HLAA – Montgomery County Chapter

MontCo Chapter members and guests enjoyed a holiday gathering on December 5, with a fine assortment of treats. 

A lively discussion of assistive devices followed, particularly about telephone captioning system.

Two of our members will be getting cochlear implants in the near future.

The chapter does not meet in January and February, so our next meeting will be on March 5, 2012.  Watch for details here.

The December meeting will be our annual Holiday Party.  Guests are always welcome at our meetings but we are extending a special invitation to them this time.

Chapter member, please bring a dessert or other food item of your choice and join Montco members in our annual holiday party.

Please join us for our next meeting which will be held on

MONDAY,

December 5, 2011

beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Mercy Suburban Hospital.

Note:

Montco Chapter will not meet during the winter months of January and February – watch for the February newsletter which will have information about our March meeting.

Terry Krutz, the owner of http://loopamerica.com/ gave an illustrated review of hearing assistance systems, with special emphasis on induction loops.  He demonstrated a chair pad loop and other products available at LoopAmerica.  A lively discussion followed.

The December meeting will be our traditional Holiday Party.  Watch for details here.

Note:  We do not meet in January and February.

In November Mr. Terry Krutz of Loop America will talk about the different inductive looping systems that can improve hearing for people who use t-coils in their hearing aids or cochlear implants.
Please join us for an educational and informative evening

WHERE: Mercy Suburban Hospital, Gerber Room, 2nd floor

2701 DeKalb Pike, East Norriton, PA

WHEN: Monday, November 7th

6:30-8:30 p.m.

The meeting featured Melanie O’Brien, Au.D., who is the Mid-Atlantic Customer Trainer for Phonak Hearing Systems.  She described some of the features now available in Phonak hearing aid, such as SoundRecover.  This is a means of converting higher frequency sound information into a lower frequency range.  This may be advantageous for those with high frequency loss, and better hearing at lower frequencies.  Phonak also has available a bluetooth receiving device worn as a neck loop that is capable of transmitting in stereo to both ears. The receiver can be paired with a variety of bluetooth devices such as telephones, music players, etc.

She reviewed a considersable range of assitive listening devices (ALD) that work with Phonak HA’s.   HLA members were pleased to find a hearing aid manufacturer that does not assume the their instruments represent a complete and total solution to hearing loss problems.

Topic: Assistive Listening Devices

Our speaker for the October meeting will be Dr. Melanie O’Brien, the Mid-Atlantic Customer Trainer for Phonak Hearing Systems. She joined the Phonak team as an educational trainer in June 2011. Her primary responsibility is for customer training of Phonak hearing aid technology. She received her Doctorate in Audiology from Towson University in 2005. Her previous work experience includes diagnostic audiological evaluations, vestibular testing and rehabilitation, and hearing aid dispensing to pediatric through geriatric populations within various medical settings. Dr. Melanie O’Brien has presented at numerous senior living communities and designed an Auditory Rehabilitation program at a previous employer. Dr. O’Brien has worked with numerous customers to maximize patient satisfaction with Phonak hearing aids and accessories as well as FM technology.

This is sure to be an extremely informative meeting and your opportunity to ask any and all questions related to assistive listening systems from an expert. Please join us for our next meeting which will be held on

MONDAY, October 3, 2011, beginning at 6:30 p.m. sharp at the Mercy Suburban Hospital.

Dan Prisbrey, a representative of CaptionCall, demonstrated a captioning telephone made by the company. This phone makes use of a high speed Internet connection, but does not require having a computer. The phone plugs into an ordinary telephone outlet, and the Internet connection can either be via a wired connection (Ethernet) or a wireless (WiFi) one. A computer is useful in setting the phone up initially, but is not needed on normal operation, although the Internet connection is needed.

Details at CaptionCall.com

A slate of officers for the coming year was elected:
President: Patty Cortez
Vice President: Thomas Van Arman
Treasurer: Donna Penman (outgoing president)

The October meeting will feature a representative from Phonak

Our next meeting will be held on the second Monday of September because of the Labor Day holiday which falls on our usual first Monday meeting date. Our speaker will be Daniel Prisbrey, a representative from CaptionCall, (a subsidiary of Sorensen Company). CaptionCall is a new competitor to CapTel® and was on display at the exhibitor hall at the HLAA convention in Washington this past June. CaptionCall produces much faster captions than CapTel. Please join us for a demonstration.

We will also be electing chapter officers. We will take nominations from the floor in addition to the proposed slate of officers:

President: Patty Cortez

Vice-president: Tom VanArmon

Treasurer: Donna Penman

Please join us for our next meeting which will be held on

MONDAY,

September 12, 2011

beginning at 6:30 p.m. sharp at the Mercy Suburban Hospital.