Hearing Aid Bill

The Hearing Aid Tax Credit Act is not part of the current healthcare reform legislation. However, the measure is slowly moving through Congress. There is a difference between the House of Representatives and the Senate bills. The House version (H.R. 1646) would provide a tax credit towards the purchase of each hearing aid of up to $500 for each aid. That money would be available once every five years to people age 55 and over or for those buying a hearing aid for a dependent. It excludes people making more than $200,000 a year. The Senate bill (S. 1019) gives the same $500 credit but cover all age groups.

Deaf Fighter Wins

Deaf ultimate fighter finalist Matt Hamil defeated Jon Jones Saturday night to earn $46,000. Spike TV featured the Las Vegas fight that drew 1400 spectators. Jones landed a series of punches and elbows early but was docked a point for an illegal elbow. Hamil was unable to continue the fight and Mazzagatti awarded Hamil the victory due to disqualification.

Fire Destroys Home

A Michigan deaf man has lost his home from a fire in Blue Lake Township because he couldn't call 911. The owner had to drive more than four miles to reach Blue Lake Township Hall where an employee called for emergency help. Fire fighters say the double-wide home was total loss. Fortunately, the man has relatives nearby with whom he can stay temporarily.

Providing for the Deaf in Court

What one deaf man had to go through to get a court interpreter from Florida's Fernandina Beach News-Leader. Click here to read the story.

Deaf Director

This year’s Scrooge the Musical put on by the New Century Church in Roanoke, Virginia has a deaf director. Here's a video report by WSLS-TV or read the story here.

Silent Sleigh Day

The California School for the Deaf in Riverside will hold its Silent Sleigh day this Thursday. The program includes skits and a parade. Some of Thomas Gallaudet's descendants will be recognized because the date coinsides with his 222nd birthday.

Language Began as Gesture

Human speech probably evolved from the gestures of our primate ancestors. That's the finding of researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta. They studied chimps and found they have a strong bias toward right-hand gestures. In humans, spoken language is mediated mostly by the left hemisphere of the brain, which also controls the movements of the right hand, supporting the idea that spoken language started as gestures.

Hearing Tests Stopped

Staten Island, New York will no longer give hearing tests to schoolchildren. The practice has been ongoing for decades. Speech experts say stopping the tests will cause some deaf students to fall through the cracks and students will fall behind in their school work. About 7% of the Staten Island students fail the hearing test each year.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association reports that one in every 20 school-aged children may have mild hearing loss that could affect their academic work and more than one-third of them are expected to fail at least one grade at school.

Deaf Program Shutdown

Some 200 people protested this morning at Michigan State University plans to shutter the MSU Deaf Education Program and discontinue all American Sign Language classes. The demonstrators gathered outside the school's administration building. The program is the only one in Michigan training teachers who will teach students using both American Sign Language and English.

Children and Hearing Loss

About one-out-of-eight children has noise-induced hearing loss, according to the American Academy of Audiology. That means some five million children have an entirely preventable disability.

Pro Footballer Started Life Deaf

NFL rookie Connor Barwin was born almost completely deaf. As a toddler, he went through five surgeries before gaining hearing in his right ear. He still has little hearing in his left ear. Although he learned to read lips Barwin never learned sign language and he spent years avoiding talking about his hearing but now speaks to deaf students about his struggles. After attending and playing football at Cincinnati, he became a second-round draft pick of the Houston Texans. Barwin plays defensive end and is not sitting on the bench. He’s been in every game so far this season and has two sacks for the Texans.

Deaf Director

The director of a stage production of A Christmas Carol in Roanoke, Virginia is nearly completely deaf although the cast is hearing. Betsy Foster started losing her hearing as a teen and doctors have not determined the cause. At the age of 23, Foster has a degree in theater and reads lips. Her mother helps by serving as her sign language interpreter at show practices. Carol is sponsored by the New Century Community Church and takes place at the Roanoke Civic Center this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Testing Children

About half the newborns tested for hearing problems have no timely follow up. According to the Better Hearing Institute, parents are often not given the results. And when there is follow up, a pediatrician rather than an ear, nose and throat doctor handles the parents questions. However, a pediatrician is not trained for the testing and typically does not have the proper equipment. If a problem is detected, an audiologist will be needed for definitive testing.

The nonprofit educational organization says only 12% of US kids with significant hearing loss use a hearing aid. Often, the problem is insurance. Some parents are concerned about a “stigma” associated with wearing a hearing aid. But the most likely reason children aren’t wearing hearing aids when they need them is the fact that the hearing problem is not diagnosed.

Cell Phone for Deaf

A new cell phone will allow deaf people to communicate in sign language in the same way hearing people use phones to talk. Cornell University researchers say their new device comes out a program started four years ago called Mobile ASL. While the technology is not available yet for the general public, prototypes are now in the hands of some two dozen deaf people in Seattle. Unlike video conferencing software that may offer fuzzy visual connections, Mobile ASL is designed to send clear video using existing bandwidth in real-time. The scientists were able to also solve issues related to battery life by varying the frames per second based on whether the user is watching or signing.

Robbed at Gunpoint

Police are looking for two men who robbed two deaf men at gunpoint in Wilkesboro, North Carolina yesterday. The deaf mew were headed to a Walmart store when a pickup truck began flashing its lights at them on a private road. When the two stopped, two Hispanic men threatened the deaf men at gun point and yelling, though the victims did not know what they were saying.

Implants and MRIs

If you have a cochlear implant you should not get an MRI – at least with one of the newer machines. Researchers say the 3T scanners can cause permanent damage to the hearing devices because they are much more powerful than earlier versions. More details are in the Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.

1st Time in London Theater

A new closed-captioning system is being introduced on Broadway for the first time. The West End production of Hairspray at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London is offering the AirScript system. It displays subtitle translations in multiple languages through wireless link to widescreen personal handset devices in real time. Not only are translations offered in English but also French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. The devices can be rented for a fee.

Inspirational Encouragement

Anthony Ashford's first novel is called Inspirational Encouragement. The book comes out of Ashford's experiences following a childhood illness that left him deaf. The Rochester, New York native now lives South Carolina. Anthony is a lip reader who says a vision from God inspired him to write and speak. You can soon order the book here.

AIDS and Deafness

Hearing loss among those with HIV and AIDS will be studied at University of Rochester Medical Center with the help of a nearly $2 million grant from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Researchers will try to determine during the five years study whether hearing impairment could be related to the disease itself, making some people more prone to getting the disease.

Arkansas Writer Dies

Deaf novelist Donald Harington has died at the age of 73 of pneumonia and other ailments. Entertainment Weekly called him “America’s greatest unknown writer” and the Washington Post wrote, “Harington is one of the most powerful, subtle and inventive novelists in America.” Harington lost nearly all of his hearing at the age 12 to bacterial meningitis and became a passionate reader, using a system of cards to answer questions from students. Most of his 15 novels revolved around a fictional town in the Ozarks of Arkansas. Harington said his deafness gave him an advantage because, “There was an enormous distinction between the way people talked out in the Ozarks and the way they talked in town. Losing my hearing at that particular date embedded the language into my memory. I can still hear these people, the way they sounded in 1948.”