Hearing Aid Study

An audiology professor is getting $1.5 million to study hearing aids. The National Institutes of Health grant is going to University of Memphis prof Robyn Cox over a five-year period. Cox will compare the effectiveness of features in aids used by older adults.

TEDx Islay

A TEDx event focused on deaf issues takes place this Saturday at Cal State Northridge. For more information, click here. The TEDx events are associated with, but not organized by the famous yearly gatherings in California where TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design. This TEDx event is called Islay, which is the name of a 1986 novel by Douglas Bullard, who envisioned a place where the deaf community could call its own. We picked the name because TED requires us to name our event after a place, and if there’s a place for the deaf community, it’s Islay.

Donald Trump

A Florida interpreter compares signing for Donald Trump to other possible presidential contenders and office holders. Read the story here in the Palm Beach Post.

Kiss Rocker Deaf in One Ear

KISS guitarist Paul Stanley was born without an ear canal in his right ear. He couldn't hear anything on his right side for most of his life. He now wears a bone conduction device and works with House Research Institute to educate teenage music fans to wear ear-plugs when attending concerts and turn down the volume when using earphones.

Colorado DUI Case

There is a court case involving a deaf man charged with DUI in Colorado. His driver's license was revoked for failing to submit to a blood or breath testing for alcohol impairment. The summary of the case is here.

194 Years Ago Today

On this day in 1817, the first public school especially for the deaf opened (the American School for the Deaf).

New Gally Faculty Member

Cognitive Neuroscientist Laura-Ann Petitto is joining the Gallaudet University Science of Learning Center. She has been named science director and co-principal investigator of the university’s Visual Language and Visual Learning Center (VL2), which is funded by the National Science Foundation. Petitto's work includes discoveries about learning American Sign Language by children exposed to English and ASL early in life.

Hurwitz at ADARA

Gallaudet President Alan Hurwitz gave the keynote address at the 2011 American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association conference in San Diego. He told attendees that the school is working to better prepare deaf and hard of hearing students to compete in today’s job market. He complimented the work of vocational rehabilitation professionals by saying:

“Just over half of our students receive VR support (of) $9 million. Many of our students would not be able to attend Gallaudet without that support. We are grateful that VR personnel have confidence in our ability to educate these students.”

Deaf Man Beaten

A college student in Boston is facing charges he attacked a deaf black man and pregnant women. Police in the Waltham section of the city say Timothy Schmitt, who attends Bentley College, accused the victims of following him about 2am last Friday. They told him they were headed to the police station to report a stolen car. During an ensuing argument, Schmitt is accused of using a racial slur. Police say he severely beat the deaf man and punched the pregnant woman. Schmitt's family says he did not start the fight and it was not racially motivated, as the victims are claiming. Schmitt is due back in court on May 17th. Until then, the school has suspended him and banned him from campus.

Prof Honored

The American Academy of Audiology is honoring a Hope College psychology professor for his work on on the new hearing-loop technology which broadcasts public-address systems, television and telephone sounds directly to hearing aids. David Myers received the President’s Award during the association’s national AudiologyNOW! Annual convention in Chicago this month. You can read more about what Myers is doing at his site here. His book A Quiet World tells of his own struggles with hearing loss.

Captain of His Team

The vocal leader of the Van Buren High School baseball team is star pitcher Edgar Lebron who is legally deaf. Lebron wears hearing aids and is one of New York City's best junior baseball prospects. Read more about Edgar in the New York Daily News article here.

Reading Trouble

There's a new study that challenges some of the common assumptions about why the deaf may have trouble reading English. You can read about in a Voice of America article posted here.

Renting Discrimination

A new study finds discrimination when renting to deaf people. The Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh released the results of the research funded by FISA Foundation. 56 of the 200 tests involving telephone relay (28%) provided either possible or clear evidence of discrimination against the deaf testers.

Captioned Telephone Services in Virginia

The state of Virginia has decided to use Hamilton Relay technology for deaf and hard of hearing consumers. Hamilton's Captioned Telephone equipment allows users to read captions of their telephone conversations through the use of a CapTel phone. Hamilton's Captioned Telephone Services is available in 19 States and the District of Columbia

Bill Would Take $30 million from Deaf Fund

Alabama lawmakers are considering taking $30 million from a fund that provides telephone service for the deaf and put it toward funding the state's schools. The issue will be debated this afternoon. Republican state representative Jay Love is sponsor of the bill.

Miss. Speech School

There is a story about the Magnolia Speech School in Jackson, Mississippi here.

Woman Dies in Fire

A Nashville woman died last night after her house went up in flames Saturday. Linda Mackey, who was deaf, died from her injuries at a local hospital. Her son tried to save her, but she could not hear him yelling for her. One firefighter was injured fighting the blaze. Investigators have not determined what started the fire.

Deaf Teen America Pageant

Two Florida seniors were crowned Mr. and Miss Deaf Teen America recently. Brooke Stanfield and Keith Banks both attend the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. The 13th annual Deaf Teen America Pageant took place at the Indiana School for the Deaf in Indianapolis.

Bison Get 1st Win

The Gallaudet softball team got its first win in its new conference on Saturday. The Bison joined the North Eastern Athletic Conference last summer, but it wasn't until this past weekend's doubleheader that the team earned a win in it. Gallaudet defeated Penn St.-Berks 8-3 in the second game. The Bison used to be part of the Capital Athletic Conference and didn't have a win in it since an 11-7 victory over Stevenson University in March of 2009.

Hearing Loss Conference

Experts will gather Friday in Louisville, Kentucky for the 2011 Heuser Hearing Institute Research Symposium on Spatial Hearing and Hearing Loss. The conference will take place at the Hearing Institute and is aimed at promoting better treatment and management of hearing loss. There is more information here.