2. May 2012 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Saturday, May 26, 10 am

Please join us for a presentation on new telephone technology

“Get Smart About Telephones”

with 

Karen Keefe of Caption Call

(free captioned phone offer until 6/30. Contact kkeefe@captioncall.com for information)

and

Jonathan O’Dell, Head of Technology for

MA. Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Everyone welcome — Free — Come early for coffee.

__________________________________________

Please bring used hearing aides and eyeglasses for the Lions to collect and recycle.

__________________________________________

Our Meeting Place:  Dennis Public Library

5 Hall Street, Dennisport

 508-760-6219

www.dennispubliclibrary.org

 ____________________________________

www.hearinglosscapecod.org

for information 774-209-9239

The meeting room has an audio loop and CART (real time text translation). The loop works with your hearing aid telecoil or available headphones.

We are a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), official chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, the Nation’s Voice for Those with Hearing Loss.

Download and print the latest newsletter   may2012nl.pdf

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2. May 2012 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

How the Lions Help the Hearing Impaired
by Janet Jansson, secretary pro-tem

On Saturday, March 24th, we welcomed Gretchen Olney, President of the Massachusetts Lions District 33-S Hearing Foundation and Dr. Sandra Stumpf-Reams of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Sandwich, and local Lions Club officials. They presented an informative picture of how the hearing impaired can obtain free and/or low-cost hearing aids through the Lion’s program.

The Foundation’s policy is, whatever services are not covered by health insurance will be provided by the Lions Club.  For instance, if you have a health care policy that will reimburse for a hearing evaluation, but not for hearing aids, the Lions Club will help provide the aids.  If you have insurance that does not provide coverage for the evaluation, then the Lions Club will help with that.  They use twice the Federal Poverty Level as a benefit guideline.  Applications and instructions can be obtained from any local Club.
There are six Lion’s Clubs on Cape Cod:  Barnstable-Yarmouth, Chatham-Nauset, Falmouth, Dennis-Harwich, Lower Cape Cod Lighthouse, and Provincetown. Download the contact information for Cape Cod Lions.

Once the application is approved it is forwarded to Dr. Reams who will then do a diagnostic evaluation.  If she finds the person is a hearing aid candidate she will choose an appropriate instrument from the Lion’s stock of donated aids and send it to be reconditioned.  Once the aids are fitted to the customer, there is a one-year service agreement between the Lions Club and Spaulding to cover the cost of any problems that may arise and need audiological care.

The history of Lions Club International was presented by past District Governor Ray Hebert.  The Clubs were formed in 1917 by a group of businessmen in Chicago.  Their first mission was to be a Chamber of Commerce-type organization.  Because WWI was leaving many servicemen’s families destitute, instead of promoting their own businesses, they decided to promote charitable pursuits.  In 1925 Helen Keller spoke to the international organization and asked them to become her ”knights of the blind and the hearing-impaired.”

While the Lions now do much more, including disaster relief, drug awareness programs for young people and, recently, going into third world countries with measles control, still, their first goal is to help people with vision and hearing problems.

In 1978, the Lion’s District 33-S Hearing Foundation was incorporated to purchase, collect, repair and maintain hearing equipment, aids, instruments and devices.  It is an organization capable of receiving donations of funds and other material contributions on a non-profit basis for the use and and maintenance of the equipment and hearing aids.  It also provides scholarships and funds designed to further the objectives of the Foundation.

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29. December 2011 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.  As the year comes to a close, I wanted to share some information with you about upcoming events, so you can write in your brand new calendar.

1.  The HLAA National Convention will be held in June 2012 in Providence and early bird registration, a 15% savings, will end on December 31st.  Complete details are on the website:  www.hearingloss.org
Scholarships are available for first time attendees, and volunteers are needed to help during the convention.  Contact event coordinator Nancy Macklin nmacklin@hearingloss.org for information on scholarships and volunteer opportunities.

2.  If you are not already a member of HLAA, you can join when you register for the convention.  If 5 new members mention the Cape Cod Chapter, and we will receive a free convention pass.

3.  Membership in the Cape Cod chapter for 2012 is only $10, and you can join or renew at any time.  Send your check made out to the Hearing Loss Association of America Cape Cod Chapter to:  Marita Cable, 7 Spruce Street, South Yarmouth, MA  02664

4.  Thanks to Marie McKay for organizing our very successful holiday luncheon at Oliver’s in Yarmouth Port.  It was a great start to the holiday season.

5.  The next HLAA webinar will be January 10, 2012, 7pm (EST) - Limitations of Ear-Level Technology (Brad Ingrao, Au.D.)This webinar reviews what factors will decrease your hearing device effectiveness and how to overcome them.  Register at the hearingloss.org website.  You can see and read the speaker’s talk, and participate by asking questions.  Older webinars are archived, and you can read the transcripts on a variety of interesting topics.

