Our NYC Chapter has presented three programs over the past three months:
December 2022
Our December meeting topic was Musicians with Hearing Loss. Kate Gfeller of the U. of Iowa was joined by a panel of performing musicians with cochlear implants who shared their experiences playing their instruments with CIs. In addition, they discussed the issues they confronted in their pursuit of appropriate audiological services. Three of the four performed.
January 2023
In January we hosted our annual interactive program, where chapter members share stories and advice without an outside moderator or speaker. Chapter president, Katherine Bouton, moderated. The topic this year was how hearing loss affects us emotionally and psychologically. Attendees spoke about specific challenges they’ve faced — with technology, getting accommodations, with family, friends, the workplace, or in the public sector — and how they managed them.
February 2023
David Landberger, Ph.D., was the featured speaker for the February. Dr. Landsberger discussed the rich history of the cochlear implant from its early origins through the cutting edge of cochlear implant technology to the future possibilities. In the early days, it was hoped that cochlear implants might be useful aids for lipreading. Early pioneers took great risks getting experimental devices implanted into their heads with the hope of possibly hearing something again. With time, the cochlear implant has evolved such that surgery has become routine and outcomes highly exceed the expectations of the early pioneers.
Links to YouTube videos of December and January meetings are available on our chapter website, www.hearinglossnyc.org. The February video will be uploaded in the near future. Upcoming events in NYS and elsewhere may be found on our Calendar Page. IF you would like to add an event to this calendar please send details to: webinfo.nyhearingloss@gmail.com or send a text message to 516-697-0067.
March 21, 2023 @ 6pm – Virtual Chapter Meeting
Topic: Home safety for people with hearing loss. Terrence Williams, HLAA chapter board member and assistant director of the Center for Hearing and Communication’s Berelson Hearing and Technology Center; and Carolyn Stern, CHC’s Director of Outreach and Strategic Initiatives, will discuss how you can make your home environment safer through technology. They will introduce and demonstrate low cost or free and easy to use solutions including alerting devices and apps designed for people with hearing loss
New meeting venue is needed
We hope in the near future to be able return to meeting in person, but even at that time we plan to make our meetings hybrid so that people from outside of NYC can participate. NYC members who are still not comfortable in large groups will also be able to come. We are currently looking for a venue to hold our meetings, because the church basement we used pre-pandemic is no longer available. We may need to install a loop in a new venue since we could not take the one from the church with us. We are also hoping to plan some type of in-person social meeting.