FEBRUARY 2012 CHAPTER NEWSLETTER
President
: Patty Cortez, email:
phone: 610-446-7302
Vice-President:
Tom VanArman; email:
Treasurer
: Donna Penman,
Assistive Technology
: Don Groff,
Newsletter committee
: Diana Bender, email:
, and Don Groff
Meeting Schedule: 1st Monday of each Month, except January, February, July and August: Gerber Room, 2nd floor Mercy Suburban Hospital, 2701 DeKalb Pike (Route 202), East Norriton, PA, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.
*****************************************************************************************************************
Van Gogh To Go Exhibition: Philadelphia Art Museum
Submitted by Alice Dungan
The exhibition VAN GOGH TO GO is currently at the Philadelphia Art Museum and ends May 6th
FM SYSTEM- The $ 28 admission price ($25.50 for seniors) to The Van Gogh Exhibition includes an FM system audio tour. Headphones are given with the FM system but a neck loop is available if you request one. The neck loop worked well with my telecoil. (Note: another visitor reported that the neckloop was not loud enough, so you might want to take your own instead of borrowing the museum’s)
PARKING– Turn right off of Kelly Drive (at the end of Boat House Row) onto Waterworks Drive. There is 2 hr free parking area on Waterworks Dr. If you drive past this parking area you will come to a circle which has a paid parking lot. The $ 10 parking fee there is for an unlimited period of time.
Note: The circle area will lead to the parking garage which I’ve heard is expensive.
TIME FRAME- It took approximately 45 minutes to park the car on Waterworks Dr.; walk up the Art Museum steps; wait in line to purchase tickets (or wait in the Will Call line if you purchased tickets online) and then to wait in the line to enter the Exhibition. It took me only 45 minutes to view the Exhibition but I am a fast looker. It would have been nice to have stopped after the Exhibition in the cafeteria for a cup of coffee but unfortunately our 2 hr parking limit was almost gone.
Enjoy and don’t forget to ask for the neck loop.
FCC Invalidates Nonprofit Captioning Waivers
On Oct. 2, 2011 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reversed a closed-captioning waiver for nearly 300 television broadcasters, primarily religious and nonprofit organizations, saying it was wrong to extend the waiver.
In 2006, the FCC ruled that these entities were exempt from captioning regulations because it would cause undue burden to force compliance. Now, the commission ruled that for the majority of those broadcasters, the waiver was “not supported by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, its legislative history, or the commission’s implementing regulations and orders” and that the undue burden clause had been too liberally implemented. As of mid February, 150 of those organizations have filed for a new waiver from captioning requirements. Those organizations may apply for individual waivers under the new standard.
Those filing a new waiver request are required to submit current documentation demonstrating that providing closed captions would be economically burdensome given (1) the nature and cost of the closed captioning difficulty/expense, (2) the impact on the operation of the program provider/owner, (3) the financial resources of the program provider/owner, and (4) the type of operations of the program provider/owner, as well as any other factors the petitioner thinks relevant to the request (including alternatives proposed by the petitioner as a reasonable substitute for closed captioning).. The vast majority of these waiver requests have been filed by very small program producers who assert that requiring closed captions for the television program they produce would be economically burdensome.
http://www.commlawcenter.com/closed-captioning/
Save the Dates
Saturday, March 24, 2012
: Black & White Masquerade Ball at the King of Prussia Fire Company Social Hall in King of Prussia, PA.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
: annual HLA-PA banquet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia.
June 21 – 24, 2012:
HLAA Convention will be held in Providence, Rhode Island.
Quote of the Month
“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.”
William Arthur Ward, American Author 1921 – 1994
Hearing Loss in Diabetics
Hearing Loss is often accelerated in patients with diabetes, especially if blood-glucose levels are not being controlled with medication and diet.
A new study conducted at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit investigated the effect of glucose control on the hearing of diabetic patients. The study looked at patients’ pure tone average and speech recognition at different ages. The team evaluated pure tone average ranges that focus on the frequency at which most people speak and the very high frequencies used in music and alarms.
The research group found that women between the ages of 60 and 75 with poorly controlled diabetes had significantly worse hearing than those whose diabetes was well-controlled and the control group. Among the women younger than 60, those with diabetes, regardless of whether it was being controlled, had worse hearing than non-diabetic women.
As for the men in the study, there was no significant difference in hearing between those with diabetes that was well-controlled or poorly controlled, as well as those who did not have diabetes.
The researchers suggested that the younger males, in general, have worse hearing, which may possibly mask any impact diabetes may have on male hearing loss. “Our findings really call for future research to determine the possible role gender plays in hearing loss,” said Dr. Derek Handzo, leader of the research group.
HearingReview, February 9, 2012
Next Meeting: Communicat-ing with Hard of Hearing People
Our guest for the next meeting will be Thomas Johnson, a Realtor for Century 21 Alliance in Blue Bell, PA. Mr. Johnson is also an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at Drexel University, with a Bachelor’s and Masters of Science from Drexel University. He has a Marketing Management Certification from Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. He is the father of two lovely children ages, 6 years old and 8 months. Mr. Johnson wants to learn from us how to best communicate with people who are hard of hearing. If time allows, the group will participate in a rap session.
Please join us for our next meeting which will be held on
MONDAY,
March 5, 2012
beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Mercy Suburban Hospital.
HLAA - Montgomery County Chapter 