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INFORMER The Chapter Newsletter

SEPTEMBER 2016

CHAPTER CALENDAR

Chapter, Board Meetings and Lip Reading Classes at Weingart Center, 5220 Oliva Ave, Lakewood 90712

Sept. 8 CHAPTER MEETING, 6:30 PM, WEINGART Beyond Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants Dr. Brad Ingrao, Au.D

Refreshments: Ken Saw, Maxine Barton-Bauman, Miryam Ocampo

THANK YOU! Sept. 12 HAT Committee Meeting, 12:30 pm, Mimi’s on Candlewood Sept. 16 HAT Demo resumes, 10 - 12 noon, Weingart Center, Craft Room Sept. 28 Chapter Board Meeting, 12:30, Weingart Oct. 3 HLAA-CA Tech Expo in Belmont, CA Oct. 13 Chapter Meeting, 6:30 pm, Weingart

Two Distinct Lip Reading Classes: Mondays 10 am to noon, Wednesdays 9:30 – 11:30 am.

Monday class resumes on Sept. 12 Wednesday class resumes on Sept. 7

BEYOND HEARING AIDS AND COCHLEAR

IMPLANTS

Dr. Brad Ingrao, Au. D.

SEPTEMBER CHAPTER MEETING We are pleased to announce that Dr. Brad Ingrao is returning to continue his presentation on “must have” Hearing Assistive Technologies. Sometimes, our hearing aids and CIs are just not enough. If only every listening situation was a perfectly quiet room with carpet, drapes, perfect lighting and if all speakers were within three feet. We will learn about the types of devices that address the hazards that interfere with hearing: distance, noise and reverberation. Dr. Ingrao will demonstrate ways to attach HAT devices to our primary hearing devices and will show us three alerting devices to help maximize our hearing and understanding in our noisy world. Dr. Ingrao is an Advanced Practice Clinical audiologist at the Veterans’ Administration Long Beach Healthcare System. He has been a long-time supporter, Board Member and volunteer for various Hearing Loss Association of America chapters across the nation. We are fortunate to have him here in Long Beach. Continued on page 4.

THE HEARING LOSS BATTLE CRY

By Gael Hannan, Hearing Health and Technology Matters July 5, 2016

This month, at least two countries are celebrating historic independence as nations. It was a full-on revolution for the United States and a bloodless document-signing for Canadians, but for both countries, it was a years-long march to the desired freedoms.

People with hearing loss also wage private wars with their disability - that can last a lifetime. Maybe a little more flag-waving would help.

It’s a conflict that doesn’t end. This need to communicate and inability to hear. We want freedom from the strain of Frustrations that erupt in annoyance. We want to keep up, not fall into the communication gutters. We want independence from using others to be our ears.

And so, every day, we do our best—which is often stellar, sometimes less so, To engage and communicate. But, at day’s end, we are tired. We put our hearing aids or cochlear implants aside And sleep, resting up to hear another day.

And with the sun, we begin again. Most days, reaching for the technology that turns on the world of sound (And noise), I remember to be grateful, because I know that without this, and other supports, Life would be different. Without communication, we cannot connect Without connection, we walk in isolation.

If I fight against my hearing loss, I will lose, Because it will never go away. But if I fight for better communication I will win,

Because I can overcome the foes of my own Fear, ignorance and fatigue. I hear what I hear, but I have a toolkit That drives me to better hearing and inclusion. Don’t think of it as war, but as a continuing series Of tiny communication skirmishes— Some we win, some don’t go so well. But we must salute ourselves, celebrating Each victory over frustration, each boost in self-esteem.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

By Katie Wright, Chapter President

I was recently invited by Toni Barrient, our HLAA Southern California Chapter Coordi-nator, to attend a performance of “Cabaret” at the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa. I hadn’t been to the theatre since seeing Wicked several years ago.

