BackLife's Getting Better for the Hearing Impaired
Article submitted by Max S. Chartrand, Ph.D. Max lectures worldwide on topics of hearing impairment and is the Managing Director at DigiCare Hearing Research & Rehabilitation. You can reach him at 719-676-3277, at www.digicare.org.
Hearing impaired individuals have never enjoyed so many ways to make life fuller, richer and more connected. Whether mildly, moderately or severely hearing impaired, things have gotten better for everyone that will reach out and take advantage of new technologies and opportunities.
In hearing aids, the new digital open-ear (thin-tube) hearing aids not only sound better and more natural, they're practically invisible. No more plugged feeling or own voice problems, and hearing in noise has never been better. For more severe hearing losses, "fuzzy logic" and adaptive technologies provide amplification that change as the sound environment changes, automatically.
Assistive technologies have also improved. Now, when you go to the movie theater, a live play, or church meeting, all you have to do is request an Infra-red Listening Device, free of charge. On television, closed-captioning (words on the screen) is built into every TV set sold in the U.S. Telephone communication is easier, too, with tunable amplifiers and CapTel® phones that allow you to see communication in real-time.
For those with severe and profound losses, cochlear implant technology has come so far as to make deafness a thing of the past for many. Cochlear implant centers now exist in every major community, including Pueblo and Colorado Springs.
And under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), opportunities abound for the hearing impaired-in travel, lodging, entertainment, education, anywhere the public gathers-just for the asking. Accredited online education makes it possible for the deaf to compete in a hearing world, while computer and Internet technology level the playing field in ways unthinkable just a decade ago!
Yes, better hearing means independence, empowerment, and the ability to more fully join the larger community. It's available today, here and now...just for the asking.