The videophone boasts several apps and features which — at no cost to the end user — bring crisp video chats to the TVs of deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers across the U.S.
Link: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57587604-1/smartvp-videophone-for-deaf-gets-nationwide-release/
New implant helps child with rare hearing disorder
Cochlear implants have helped many children learn to listen and speak normally, but they aren’t the answer for children born without a cochlear nerve. Using a new type of hearing implant for children that is placed directly on the brain stem, doctors at UNC Hospitals have new ways to help children born into a silent world.
Link: http://www.wral.com/new-implant-helps-child-with-rare-hearing-disorder/12493782/
Link: http://www.wral.com/new-implant-helps-child-with-rare-hearing-disorder/12493782/
High tech technology updates help the deaf to communicate better
New high-tech video telephone technology, high-speed internet connections and, often, software and hardware engineers who are deaf or have a deaf family member seek to make lives better for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. People can make calls any time, from anywhere, in their own language — sign language.
Link: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130525/MONEY/705259961/1697
Link: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130525/MONEY/705259961/1697
New Resource Showcases Provider and Patient/Family Partnerships
A new monograph, “Positioning the Family and Patient at the Center: A Guide to Family and Patient Partnership in the Medical Home,” about family-centered care for pediatric patients, is now available from the National Center for Medical Home Implementation and the AAP. The monograph features family-centered medical home strategies from 17 pediatric primary care practices from across the country. To access the monograph, visit
Link: http://www.medicalhomeinfo.org/downloads/pdfs/Positioning_FINAL_May24.pdf
New manufacturing processes could improve cochlear implants
AUSTRALIAN academic and commercial researchers have developed designs for higher-performance electrodes which could substantially improve sound perception in the next generation of cochlear implants.
Link: http://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/new-manufacturing-processes-improve-cochlear-impla
Marvel Comics Highlights Technology for Those Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Marvel comics brings awareness to technology available to children who are deaf/hard of hearing. There are differing points of view on what message is being relayed. You can read opinions on the matter at http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-933554 and http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2013/03/tara-congdon-blue-ear-phonak-and-iron.html.
Link: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-933554
Storytelling Event Hosted for Deaf Students
The Louise Tumarkin Zazove Foundation held a deaf storytelling event recently at Eastern Michigan University’s Student Center. The event was organized by Philip Zazove, the first deaf medical doctor to graduate from the University of Michigan. It was intended to raise money for scholarships and financial assistance for deaf and hard of hearing students.
Link: http://www.easternecho.com/article/2013/05/foundation-hosts-storytelling-event-for-deaf-students
Boy with hearing loss sends hearing aids abroad
Twelve years after his first experience with hearing aids, a young man wants to share hope and encourage others who have hearing loss. He has worked with many others to help make his dream a reality. He, his dad and a team of audiologists from Utah State University will administer free hearing tests, hearing aids and sports jerseys to children in Ghana, a country in western Africa.
Link: http://www.northfulton.com/Articles-COMMUNITY-NEWS-c-2013-05-21-198920.114126-sub-Boy-with-hearing-loss-sends-hearing-aids-abroad.html
Why I Participate: By Parent Partner Wendy Hewitt
When her son Ruger did not pass his newborn hearing screening test, Wendy Hewitt was sent through a complex maze of specialists to get her son the care he needed. Now, 11 years later, Hewitt is an active parent advocate and parent partner in NICHQ’s Improving Hearing Screening & Intervention Systems project.
Link: http://www.nichq.org/stories/ParentStory-WendyHewitt.html
Purdue Innovation Could Help People with Severe Hearing Loss
A Purdue University researcher’s innovation may make it possible for people with severe hearing loss to hear high-frequency sounds. Joshua Alexander, an assistant professor in Purdue’s Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, said conventional hearing aids do not help listeners with severe hearing loss. Alexander discovered what listeners needed to enhance perception in the new pitch range, and then designed an algorithm to accommodate these needs. Read more…