6.  Are you interested in learning Sign Language? Tom Driscoll is teaching American Sign Language on Mondays beginning January 9th for Harwich Adult Education and Wednesdays beginning January 18 in Orleans at http://nausetcommunityed.org/languages.html  He has taught at Cape Cod Community College for 15 years.

7.  Our next Cape Cod Chapter meeting is January 28th at Dennis Public Library.  Through short videos and group discussion, we will Learn About Hearing Loss and how to deal with it.  Members helping members is a great way to learn coping techniques and advocacy tips.
A program on winter birds will begin at the library at 1 pm, and members are invited to stay, and although there will be no CART transcription, a loop will make things easier for those with a telecoil, or available headsets.

8.  On March 24th, Gretchen Olney of the Lions Club and local Lions Club members will talk about How Lions Help the Hearing Impaired.  She will focus on local resources like Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Sandwich and answer your questions about access to services and equipment.  The Lions have done a wonderful job providing eyeglasses to those that need them, and we expect the hearing aid program to be equally helpful and perhaps our chapter can help as well.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a happy and healthy New Year.  Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Bobbie McDonnell, President, HLAACC

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16. August 2011 by Cape Cod Chapter HLAA Blog.

Download October “Cape Ears” Newsletter

Download November “Cape Ears” Newsletter

TINNITUS! Some 50 million people suffer from this disorder and it is finally being addressed by both national and international scientists. On October 22^nd, Jennifer Melcher, Ph. D., an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary, shared some of the current knowledge in a fascinating and informative talk.

For the uninformed, the term “tinnitus” is described as the perception of sound when no sound is present. Dr. Melcher prefers the term “tinnitus condition” which is not just the sound you hear, but a lot of other stuff that is going on along with that sound. Hyperacusis is a second condition often attached to tinnitus, whereby sounds that are normal to most people become abnormally loud to others. Sufferers of tinnitus are frequently unable to lead a normal life due to depression, disruption of sleep, inability to work and sometimes even suicide. It occurs with hearing loss but also with normal hearing and is rarely curable, but there are ways to treat the symptoms.

After this background information, with the use of slides, Dr. Melcher provided an in-depth description of the auditory system showing how sound moves from ear to brain. Any problems along this path could result in hearing tinnitus, particularly if hair cells are broken.

She also pointed out besides the ear, auditory system and brain there is the somatosensory system to contend with. For instance, if there is a tensing of the head and neck muscles, it will affect your tinnitus. Somehow, the hearing centers use information from these muscles and link directly to the auditory system. Tinnitus causes distress. Distress causes tinnitus.

If the ear is unstimulated by an outside source, it will make sounds up. Tinnitus can be heard as buzzing, whirring, chimes, music, all sounds the brain has heard before and remembers. Tinnitus is the noises of something to fill in. Examining only participants with clinically normal audiograms but chronic tinnitus, Dr. Melcher’s group are studying the condition with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) in order to actually see brain function by putting in sound, raising the sound by degrees and watching the brain responding. By this method, they can distinguish between tinnitus with hyperacusis, tinnitus without hyperacusis, etc.

Because the brain is not separate parts, new tests are discovering just how connected the different brain areas are and the way that affects how you hear tinnitus. (Connectivity analysis) All of the testing shows there are many kinds of tinnitus which will require varied forms of treatment. Dr. Melcher summarized, “the (scientific) field has a sense that there are ways to get at the tinnitus. The question is how to do it for that person.” Or, “no magic bullet” as she says.

There are a few treatment studies in other countries. One, from Germany, called transcranial magnetic stimulation, involves a coil placed in different locations in your head which excites the cortex (currently not understood) and may result in a reduction of tinnitus. Another extremely new treatment from Belgium puts a little stimulator on the vagal nerve, which controls neurotransmitter release in the brain. This is mostly done for depression and is FDA approved. A fairly minor surgery, there appears to be some benefit.

During the robust question and answer period we learned that yes, tinnitus and migraine headaches are connected as well as Meniere’s disorder, biofeedback is questionable and acupuncture has been some help. Scientists are working on regrowing cochlea hair cells as well as the auditory nerve fibers that connect the hair cells to the brain. At present, loud noises will probably, if not definitely, cause hearing loss and hearing aids cannot be fitted for tinnitus.

Dr. Melcher was a whirlwind of information and it was indeed a privilege to have her speak to our group.

Coming soon–a summary of our September meeting with Dr. Perry Ebel of Beltone. His talk was called :  “The Future is Now!  Advancements in Hearing Aid Technology”

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