Hearing news and hearing widget

If you wear a hearing aid or are thinking about getting one, you are probably confused about the terminology concerning hearing aids. Hearing aids are very complicated and are essentially computers sitting in or behind your ear. This is a 3 part story on the basic terminology of hearing aids. I hope this helps you make an informed decision about which hearing aid is right for you. Feedback - Feedback occurs when the sound that the hearing aid is amplified feeds back into the hearing aid. This produces very loud whistling by the hearing aids. Most hearing aids are now equipped with feedback blockers. This technology will work to detect and eliminate feedback. Some hearing aid manufactures have very good feedback managers and are able to nearly eliminate feedback.

Instead, Kathy Buckley -- whom everyone dismissed as retarded when she was a little girl growing up in Wickcliff, Ohio -- diffused the serious side of life with laughter at two appearances in Muskegon Wednesday. "I love to make people laugh," she said. "It's disarming." In other words, if you can't laugh at what Buckley's been through, you're sure to weep. She has. "But I want to be in the 'now,' " she said. "I don't want to miss anything by being in the negative." Buckley, 54, was 8 years old before anyone realized she couldn't hear. Until then, School officials and her family labeled her hopelessly "retarded" and sent her to a special school for the disabled. There, isolated, she went through the motions of learning in a world of silence.

Louisiana State Police have arrested a 16-year-old male for the alleged rape of a six-year-old female student at the Louisiana School for the Deaf. The incident was reported last month and was part of a series of sexual assault allegations that led to the school being temporarily shut down. The school was closed October 8th and is not yet expected to reopen until November 3rd.

Blood from a slain Brampton man was found on the jeans and jacket worn by the man accused of murdering him, jurors have heard. Anthony Medwid, 20, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the March 23, 2007 stabbing death of Brian Wainman, 27. But a forensic investigator had told jurors that the jeans and jacket identified as Medwid's clothing had impact blood stains from the deceased man.

Sitting in the Lawrence High School cafeteria, an engineer at Raytheon and three students developed a quick friendship without speaking a word. The four communicated using sign language. They learned about each other's families, School, work, and the students' futures. The engineer, Donald Slate, 26, is a key to their futures. Slate will tutor Jose Geronimo, Carmen DeLeon and Lizbeth DePena, all 21 and Lawrence High seniors, in math and English using sign language. He is tutoring them through a program called Stand and Deliver.

A former teacher who sexually abused deaf children in his care was jailed for 12 years yesterday. Colin Macdonald, 61, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was found guilty of 10 charges of abusing children in Scotland between 1973 and 1983. Macdonald, a respected instructor in outdoor activities, and who is also deaf, carried out his attacks when the children were on camping and skiing expeditions.

Sheree Goad of Evansville sat in Bosse Field's chilly grandstands Saturday morning with her 11-year-old daughter, Natalie. They watched as California filmmaker David Risotto paced, consulted and waited to begin shooting some scenes for his headed-to-TV baseball documentary, "Dummy Hoy: A Deaf Hero." Many of the 25 or so paid extras were still in the 93-year-old ballpark's ancient clubhouse where hairstylists slicked down men's hair and created Victorian curls for women.

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We certainly could use a dose of good news these days, and here is some. According to the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia University will start a sign language interpreter training...