Founding member of HLAA discusses efforts to help those who are hard of hearing in the greater Rochester region
By Mike Costanza
Since it held its first meeting in a Fairport living room in 1983, the Rochester chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America has given information, support and other assistance to those in and around the Rochester area who are hard of hearing.
Through its efforts, those it serves have been able to learn how to cope with a hearing loss, check out assistive devices that can reduce its effects and gain the support of others who are experiencing losses. It even runs a support group for the parents of children who are hard of hearing.
The chapter, which is part of the nonprofit Hearing Loss Association of America, has an all-volunteer staff of about 80 people and serves the nine-county Finger Lakes Region. It depends for its funding upon donations and the dues paid by its approximately 300 members.
In Good Health spoke to Susan Miller, a founding member of HLAA’s local chapter and the chairwoman of its professional advisory board, about the ways in which the nonprofit tries to help those who are experiencing hearing loss and their relatives. Miller helped start the chapter after experiencing a hearing loss and used an assistive device during the interview.
Q. What is HLAA’s mission?
A. To make the world a better place for people who do not hear well.
Q. Who does your nonprofit serve?
A. The people our organization serves can communicate orally, and we do it with hearing aids, cochlear implants and assistive listening devices. Right now, I’m hearing you through my powered neck loop, and I’ve got my hearing aids. Ten percent of any given population has some degree of hearing loss, so whatever the population would be of the Finger Lakes region, those are the people we work to serve. (Note: neck loops function like headsets for people who wear hearing aids or cochlear implants.)
Q. The Rochester chapter holds monthly educational meetings and interactive discussion sessions from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month. Can you tell the readers about them?
A. From 10 o’clock until 11 o’clock, a retired audiologist conducts what is called a Hearing Other People’s Experiences, or “HOPE” session, for new people who do not have hearing aids yet. They’re able to talk about “I don’t hear well. Where do I even start?” The leader guides them, gives them suggestions. People who have been dealing with their hearing loss for a long time also attend these meetings, and they all share things that have worked, ways that have worked for them.
Q. What else happens during those meetings?
A. We have a business meeting that’s captioned. We have a big screen that everyone can see. Then comes the educational part. Last month the deputy director of the airport [the Frederick Douglas Monroe County Airport] and his wife came and told us how the airport is accommodating people with hearing loss. Rochester has won national awards for the airport being hearing-accessible.
Q. I understand that the Rochester chapter’s legislative committee is pushing state legislators to change the directions on automated external defibrillators or AEDs. The devices, which are positioned in public places around the state, can be used to help someone who is suffering cardiac arrest. Why is it pushing for that change?
A. Those AEDs are based on oral directions. Those of us in the HLAA, we wouldn’t know what they’re saying. They have to be replaced, I think, about every five years. We would be very grateful if they could replace them with devices with directions that would accommodate people who are hard of hearing and deaf. They’d be visual instructions, as well as oral.
Q. What is the Assistive Listening Device Demonstration Center?
A. We have volunteers who show up at Lifespan on the third Thursday of the month from 10 in the morning until 2 o’clock in the afternoon. They set up a display of all of these assistive listening devices and systems. Telephones that are captioned, how to hear a television, how to, if you’re on a tour, hear the tour guide who’s half-a-mile ahead of you. We demonstrate them. People come, view them and try them out. It’s open and free to anybody who wants to come. We don’t sell anything.
For more information on the Rochester Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, or to volunteer for the nonprofit, go to: https://www.hearinglossrochester.org. Please note that the chapter holds in-person and Zoom sessions.