Milwaukee: The Countdown Begins

By Cheryl Heppner 6/14/10

Bonnie O’Leary and I are heading to National Airport on Wednesday morning for our flight to the annual Hearing Loss Association of America convention, held this year in Milwaukee. We’ll have a few hours that day to explore the conference hotel and surrounding area, including the Frontier Airlines Center (formerly Midwest Conference Center), where the exhibits and workshops will be held. This lay-of-the-land exploration is important for someone like me who was born without built-in GPS and for Galaxy the Ready Dog, who believes in being prepared with the location of a relief area on every block.

If you have Real Player, you can take a virtual tour of the area near the Frontier Airlines Center at www.midwestairlinescenter.com. There’s a tour inside the center that looks interesting too. It is the home of the Burke Family Collection of commissioned and integrated art.

Bonnie and I have made ambitious plans to cover all the exhibits and workshops as we can stuff in. My laptop is charged and my trusty steno book and favorite pens are packed.

Hello, Milwaukee!

By Cheryl Heppner, 6/16/10

Bonnie and I are now on the loose in Milwaukee. We and our bags got to National Airport without incident despite rush hour traffic, and there wasn’t a long line at check-in. I haven’t flown for a few months so this was my initiation to the new world where airlines charge for everything. Ouch! I remember the day when I didn’t have to pay for my luggage to fly with me, regardless of whether the bags were going in the cabin or in the bowels of the plane.

On the positive side, the Midwest agent who checked us in was wonderful, and Margaret Johns with airport security gets my first and only four star rating for an airport security officer. She was helpful to both Bonnie and me as we went through in a way that I have never experienced before. It was inspiring to have the trip through security be pleasant instead of torture.

The skies were totally overcast as we waited in the terminal for our flight. We were definitely on the HLAA plane! Anne Girard of Hamilton, Barbara Kelley, HLAA Deputy Executive Director, Michael Stone, President of the Board of Trustees, and Ahme Stone were also on our flight. Unfortunately after boarding our plane sat on the tarmac for 50 minutes before takeoff, but we eventually arrived in Milwaukee and had a charming cab driver.

Bonnie passed time on the plane alternating between working on crosswords and reading a book. Some anagram puzzles she had in her purse, challenged me to solve them, and then I was read my Entertainment Weekly to get the scoop on new movies in theaters, the fall return of True Blood and Glee, and the July return of Mad Men. For right now, my heart belongs to So You Think You Can Dance. It’s not often that I watch anything live, so praise be to the digital video recorder.

Upon arrival at the conference hotel Hilton Milwaukee, we spotted a face from home, Joe Duarte, and he immediately started us out with hugs. More followed from others during our short wait in line for our rooms. We were able to check in even though we were at least an hour in advance of the 4 pm advertised time. And wow, do I like my room! What a great layout with lots of space.

After doing some unpacking, Bonnie and I went downstairs to get something to eat. At the Miller Tim Pub. We had a pleasant chat with Linda Kozma-Spytek of Gallaudet University, who told us about the study she is doing here on cochlear implants and cell phones.

As Bonnie and I ate our enormous salads, we also watched some of the World Cup game between South Africa and Uruguay, where we witnessed the awesome goal that dashed South Africa’s hopes. Many flat screen TVs were showing the game throughout the pub and we just happened to be in a booth midway between two of the TVs that had captions turned on. What puzzled me was that one TV had the old style captions with the white text on a black background, while the other had crisp yellow captions and no background. And one TV had captions that were two to six words behind the captions on the other. What do you think are my odds of finding a volunteer to study the caption mystery in exchange for free beer?

Our meal behind us, Bonnie and I found our way to the Frontier Conference Center across the street and thence to the registration desk. We are now fully armed with our badges, the official conference bag and program book, and the 398-page whopper of a convention workbook with copies of all the presenters’ slides. While there we ran into Joe Duarte again. When I commented that he was beginning to sport a haggard look, he told me that he’d flown from National early this morning and had been drafted to help resolve some problems with the listening system setup. That’s our hero.

We also ran into Lynn Rousseau an Flo Innes of Florida, the HLAA hostess-with-the-mostest duo and a lot of the great people that make this conference more than just education. My hug-o-meter is guaranteed to go berserk tomorrow when there’s a whole day to reconnect with HLAA buddies of years past and meet exciting new people.