We picked up the Center’s wireless assistive listening devices and neckloops in the lobby and headed for our seats. Because the Center also offered open-captioning for this performance, our seats were in the Orchestra section on the left side (nice!). The show began and I couldn’t hear anything through the ALDs and my t-coils. The sound was loud enough that, with the captions, I was able to follow everything that was happening. I kept trying to get the neckloop to work, to no avail. Finally at intermission, Toni and I had a chance to talk. We switched neckloops just in case mine wasn’t working. She had a solution; she draped the neckloop over her ears so the wire was close to the t-coil. It worked. So for at least the second half of the program I didn’t have to swivel my head as much from the stage to off-stage where the captions were being shown. … and that brings me to the next problem. Cabaret takes place right at the beginning of WW2 in Germany, so of course, the actors are speaking with accents. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Uh oh. Yep. I really needed those captions. Why, oh why, can’t they find a way to have the captions closer to the center of the stage? If I wanted to know what the actors were saying, I had to look away from the stage. The action on the stage is the whole purpose of the show: the set, the costumes, the characters - getting caught up in the experience. Despite the problems, I had a great time. The show was great, the theatre is beautiful and our seats were fantastic since we needed to sit close to the captions. (Seats were discounted also!) The neckloops worked with a little tweak-ing and the captions were readable, albeit off to the side. I will be writing an email to the Accessibility Office about the difficulty with the neckloops and captions. BUT at least those of us with hearing loss can attend a theatre production and enjoy ourselves just like everyone else. I will definitely go back!

STEPHEN FISHER

Stephen Fisher’s Life Celebration

October 1, 2 p.m.

Our Saviour's Lutheran Church

370 Junipero, Long Beach

Reception following in social hall.

You are invited to the Hearing Loss Tech Expo on October 8, 2016, in Belmont, California. The expo is hosted by the Hearing Loss Association of America, California State Association (HLAA-CA). People with hearing loss, their families, and their friends are welcome. Hearing professionals are also welcome. Attendance is open to the public, free of charge. The expo is a unique opportunity to see the latest hearing products and services and to network with people with hearing loss and with hearing professionals. Free multiple $50 Target Stores gift cards and goodies will be given to attendees whose names will be drawn randomly. Complimentary reusable tote bags with valuable information will be provided. Complimentary refreshments will be served. Exhibitors: Advanced Bionics, Audio Everywhere, California Academy of Audiology, California Telephone Access Program, CapTel Outreach, CaptionCall, ClearCaptions, ClearSounds Communications, Cochlear Americas, Department of Rehabilitation, Ditto, Hamilton Relay, HLAA-CA and NoCal HLAA Chapters, MED-EL Corporation, Oticon, OTOjOY, Phonak, Serene Innovations Gold Sponsor: MED-EL Corporation Sponsors: ClearCaptions, ClearSounds Communica-tions, General Technologies, Harris Communications, HEARMORE, Oticon, OTOjOY, Stanford Initiative to Cure Hearing Loss HLAALongBeach.Lakewood

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HEARING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY COLUMN

(HAT)

Dr. Bill Busch, HAT Co-Chair

HAT is Back!

