Monthly Communicator s3
Monthly Communicator
NJ Department of Human Services
Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
July – August 2012 Vol. 33 No. 7
Chris Christie, Governor
Kim Guadagno, Lt. Governor
Jennifer Velez, Commissioner
David C. Alexander, Director
COVER: A Great Adventure for an Intern Interpreter
By Amy Petronzio
For the last three years of my interpreter training program, I have known about Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Day at Six Flags Great Adventure, but I was not able to attend. I always heard wonderful things and then read in envy all the articles in the Monthly Communicator about what an exciting event it was. Other students would rave about their experience.
This year was different. It was finally my time to go see what this was all about. The best part? It was also my debut as an intern interpreter to the Deaf community. I tried not to think about it too much until the butterflies started the night before. Keeping my cool, I woke up, proudly put on my Apprentice Interpreter t-shirt and walked out the door. During the trip down the turnpike, I kept reiterating everything I was taught and read in my textbooks, to prepare myself for this fun and new experience.
As the day began, my nerves calmed down and my hands went up. I started off in the ticket booth which was fantastic because I could see the excitement in everyone’s faces that came in line. Before I knew it I was at the Fast Pass booth interpreting for people who loved roller coasters so much they didn’t want to have to wait in line to get on a ride! So far, so good.
The highlight of my day was when I was stationed in Safari Discoveries in the Golden Kingdom. One family came through greatly interested in the lions. The certified interpreter I was with encouraged me to take the lead in this opportunity to interpret. The Six Flags employee began discussing the lion’s history. The questions starting flying! This family was fascinated with the information so much that the employee entered one of the fences to play with the lions. Everyone enjoyed what they were witnessing. For myself, it wasn’t the lions that captivated me; it was the incredible feeling of interpreting and seeing the smiles on everyone’s face that made the whole day complete. To be a part of this was more than I could ever hope for.
I could not imagine Deaf and Hard of Hearing Awareness Day getting any better. Everyone, everywhere you looked, was happy. They were with their families and had not a care in the world. DDHH did a wonderful job setting this up and I hope to one day come back as a certified interpreter to experience this again. No text book could have prepared me for this remarkable experience that I will never forget.
Director’s Corner
By David Alexander, Director, Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DDHH)
The Department of Human Services is in the process of reorganizing office space used by its various divisions. As a result, the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing will be moving to new facilities. Our new central offices will be located at the Quakerbridge Office Park, located at Mercerville, N.J. This relocation is planned for the beginning of August. Further details about the move will be forthcoming.
Also, I am pleased to announce the addition of Ms. Catherine Purrazzella as the newest staff member with the Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Ms. Purrazzella will be assuming the responsibilities of “Service Coordinator” and will begin her duties effective June 18.
As the Service Coordinator, Ms. Purrazzella will be responsible to advocate for individuals who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing who require services from a community or other governmental agency. She will provide assistance to clients in the coordination of needed services and work with case managers from local, county and state agencies to enhance their awareness of hearing loss and the communication needs of people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Ms. Purrazzella will work closely with other units of the division.
Ms. Purrazzella holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Work and a Master of Science Degree in Human Services. She may be contacted at (609) 503-4862 (VP) or (800) 792-8339 (voice). Please join me in welcoming Ms. Purrazzella to our division.
We Welcome Your Articles and Ads
The Monthly Communicator is published 11 times per year. Deadline for submissions for the September issue is August 1 and should be e-mailed to:
The deadline for the Monthly Communicator is the first of the month for the next month.
Kindly follow these guidelines for submissions:
• Should be less than two pages
• Plain font, such as NY Times #11 or similar
• Type flush left, no tabs
• No art imbedded within
• Send as Word attachment or on e-mail itself, no PDF
• Art, logos, photos may be sent as attached JPG
• Submissions are not normally repeated
• Content should be of interest to readers, events should be accessible to people with hearing loss, no direct selling products, but educational info about new technology acceptable
• Editor has discretion regarding editing, without final approval of submitter
Monthly Communicator
State of New Jersey
Department of Human Services
Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Director: David C. Alexander
Editor: Ira Hock
PO Box 074
Trenton, NJ 08625-0074
609-984-7281 V/TTY
800-792-8339 V/TTY
www.state.nj.us/human services/ddhh/
The Monthly Communicator is published by the New Jersey Department of Human Services Division of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DDHH), a state agency. DDHH provides information, referral, and advocacy to service recipients. Information or articles provided by others does not imply endorsement by DDHH or the State of New Jersey. There currently are 8,800 copies of the MC distributed monthly.
Letter to the Editor
Page A 11 of the Times of Trenton on 5/8/12 carried an article written by DDHH Director David Alexander about hearing loss screening during May Better Hearing Month. Parents say: “turn that radio down!” It is a verifiable fact that prolonged exposure to loud sounds affects hearing early on, is accumulative in its effects from childhood on, and affects one’s language, school and social development, creating obstacles in educational, medical and worship environments. All this can surely happen if the volume is not turned down on radios, personal listening devices, and when a child is exposed to overly loud rock concerts, sporting events and anywhere there are loud machine and motor noises.
I live near an auto racetrack, and a popular amusement park where parents take their young children to enjoy watching and listening to race cars and loud music. I’m concerned about parents of infants, toddlers, very young and teenagers attending these venues who do not use earplugs and noise attenuation headsets to protect both theirs and their children’s hearing. By the time children’s hearing is damaged to the point of affecting their language development, school performance, and social interaction, it’s too late to reverse the deafness, and expensive hearing aids will then need to be provided. I once had normal hearing in infancy, and over a lifetime progressed to profoundest deafness, so I know what lies in store for anyone who damages his/her hearing with excessive noise. Alert to parents: when attending noisy entertainment venues please use earplug and noise blocking headsets for all of you. Turning down the volume is far less expensive than paying for hearing aids, and special education classes.