Day One Begins in Milwaukee!

By Cheryl Heppner, 6/18/10

I am having a great time at the HLAA convention in Milwaukee with one full day of conference activities under my belt, but what a day it was! I was on my feet for nearly 7 straight hours in the exhibit hall and I sure wish the free massages one exhibitor offered at a previous convention were standard for all of them. Prior to the start of the conference my first night was a joy, spending time with Flo Innes and Lynn Rousseau, Bonnie O’Leary and many assorted other friends talking about vertigo, dogs, life, and general craziness. It was the ideal kick-back time before the pace quickened.

Yesterday morning I had a lovely walk at sunrise with Galaxy. We took in some of the area surrounding our digs at the Hilton Milwaukee and the conference center, and especially enjoyed the discovery of the shops of Grand Avenue. From the street you’d never know there was a pretty, multi-floored shopping mall tucked in and surrounded by some of the city’s business towers. At that hour it was largely deserted except for a security guard, so we even skipped and twirled on the polished floors once or twice just for the fun of it.

Back at the hotel I went to the front desk and inquired about a dog play area, for which I have to thank the ever resourceful Esther Kelly of Texas. She had stopped me the previous evening to let me know the hotel had such a place. It’s a nice-sized courtyard on one floor, tucked between sides of the building. There’s a gazebo, a path, and two nice long strips of grass where Galaxy joyfully chased a Frisbee. At one end of the courtyard, there are plastic bags and a container to dispose of the waste.

For this, the courteous staff, and two other reasons we love the hotel. The desk in my room is long and more than twice the normal length I encounter, as well as much wider so there’s lots of space to spread out and organize my papers around my laptop instead of piling them on the floor around me and the bed. There’s a 6-inch shelf on the back of the desk with space to store things, and the top of the shelf has a built in strip that accommodates plugs for my cochlear implant battery charger and laptop. A lamp at one end has two more outlets built into its base so I also have one for my cell phone charger.

And then there’s the bathroom. It struck me yesterday as I was preparing for the day that the counter was so long that I could fully lay out on it. This for no good reason led me to ruminate that it was roomy enough to do surgery there, at least if the sink could be made less obtrusive. This led me to wonder if guests at the hotel had ever discovered the rooms would make a great location for a botox party, because I looked in the equally impressive mirror and that made me think it would be nice to have the face I had 20 years ago. I hope I earned every one of those character lines..

I have so much news to share from the exhibits and last night’s opening session, but there’s another day to take in and it may well be evening before I have time to attack my notes again. I just finished reading, replying to and deleting nearly 200 emails from my inbox and more from my BlackBerry, a pittance because there are thousands to go, so I am juggling in earnest. At least I finally saw Joe Gordon of New York yesterday and knew all was right with the world. At my previous HLAA conventions he and I have always been early birds and the day just never feels right if I don’t’ start my day with a Joe sighting.

HLAA in Milwaukee: Bonnie’s Adventures

By Bonnie O’Leary, 6/18/ 10

There is so much to see here, it seems like it will be impossible to get through it all! Our hotel is wonderful and so conveniently connected to the Frontier Airlines Center. I’m starting to think that HLAA should stand for “Hugs ‘n Love Association of America”; every corner we turn seems to present opportunities for embracing long lost friends.

The exhibit hall is teeming with vendors and fabulous exhibits, some new this year. So far I’ve had the privilege of speaking with reps from Amplicom, ATS Resources, Clear Sounds Communications, Hearing Loop Systems, Interpretype, LLC, Landmark Audio Technologies, StreamText.net, and the Wisconsin Office for Deaf and Hard of Hearing. And I’m still only a third of the way down my list! I’ve also attended some interesting break-out sessions which were very popular: “From Mouth to Ear: Acoustic Architecture, Assistive Listening Devices and New Room Acoustical Standards,” “Advocating for Hearing Loops,” “Job Search and Employment: Its Clear Communication is Critical!,” and “How to Pay for Hearing Aids,” a presentation by our beloved Lise Hamlin, whom we still miss! I also attended the first half of the symposium on hearing aids this morning, so my notebook is bulging at the seams with lots of great information to share with you when we return.