Summer vacation is over for the HAT Committee. We ended our vacation by supporting Congresswoman Linda Sanchez’s 14th Annual Senior Fair on August 12th. Over a 1000 people attended the fair and a large number visited our table where we displayed several of our hearing assistive technology devices and our chapter literature. This year we tried something different. We had a free drawing for a Serene Innovations VA-3 Vibrating Alarm Clock. It has a large screen, an audible alarm, a light that flashes, and a strong built-in vibrator. The clock can be attached to your pillow so that the vibrations will wake you. In the spring we added it to our HAT inventory and many people have tried it and like it. At our August board meeting, without looking we picked the winning slip from the drawing jar and notified the winner and losers. We also reminded them of our upcoming chapter meeting on September 14 with Dr. Brad Ingrao speaking about important HAT devices and our HAT demonstration on September 16. I want to give a big thank-you to all who helped to make our participation in the Senior Fair a big success. While I was on vacation, our HAT Co-Chair, Ilga Dravnieks organized our participation and made flyers describing our chapter’s activities. She kept track of the volunteers and when they would be able to help and sent out maps. Thanks to Katie Wright for buying the clock, making up the drawing slips and bringing golf pencils to fill them out. She also arrived at 8 am to help me set up. The table looked great with all our brochures and devices on our new tablecloth with our chapter’s name on it and with our banner set up behind us. Katie had to leave at 9 but about that time, Maxine Barton Bauman, Bonnie Strutin and Helen Bologna all arrived. Big thanks to them for helping us handle the hoards of people who came by our table. Also, thanks to Bonnie for bringing 3 helium filled balloons. A big thanks also to Helen for bringing candy and a plant for our table. She also asked Dr. DeKriek to donate some freebies for the people who came by our table. He generously donated a large number of lunch size cooler bags and jar openers which were a big hit. Another big thanks to Gail Morrison who came at 10 AM and stayed until the end. It was after 1:00 pm by the time we helped some of the stragglers and carried everything to the car. She also kept a watchful eye on our devices since some people thought they were freebies. Our next event is our HAT Committee Meeting at Mimi’s Restaurant on Candlewood in Lakewood at 12:30 on September 12th where we will begin planning our activities for the rest of the year. We will restart our monthly Rocky Stone Hearing Device Exhibits also referred to as our HAT demonstrations on September 16 from 10 AM to noon in the Weingart Center’s Craft Room. Invite your friends and relatives with hearing loss to come and try out a large variety of devices that can

improve their ability to hear better in difficult situations. These devices can be very beneficial to people with or without hearing aids and are a lot less expensive. A representative from a telephone captioning company will be on hand to offer information on phones with captions. Sam Moghadam, Hearing Instrument Specialist from Ascent Hearing Center will also be present to assist with hearing aids. HAT does not sell hearing aids or Hearing Assistive Devices, but provides information on where to purchase items demonstrated.

For further information, please call 562-630-6141 or visit our website: www.hlalongbeachlakewood.org/.

The Patient’s Guide to Tinnitus: 2016 Douglas L. Beck, Au.D. September 21, 2016 5:00pm - 6:00pm PT

In this webinar, we’ll detail the types of tests which are useful to diagnose and manage the tinnitus patients (audiometric tests as well as questionnaires, medical consultations, radiographic studies and more), tinnitus classifications (subjective versus objective findings), treatments (medical, audiologic, psycho-logical and more) and the vast multitude of wallet-biopsies, scams, snake-oil and “take the money and run” approaches found in newspapers, airline magazines, food stores and pharmacies.

Product/Service Showcase Webinar Company: Ditto Presenter: Neal Pecchenino Director of Product and Operations September 8, 2016 5:00pm - 6:00pm PT Come learn about the “anti-gadget” – Ditto is something to free people from worrying about their smartphones and to be more present in life. Ditto is tiny and elegant. No buttons, switches, lights, displays, or cables. See more at simplematters.com/how-it-works. Products/Service Showcase webinars are in no way to be construed as an endorsement by HLAA. HLAA offers informational seminars online – “webinars.” Notices of these webinars are posted on the HLAA Website. The time to watch here in California is 5-6 p.m. The webinars are recorded and posted online but that sometimes takes a few weeks. If you've never attended a webinar from HLAA - you need to go in ahead of time and set up your computer for watching them - it takes less than 15 minutes - click on the following link for directions: http://hearingloss.org/content/webinars

HAT continued

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EMAIL COPIES OF THE INFORMER

Electronic copies of the Informer are available to all members. If I do not have your email address on record and you would like to receive an emailed copy of the newsletter, please send a message to hlaalbl.informer@gmail.com.

