Sound Bytes : Show Has the Latest Technology, High and Low, for the Hearing-Impaired

The displays included the high-tech, such as wireless sound amplifiers, and the decidedly low-tech--”hearing dogs” that alert their owners when there is noise such as a knock at the door or a baby crying.

Those aids and many more now on the market or soon to be available were on display Friday during a statewide convention to showcase the latest in help for the hearing-impaired and to raise awareness of hearing loss.

Hosted by the Orange County chapter of Self Help for Hard of Hearing people (SHHH), a nonprofit consumer organization headquartered in Maryland, the two-day event concluding today shows “what a dramatic difference technology can make,” said SHHH Executive Director Donna Sorkin. “We encourage people to try it all and figure out what can help.”

Sorkin, 43, understands well both hearing loss and what technology can do to alleviate it.

She started losing her hearing 15 years ago. By the time she was 35, her ability to hear was deteriorating at a “frightfully fast” pace. But three years ago she received a high-tech cochlear implant that has markedly improved her hearing.

The electronic device surgically implanted behind Sorkin’s ear is linked to a miniature computerized speech processor that she wears on her belt. The system translates sound into an electrical code, “and over time your brain learns to interpret what it’s hearing,” Sorkin explained.

According to SHHH, one out of 10 adults in the United States has a hearing problem. But, the group says, many people are in denial about their hearing loss and do not seek help.

“We think of hearing loss as something that happens to you when you’re getting old, and no one wants to admit they’re getting old,” Sorkin said. Needing a hearing aid is “like needing to wear eyeglasses,” she said.

Eyeglasses would seem anachronistic compared to some of the devices shown.

Fullerton resident Bob Rennie, president of the Orange County chapter of SHHH, said he was impressed with a new “writing telephone” that allows people who might not possess keyboard skills to handwrite messages on a pressure-sensitive screen. Messages can then be sent to other writing telephones, fax machines or computers.

Rennie, 47, who has been hearing-impaired since childhood, is also excited about technological advances such as programmable hearing aids operated by tiny remote-control devices.

Also on display were portable wireless sound amplifiers that emit infrared signals to a receiver worn by the hearing-impaired. The amplifier, for example, can be placed on a table to allow a user to better hear a dinner conversation.

One of the top attractions at the convention were the “hearing dogs.” When they hear a particular sound like a knock at the door they gesture to alert the owner.

One of the dog owners, Sherman Oaks resident Helen Spies, describes her specially trained mixed spaniel, Barbi, as “unbelievable.”

“She does everything,” said Spies, 69. “I live alone and it’s so nice to have her.”