We’ve had some glorious weather, delightfully cool too, but thunderstorms have just moved in within the last hour. Still, the rain won’t dampen the spirits of those heading for a rumble at the Harley Davidson Museum tonight. As for me, I think I’ll take out my hearing aid, curl up amongst the dozens of poofy pillows on my bed, and spend some quiet time reading. Tomorrow is another day of learning and exploring!

Cheers from Milwaukee!

Opening Session and Keynote Address, Part 1

By Cheryl A. Heppner, 6/18/10

The opening session of Hearing Loss Association of America’s 2010 convention took place in one of the Ballrooms at Milwaukee’s Frontier Center. While waiting for the session to begin, I had a delightful conversation with Carole Purdum of Kansas.

Michael Stone, President of the HLAA Board of Trustees, recognized the chapter representatives and trustees in attendance and then turned the program over to Deputy Executive Director and Hearing Loss Magazine Editor-in-Chief Barbara Kelley. Barbara thanked the those who made the conference possible – the sponsors, captioners, and assistive listening device specialists. She gave a reminder for the Young Adult event on Saturday night and some other conference activities.

Bevin K. Baker

Before leaving the podium, she introduced Bevin K. Baker, a special guest whose government work here in the health field has drawn acclaim. Among the things he is known for is his health initiative to reduce teen pregnancy 50% by the year 2015. “They people here look healthy and happy to me,” she said, “so he must be doing a great job.”

Mr. Baker won us over in short order with his statement that hearing loss is a major health concern, and he applauded the work HLAA has done to call attention to it. With 17% of people experiencing hearing loss, he said more must be done to remove the stigma. He expressed his pride in Wisconsin’s passage of a mandatory hearing screening for newborns, but cited issues that remain for people with hearing loss, such as lack of access in auditoriums and movie theaters, hearing loss due to iPod and MP3 player use, and the need to develop new technology. Key to resolving these issues, he believes, are education and advocacy.

Issues related to hearing loss are personal for Mr. Baker because he has responsibility for the health of the entire city and also because he and his wife have adopted a little boy from Ethiopia with a lot of health conditions, including hearing loss. He heard this three year-old child’s first words three weeks ago. In addition, his daughter’s interest in communicating in sign language with a person in the Post Office, has led him to desire that every American be able to talk with their hands.

Mr. Baker’s final message was “the most powerful words often spoken are in a whisper.” Last year his mother became very ill and he was the last of her children to arrive to see her. She was fading and barely responsive, but when he walked into the room, her eyes opened for the first time in hours. He moved closer to her, pressing his ear to her lips and heard her say, “Thank you. I am so happy to see you.”

“I missed my mother’s last 46 hours, but I heard her last 30 seconds,” he said.

In closing Mr. Baker thanked the 800 people at the convention for coming to “the little city by the big lake” and said they have transformed his life by the work they do.

Opening Session and Keynote Address, Part 2

Brenda Battat gave an impressive and inspiring update on the wide variety of important HLAA activities during the past year. Just a few of those on the list were advocacy to oppose a proposed a sales tax on hearing aids, reversing a decision on security officers with hearing aids, and educating consumers about what to expect when searching for hearing aids. She cited the recent addition of the HLAA website video education series, collaboration with other organizations to get things done, reaching out to young adults, a wiki for parents, and convention scholarships. Then she asked, “how can we rest?” and mentioned a few of the challenges not yet met, such as the dismal statistic that 50% of infants diagnosed with hearing loss still are not getting care, and there is no availability of accessible teleconferences.

Brenda recognized volunteers in the audience who headed the Walk4Hearing and their work taking the fundraising and education to the next level. She also lauded the support of the corporate sponsors who make the convention possible and a partial sponsorship by Williams Sound for the new listening system receivers used by conference attendees.

American Academy of Audiology Partnership

Patricia Kricos of Florida, President-elect of the American Academy of Audiology, spoke of the organization’s delight to be working with HLAA on the launch and roll-out of the hearing loop initiative, which arose after Brenda returned from Europe inspired by an international conference on the hearing loops. The Academy had been wanting to work together with HLAA, she said, and this project was an ideal match. Critics have asked why such a project is needed when Bluetooth is available, and Patricia’s answer was that it’s so functional. She considers David Myers a hero for his Loop America campaign (www.hearingloop.org). Her list of reasons to embrace hearing loops is headed by their being simple, cheap and affordable, and she said a telecoil needs to be included the tiniest of hearing aids to harness the power of the technology.

