What are your plans for after high school? Don't let your hearing loss keep you from achieving all that you ever wanted. College is more expensive than ever but there is help. This website lists scholarship resources for deaf/hard of hearing students to help you achieve your dreams! www.vicaps.com/blog/scholarship-information/
While hearing aids help thousands of people every year there are some people that do not benefit from hearing aids. For these people cochlear implants provide another option. Cochlear implants are medical devices that are surgically implanted by an Ear, Nose and Throat physician. Cochlear implants work by bypass damaged structures in the inner ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. Click on this link for a chance to participate in a cochlear implant surgery www.a10.com/puzzle-games/operate-now-ear-surgery
It's time to pay attention to how loud those toys are that you are buying for the little ones in your life. Sight & Hearing Association has released their 2016 Annual Noisy Toys List © and 17 out of 20 toys listed test louder than 85 decibels (dB), which is the threshold for mandatory hearing protection in the workplace. The top three toys, according to National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety guidelines, are so loud they could cause hearing damage within 15 minutes. Further, because children may not play with toys as recommended by the manufacturer for safe use and given their short arm length noisy toys can potentially be even more dangerous for little ones. As a reminder:
For more information please visit the Sight and Hearing website at www.sightandhearing.org. Congratulations to Neil Maes from Belton, South Carolina. Neil is a deaf 11 year old who is competing in the National Spelling Bee this week. What an inspiration to us all. Click here to see the attached CBS article about_Neil.
For 75 years May has been recognized as Better Hearing & Speech Month. BHSM provides an opportunity to raise public awareness and understanding about communication disorders and the role speech pathologists and audiologists play in providing treatment of those disorders. Here are some quick statistics as reported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. (Be sure to visit their web site at https://www.nidcd.nih.gov)
Now for some fun. Click on this link and see how you score. _Famous Ears Click this link for some fun coloring pages. _http://phonakpro.com/us/en/resources/counseling-tools/pediatric/;eo-coloring-pages.html Think Q-tips are good and earwax is bad? Think again!
With the Christmas season approaching the Des Moines Public Schools Audiology Department would like to remind those buying gifts for children of the potential dangerous listening levels of many toys. Even though there are strict guidelines for toy-makers the following article explains why there are still many dangerously loud toys on the market!
If you are concerned about the noise levels of your children's toys, there are some small things you can do to make them safer. First, limit the amount of time you allow your children to play with loud toys, ideally 15 minutes or less. Also, consider using masking or other strong tape to cover the speaker port where the sound is coming from. You can also purchase a sound level meter form the app store of any smart phone. This will allow you to measure the volume coming from your child's toy. Hold the phone and use the app by measuring at the spot where your child's ear would be in relation to the toy. If your get a reading of 85 dB or more then the toy is too loud! The Des Moines Public Schools Audiology Department was recently featured on two local television stations. The stories are about preventing hearing loss and getting hearing screenings. A main point is that kids need to be cautious when using earbuds or headphones. The volume level can be damaging to their hearing. Please check out both links. WHO TV: here KCCI: here
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Nicole Kreisman, AuD
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