LINKS

Hearing Loss Association of America http://www.hearingloss.org Hearing Loss Association of America, California State Association http://www.hearinglossca.org Hearing Loss Association of America, Long Beach/ Lakewood Chapter http://www.hlalongbeachlakewood.org The Better Hearing Consumer, Gael Hannan, Hearing Health and Technology Matters http://hearinghealthmatters.org/betterhearingconsumer/2016/the-hearing-loss-battle-cry/

SCOREBOARD MEMBERS GUESTS TOTAL

June ‘16 18 2 20

May ‘16 27 6 33

April ‘16 24 0 24

Mar. ‘16 29 8 37

Feb. ‘15 28 4 32

SUPPORT THE CHAPTER BY SHOPPING AT

RALPH’S!

Don’t forget to sign up for the Ralph’s Community Rewards Program. Your participation must be renewed every year. There are 2 ways. First you can go online to the Ralph’s website and follow the instructions there. Here is the link to create an account or to sign in if you already have one: https://www.ralphs.com/account/create. Then just desig-nate the Long Beach/Lakewood Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America as your charity.

Thanks so much for your support!

HELEN’S HOSPITAL HINTS #3

Be sure that all the staff knows that you probably won’t be able to understand anything that is said through the intercom. Don’t fake it! Tell the person on the other end that you have a hearing loss and can’t understand what they just said.

GN RESOUND LOSES COSTCO CONTRACT

Hearing Health and Technology Matters, Brian Taylor, editor

August 18, 2016

Major hearing aid manufacturer GN Hearing (GN ReSound), announced this past week, to the surprise of many industry insiders, that it has lost its contract with Costco as the supplier of its Kirkland Signature-branded hearing aids. The company, which has managed to continue increasing its market share across the industry in recent years, has produced the past two generations of Kirkland-branded aids for Costco, and was expected by many in the industry to have its contract renewed by the retailer.

As a result, the company is expected to face significant challenges next year with its Costco business particularly, but is hoping to offset the losses through continued organic growth in other sectors, including the independent and VA markets, as well as in Europe, where GN has continued to make gains.

Costco, which has put increased emphasis on selling its own-branded devices, is currently the largest retailer of hearing aids in the US.

Having the contract with Costco has been one of the key drivers to the company’s success in recent years, considering the major retailer’s hearing aid division has continued to grow at a rate close to 20% for the past several years. In a February 2015 Reuters article, Jyske Markets predicted a 6% drop in hearing aid sales for the company if GN lost the supply agreement contract.

Industry sources tell us the most likely supplier for the next generation Kirkland hearing aids is Sivantos, which currently has a presence in Costco under their Rexton label.

We can’t give up, because as someone once said, The alternative is unthinkable. So instead, with one hand raised to the sky and the other to our people. We have to say: “World, talk with me and sing me your sounds. Give me all you’ve got, World, because I’m listening.”

BATTLE CRY Continued from pg.1

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HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

LONG BEACH / LAKEWOOD CHAPTER Officers President - Katie Wright Vice - President - Bill Busch Treasurer - Joyce Bowlby Recording Secretary - Craig Bowlby Corresponding Secretary - Ken Saw Committees Hearing Assistive Technology - Bill Busch, Ilga Dravnieks Lip Reading - Linda DeGuire Looping - Ram Kakkar Membership - Flo McDavid (on leave)/ Katie Wright Newsletter - Katie Wright Programs/Publicity - Gail Morrison Refreshments - Marie O’Brien Ways and Means - need volunteer Support Newsletter Layout - Lisa Rettino Professional Advisor - Dr. David DeKriek, Au.D.

Chapter Contacts: Katie Wright 323-205-6794, katie.hearingloss@gmail.com Bill Busch, 310-540-6322, billbusch@ieee.org.

HLAA Join HLAA now to receive Hearing Loss Magazine and become part of the one organization that represents the interests of 48 million people with hearing loss in the United States. Send $35 / $45 for individual/family membership to:

Hearing Loss Association of America 7910 Woodman Avenue, Suite 1200,

Bethesda, MD 20814. Phone: (301) 657-2248; email: inquiry@hearingloss.org

To join online, go to http://hearingloss.org/ Membership brochures are available at our chapter meetings.