Conny Andersson of Sweden, Chair of the International Standards Committee, is an engineer who has been working in the area of hearing loops for many years. The standards by this nonprofit organization cover things like electrical appliances and audio systems around the world. They address sensitivity of the electronics and ensuring that all systems will work together, just like a hearing aid must work with a loop system. U.S. standards are called ANSI; standards in other countries go by different name. These standards specify field strengths setting how high you will hear, addressing frequency, response, and background noise.

Opening Session and Keynote Address, Part 3

Barbara Kelley welcomed the 59 veterans of Operation Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom who were attending the conference and then introduced as a “friend to HLAA” Dr. Lucille Beck, Director of Audiology/Speech Pathology, Office of Patient Care Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Beck shared that HLAA founder Rocky Stone was a veteran and a patient of hers who challenged her throughout her career and in all the work she did. Today’s Department of Veterans Affairs is the second largest cabinet-level department after the Department of Defense and has the largest integrated health care system in the U.S. It includes 155 hospitals, 135 community living centers, and 209 veteran counseling centers.

The Veterans Administration’s audiology mission includes high quality support of training developing audiologists and research to improve the technology, methodology, treatment and efficacy of hearing loss. Some statistics shared by Dr. Beck:

- There are 778 audiologists working for the VA and 19 are doing research.
- Since November 2009, the VA has had contracts with 9 manufacturers for digital hearing aids.
- The Department of Defense and other government agencies use VA contracts.
- In 2009, there were 475,945 hearing aids provided to 238,601 veterans – a 25% increase over 2008.
- The VA is 18% of the hearing aid market in the U.S.
- Cochlear implants are provided by the VA at 16 centers and make up 12% of the U.S. market.
- Over 1.2 million veterans have a service-connected disability for hearing and tinnitus; 639,029 for tinnitus and 570,966 for hearing loss.
- Tinnitus and hearing loss are the #1 and #2 disabilities of veterans.

Tinnitus has been associated with brain injury, noise exposure, hearing loss, ear disease, and many medical conditions and medications. A Defense Center of Excellence for Hearing Loss was required in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2009 to prevent, diagnose, mitigate, treat and rehabilitate hearing loss. It also established a Hearing Loss and Auditory System Injury Registry and outreach to consumer and veteran advocacy groups, professional organizations, academic institutions, and federal agencies.

A Research Working Group was established to develop a research agenda. Recommendations include that the NIDCD support research to improve and lower the cost of hearing aids.

Among the things brought up are:

- People with mild to moderate hearing loss are least likely to be screened and get, or use, hearing aids because they think they can get along without help.
- We know if we can intervene early, we can prevent psychosocial problems caused by hearing loss.
- Moderate hearing loss causes substantial communication problems but people with this loss can be successful hearing aid users.

NIDCD invited 20 individuals with varied expertise to participate and add their knowledge and experience. Brenda Battat of HLAA is one of those participating and her work is much appreciated.

(NVRC Note: Every 10 years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sets and monitors a group of national health objectives focusing on increasing the quality and years of healthy life, and eliminating health disparities. Healthy People 2020 is currently assessing the objectives of the past decade, measuring the impact of its prevention activity, and developing new 10-year targets. You can find the full list of recommendations for the hearing and other sensory community at http://tinyurl.com/24hgqjw). Here are a selected few:

