus on helping churches better serve older parishioners. Director David Harrison was born hard of hearing and is certified by the American Academy for Hearing Loss Support Specialists. Classes will be equipped with FM assistive listening devices. Harrison works with the Georgia’s Silent Word Ministries as a missionary.

Gesture-based ASL Game

With the help of sensor gloves, children can use computer software created by the Georgia Institute of Technology to learn sign language. The Contextual Computing Group at the school has created educational games in which deaf children, wearing the gloves, learn sign language. The computer program tracks hand movements to evaluate whether the child has signed correctly. Find out more here.

Gallaudet & the Inauguration

Gallaudet University in Washington, DC will close next Tuesday, January 20 for Inauguration Day. The Clerc Center will also be closed the next day. High School students will be out from January 17-20.

Utah Rally

A rally is planned tomorrow at the Robert G. Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, Utah. Sponsored by the Utah Association for the Deaf, the free event is designed to bring attention to budget cuts affecting the state-funded center.

Boston's Deaf Priest

The Archdiocese of Boston will soon have its first deaf priest. Shawn Carey will be ordained for Boston on May 23 at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Carey grew up in Westfield but was unable to take part in regular religious education classes at his home parish because they were not able to accommodate him. His family eventually found a Protestant tutor to help Carey prepare for his first communion. He planned to become a lawyer and studied political science and business at Providence College. It was only after graduation he decided to become a priest.

What Does That Sign Mean?

When researchers at Boston University are finished, you’ll be able to find out what a sign means through their searchable dictionary. You just show the gesture on camera and submit it to the search engine and you’ll find out the meaning. Take a look.

Getting to Know.. Kevin Hall

· Professional golfer from Cincinnati

· Won the Hooters Pro Golf Tour

· Has earned more than $23,000 this season on the PGA Tour

· Meningitis that nearly took his life at age 2 robbed him of hearing

· At the age of 8, Hall was the nation’s second-ranked bowler under the age of 10

· Won his first amateur golf tournament at the age of 12

· Became the first black to earn a golf scholarship to Ohio State University

· Won the Big Ten golf tournament by 11 strokes in 2004

How Much Does Gallaudet's President Make?

Robert Davila of Gallaudet University is the lowest paid college president in the DC area. He earned $292,150 during the 07-08 term. In comparison, former George Washington University president Stephen Trachtenberg was paid $798,827 and American University interim President Cornelius Kerwin got $573,306.

The highest paid president of any college is David Sargent of Boston’s Suffolk University. He got a whopping $2,800,461 according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

On the other end of the scale is Michael Hogan of the University of Connecticut. He turned down a bonus of about $100,000 and so did presidents at Rutgers University and the University of Louisville.

NC: Still Waiting for New Director

The North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton is still looking for a director. And it has been nearly a year since the last director stepped down. Parents of students complained Linda Lindsey did not know American Sign Language. Some students and staff were suspended after she stopped students from holding a protest.

In the meantime, the school’s principal, Janet McDaniel, is filling in. State officials say the search will begin again after the new governor takes office.

Murder Plot Hearing Posponed

A judge has postponed until February a hearing for two former students of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton. It is not clear why the hearing was delayed.

The pair is charged with creating a detailed plan to kill faculty and students. School officials say the teens created disciplinary problems during the time they attended the school. Prosecutors say their attack was focused on a particular dorm. Both will be tried as juveniles.

Facts about the Illinois School for the Deaf

• Founded in 1839 with help from Abraham Lincoln
  
• Many students are biracial or black
  
• The school covers preschool through 12th grade
  
• Nearly two-thirds of the students come from the Chicago area
  
• All 286 children are from Illinois
  
• 166 are in high school

Deaf Teen Wins Discrimination Case

A deaf teenager has won a discrimination case in England. Laura Trudgill says she was so humiliated at Colman Middle School (now Coleman Junior) in Norwich during “sports day” that she had to leave the school. The 13-year-old was mocked for standing and running at the wrong times and otherwise performing activities improperly. Trudgill could not hear the teachers telling her she was doing things wrong. No interpreter was provided to help her understand what was expected of her despite the fact five staff members are qualified signers.

Teachers had divided the 240 students into teams of 24 and randomly placed nine deaf students among the groups without providing them a way to understand the complicated rules for activities including running a mini assault course and throwing balls at hoops. Trudgill's parents sued with the help of the National Deaf Children's Society. It’s the first time the group has won a case like this.

The special education needs and disability tribunal ruled that the teen was unlawfully discriminated but the panel of experts declined to impose punishment since the school agreed to changed its proceedures in the future.

Golf Clubs May Cause Hearing Loss

Of all the things that might cause hearing loss, few people probably considered golf as something that should be on the list. But that’s the finding of a new study in England.

Researchers at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital claim golfers may risk losing their hearing by using newfangled thin-faced titanium drivers. The new titanium drivers can produce an "sonic boom" when the club strikes the ball. They recommend wearing earplugs when using the clubs.

Sign Language Translator

Krown’s Sign Language Translator lets users type a word into touch screen pad and plays a video illustrating the proper hand sign for that word. There are about 3500 entries. The pocket dictionary will be available soon for around $200.

School Gets Tickets to Inauguration

The Illinois School for the Deaf will be represented at Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, DC. State Senator Deanna Demuzio secured 15 tickets for both staff and students at the US Capitol. One of the ticket will go to a special friend: Robert R. Davila, president of Gallaudet University. The group will stay at the school while visiting the nation’s capital.

When Obama visited the Illinois School for the Deaf this past fall, Michelle Obama won the hearts of students by signing My name is Michelle.

High School ASL Going Strong

Only a few students signed up for American Sign Language classes at two high schools in Yakima, Washington when the classes were first offered five years ago. Now there are more than 20 times that number. Nearly 200 are taking one of the six ASL at Davis High Schoool and Eisenhower High School. Some of the classes have students wear earplugs once a week and only communicate in sign language. Extra credit can be earned by joining a monthly gathering of members of the deaf community for Deaf Chat Coffee.

Murder Plot

A couple of Virginia teenagers are due in juvenile court this week to face conspiracy to commit murder charges. Police say they planned to attack the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton and kill at least two people. The boys are from Arlington and Augusta County. While enrolled at the school, they were not taking classes. The plot was discovered by administrators.