CTAP California Telephone Access Program

Information, Repair & Exchange English Voice 1-800-806-1191 Spanish Voice 1-800-949-5650

HLAA ADVOCACY NEWS

Join HLAA in the Fight for Affordable Hearing Health Care

In June 2016 the National Academies of Sciences (the Academies) issued a groundbreaking report, Hearing Health Care for Adults: Priorities for Improving Access and Affordability. The recommendations accurately reflect the needs, concerns, and frustrations that consumers face when making hearing health care decisions, including whether to seek treatment at all. HLAA is proud to be the only consumer organization to serve as one of the sponsors of the report. Implementation of the report’s twelve recommendations could change the face of hearing health care, but we can’t do it alone.

WHAT HLAA IS DOING We have created a campaign on Change.org to spread the word about the report to everyone who has an interest in or is touched by hearing loss in some way. WHAT YOU CAN DO

Go to our Change.org campaign. There you will find more information about the campaign and links to the

report.

Sign on to the campaign by completing the information on the right side of the screen, underneath "Sign this Petition".

Share the link on your social media feeds such as Face-book and Twitter, tell your friends, tell your doctor…tell everyone you can!

Lastly, as progress is made toward implementation, we will post updates to the Change.org page so be sure to check back.

FCC Adopts Landmark Agreement to Improve Access to Hearing Aid Compatible Cell Phones and Wireless Devices.

On August 4, 2016 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved a Report and Order that will change the scope of the rules and requirements for hearing aid compatible (HAC) cell phones and wireless devices. HLAA, in collaboration with the wireless industry and other consumer groups, submitted a consensus letter to the FCC in November 2015 outlining a path forward toward the goal of making all cell phones and wireless devices hearing aid compatible within eight years. The FCC agreed to require that 66 percent of devices are compatible within two years and 85 percent are compatible within five years. The Commission stated, “[FCC] reconfirms its commitment to pursuing 100 percent compatibility within eight years.” This agreement means greater choice in wireless phone selection for those with hearing aids or cochlear implants than

Landmark Agreement (continued) what is currently available. HLAA Executive Director Barbara Kelley and Director of Public Policy Lise Hamlin attended the meeting at the FCC for the historic event. Barbara commented, “We’ve been talking about hearing aid compatible phones since the 1970s and are likely to be talking about them for a long time due to innovations in technology. You can be sure that HLAA will be there every step of the way for our members.”

(Continued in next column)

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Hearing Loss Association of America - Long Beach/Lakewood Chapter c/o Katie Wright 7802 Kingbee Street Downey, CA 90242

Address Service Requested

First Class

DISCLAIMER We believe the information contained in this publication has been compiled from reliable sources. However none of the contributors, sponsors, or anyone else connected with the Informer in any way whatsoever can be responsible for the appearance of any inaccurate or libelous information or for your use of the information contained in or linked from these pages. If you need specific advice, for example, for your particular hearing concerns, please seek a professional who is licensed or knowledgeable in that area. We further do not recommend or endorse any product or professional but supply such information as a public service.

The Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) opens the world of communication to people with hear ing loss through information, education, support and advocacy. The national support network includes the Washington, D.C., national office, state organizations and local HLAA Chapters. Join HLAA now to receive Hearing Loss Magazine and become part of the one organization that represents the interests of 48 million people with hearing loss in the United States.

HLAA Long Beach/Lakewood Chapter Meetings are on the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm. We meet at the Weingart Center, 5220 Oliva Ave, Lakewood 90712

• If you don’t like meetings because you can’t hear well, our meetings are different.

• We have a high quality sound system.

• You can borrow an assistive listening device.

• If you have hearing aids with t-coils we have a hearing induction loop.

• If none of these help, we project captions on the wall for you to read. We provide all these options free so you can understand what it said.

FUTURE PROGRAMS October 13 - Serene Innovations

November 10 - Dr. Joni Doherty and Ryan DelloRusso, Shohet Ear Associates