ENT-VSL HP2020–1: Decrease otitis media in children and adolescents.
ENT-VSL HP2020–2: Increase the proportion of persons with hearing impairments who have ever used a hearing aid or assistive listening devices or who have cochlear implants.
ENT-VSL HP2020–3: Increase the proportion of persons who have had a hearing examination on schedule.
ENT-VSL HP2020–4: Increase the number of persons who are referred by their primary care physician or other health care provider for hearing evaluation and treatment.
ENT-VSL HP2020–5: Increase the use of ear protection devices.
ENT-VSL HP2020–6: Reduce the proportion of adolescents who have elevated hearing thresholds, or audiometric notches, in high frequencies (3, 4, or 6 kHz) in both ears, signifying noise-induced hearing loss.
ENT-VSL HP2020–7: Reduce the proportion of adults who have elevated hearing thresholds, or audiometric notches, in high frequencies (3, 4, or 6 kHz) in both ears, signifying noise-induced hearing loss.
ENT-VSL HP2020–8: Increase the proportion of newborns who are screened for hearing loss by no later than age 1 month, have audiologic evaluation by age 3 months, and are enrolled in appropriate intervention services by age 6 months.
ENT-VSL HP2020–9: Increase the proportion for adults bothered by tinnitus who have seen a doctor or other health care professionals.
ENT-VSL HP2020–10: Increase the proportion of adults, for whom tinnitus is a moderate to severe problem, who have tried appropriate treatments.
ENT-VSL HP2020–22: (Developmental) Increase the proportion of persons with communication disorders in the past 12 months whose personal or social functioning at home, school, or work improved after participation in speech-language therapy or other rehabilitative or intervention services.
ENT-VSL HP2020–23: (Developmental) Increase the proportion of persons with hearing loss and other sensory or communication disorders who have used Internet resources for health care information, guidance, or advice in the past 12 months.

Opening Session and Keynote Address, Part 4

Resources for Veterans

Barbara Kelley reminded the audience at the HLAA convention’s opening session of HLAA’s new resources for veterans. The HLAA website has a section specifically for veterans at www.hearingloss.org/veterans. Resources include information on tinnitus, hearing protection, communication tips, assistive devices, intimacy and hearing loss, federal resources guide, the RIT/NTID veterans project, ADA rights, national resource directory for wounded warriors, and more.

A captioned web chat on the VA Hearing Aid Program, presented by Dr. Gene W. Bratt, can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/3ybammf.

Keynote Address

Bill Barkeley, who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, despite vision and hearing loss, was the conference’s keynote speaker. He spoke of the time three years ago that he had a wife, three sons and a busy life until darkness came and with it feelings of doubt and hesitation “came like a house guest”.

A graduate of University of Southern California with a degree in business administration, he worked for a Fortune 500 company until one day he had three separate car accidents, all when making a left-hand turn. This led to the discovery that at age 28 he was one of 100,000 people in the U.S. with both hearing and vision loss. For a while after the blow of becoming deaf-blind he focused on raising his sons and doing community work. Then one day while sitting in church he decided that he wanted to climb Kilimanjaro even though he had never climbed a mountain or been to Africa.

Bill went to Colorado to meet a blind man who climbed Mount Everest and enjoyed hiking with him. While he knew some people probably thought he was having a midlife crisis, he realized that the people he most admired and realized had one thing in common — the passion to keep pushing forward. His quest to climb Kilimanjaro brought local news coverage about his dream and later coverage on Good Morning America.

Bill sought newer technology that allowed him to hear better, and night vision technologies to help him see to get to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He was fortunate to get a grant for a new Phonak FM system, but had to make adjustments to be able to communicate during a climb. These included finding newer materials to wick away sweat and keep it from destroying his hearing aids, testing to see if zinc batteries would activate at higher elevations, and getting a new microphone, which Phonak also supplied. For vision, he had to find a solution to the fogging of his night vision goggles, which caused him to run into a deer on a lawn at 5 am. Anti-fog wipes did the trick.

Key to the climb, Bill found, was “to have the right people behind you”. He gave us an account of the climb, which started with 42 African porters carrying their gear. Some of the journey was documented in film clips, and Bill talked about the tough period when he encountered altitude sickness and near despair before he found the strength to keep on going. Eventually he successfully reached the top, and we got to see a clip of his exhilaration as he saw the sun for the first time while atop Kilimanjaro. From that location, you must look down to see the sun rise.

With him on the trip were students who made a film, “Walk Your Own Path”, which he showed at the end of the presentation. “Adversity is your best friend because it introduces you to yourself,” he said. “By going for a goal, doors open that are rewarding. By taking on the mountains in your life, you can go places you haven’t even dreamed.”

Mount Kilimanjaro is behind him, and now Bill has a new passion. He will be leading a group of young adults to the Peruvian Amazon from July 8-17, 2010 as part of the partnership of Global Explorers and Hear the World, an initiative by Phonak.