Carol Granaldi, co-founder and past president
Hearing Loss Association of America
New Jersey State Affiliate
Cream Ridge, NJ
NJ Deaf Senior Housing Project Update
E
rich Schwenker, President of Cardinal Capital Management, Inc., has announced to the NJ Deaf Senior Housing Committee that their next housing project will be in New Jersey. CCM has announced completion of the affordable housing at the Apache ASL Trials, Tempe, Arizona that has a preference for low income Deaf seniors. We look forward to working with the CCM. More details will be announced later.
Lila Taylor, NJ Deaf Senior Housing Chair
and the Committee South Jersey
The HLAA
Morris County Chapter’s
next meeting will be a party.
Saturday July 14, 2012
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Brunch
at Pat Dobbs’ home,
43 Spring Garden Drive
Madison, NJ
If raining, indoor picnic at
Madison YMCA, 111 Kings Road.
Bring food to share. Plates, cups, napkins and beverages will be supplied. Bring goodies and chairs to make sure there are enough.
For more info:
Pat Dobbs at
(973) 479-8083 or
.
or go to her blog at
www.HearingLossResourceCenter.com
Hearing Aid History: From Ear Trumpets to Digital Technology
By Traci Burton, Field Representative
S
ometimes to appreciate what we have today we need to remind ourselves of what we had yesterday. Technology continues to advance and hearing aid users benefit from this growth. Who knows what will be available tomorrow! On Monday February 21, 2011 www.healthyhearing.com published the below history on hearing aids.
Hearing loss has been a problem for as long as humans have been around and because hearing loss affects people’s ability to connect and form relationships with others, hearing aids were quickly developed to help those who could not hear. Here’s a short history of hearing aids – a brief guide to how we got to where we are today.
Pre-electric (Acoustic) Hearing Aids
These ear trumpets captured sound waves, sending them down a tube to the listener’s ear. They were big, bulky, unattractive and, frankly, they didn’t work very well. Of course, these were state-of-the art “hearing aids” for centuries until electricity became available.
Carbon Hearing Aids (1900-1939)
These were the first electric hearing aids. Carbon was used to amplify electric current to boost the volume of sound. However, they were bulky, buzzy and downright ugly, though for those with hearing loss, they were the only choice.
Vacuum Tube Hearing Aids
(1921-1952)
Vacuum tubes were used to control the flow of electricity and, as such, they did make hearing aids a little better. However, these boxy devices were usually table-top models about the size of a clock radio, so the user had to carry around a heavy box and plug in to hear what was going on. There weren’t many controls or features, so these devices amplified all sound. That must have caused more than a few headaches back then. But hearing aids continued to improve.
Transistors to the Rescue
(1952-1970s)
Transistors enabled hearing aids to fit into a smaller shell. The first transistor hearing aids appeared in 1952 - actually, two years prior to the first transistor radios which came along in 1954. Transistor hearing aids were still big and bulky with the electronics in a box carried on the body, with ear phones connected to a tangle of wires. Not very convenient, to say the least. Researchers shrunk transistor hearing aids over the years, making them small enough to fit behind the ear and even in the ear. However, they were anything but low-profile. They also didn’t come packed with features the way today’s hearing aids do.
Digital Hearing Aids
Today, quality hearing aids use digital technology – circuitry that’s used in computers and cell phones - and what a difference a few decades and countless hours of research and development have made! Today’s digital hearing aids are sleek, discreet, fashionable, high-tech and low-maintenance. They can be tuned by a hearing professional, like an audiologist or hearing aid dispenser, to suit your specific hearing needs. They can connect to multiple devices such televisions and telephones. They adjust automatically for changes in volume levels and adapt to background noise.
So, if you’re looking for the latest and the greatest in hearing loss solutions, visit your local hearing center. Forget everything grandpa told you about his hearing aids. Those days and those hearing aids are long gone, thankfully. Today, you can enjoy the sounds of life without a lot of hassles. Modern digital hearing aids deliver sound quality and ease-of-use in small, attractive devices.
Traci Burton, Field Representative can be reached at 609-984-7281 or .
HLA-NJ News and Views
A Monthly Column from The Hearing Loss Association of NJ
By Peter Yerkes, Trustee, HLA-NJ
Summer’s Off to a Great Start at HLA-NJ
n Walk4hearing 2012 Set For Oct. 13 in West Windsor;
n HLA-NJ Members Arlene Romoff and Carol Granaldi Win National Awards
The countdown has begun for Walk4Hearing 2012, so save the date--Saturday, October 13, at Mercer County Park West in West Windsor, NJ.
As always, Walk4Hearing offers people of all ages a chance to gather in a tree-shaded lakeside park to support programs and services that help people with hearing loss. It’s a great chance to see old friends in the hearing loss community, and to make new ones. Take part in the 5K (3.1 miles) walk…or sit and enjoy a hot dog or other snacks in bucolic surroundings. Face-painting and other activities will be offered for young people.
The Walk4Hearing also is the most important fund-raiser of the year for the Hearing Loss Association of New Jersey and its parent organization, the Hearing Loss Association of America. Since the first Walk was held in 2006, Walk4Hearing has raised more than $3.5 million to raise awareness of hearing loss, advocate at the national level and support chapters across the country. Here in New Jersey, Walk4Hearing raises more than $40,000 annually to support national programs, and local initiatives such as college scholarships and demonstration centers for the latest technology to help people with hearing loss.