Since many folks have expressed an interest in reading notes from our monthly HOPE virtual support meetings, we’ll be sharing them here as a new blog post each month.

See below for notes from our meeting on August 2, 2023. Our next meeting is September 6, 2023; you can register here.

• An attendee shared information about the Edmonds Theater offering open captioning on the screen for a show at 3:30 PM on the upcoming Sunday. For finding theaters that offer captioned movies, one solution discussed was from the HLAA Chapter in Pennsylvania, where a list of theaters showing movies with captions is emailed every week.

• An attendee shared information about Mayo Clinic Connect, a platform where people can discuss their concerns and questions about hearing loss.

• An attendee shared a success story about the installation of counter loops at the animal shelters and customer service offices in the City of Seattle. This was a result of advocacy efforts that started about 10 years ago. The attendee encouraged others to participate in government meetings and make hearing loss visible.
  
• To make hearing loss visible, attendees discussed wearing pins or T-shirts with hearing loss symbols or messages. One person has found a way to make her hearing loss visible by creating her own personalized button. They also mentioned the use of a T-coil neckloop to help with hearing.

• The group discussed cochlear implants, including the Kanso 2 charger. One attendee shared his experience with bilateral implants, and another attendee shared the success of her recent surgery with Dr. Gupta from Swedish. One person is considering getting a cochlear implant and is asking questions about whether his existing hearing aid will pair with a new implant and how it would impact listening to music. Another person shared his experience with getting a bilateral cochlear implant and recommended not expecting the same results as the first surgery. But he was glad he got the second CI as it provided more equalized hearing in both ears. Another person pointed out that wearing a hat did not pair well with using the CI.

Links and notes shared in the chat

• Live Listen is on the iPhone and is a speech to text app.

• How does someone know if they need CI? Answer:  When hearing aids are no longer helping. Also, check your Word Recognition Score (WRS) on your Audiogram. You can also watch this video: (124) Time to Give Up on Hearing Aids? Cochlear Implant Referral Criteria – YouTube.

• CI training: Angel Sound: angelsound.tigerspeech.com.

• Search for open-captioned movie screenings here: https://www.bigscreen.com/advsearch/advsearch.php?id=oc or at www.captionfish.com.

• Not all documentaries and videos have captions. Some videos created before a certain timeline are exempt, as are other categories of video.
  
• Etsy has everything! Buttons, shirts, even hats to accommodate CIs!

• I had to smile and tell the Home Depot employee, “Please talk to me and not your computer.”

• Our hospital has an excellent interpreter service.

• Information from HLAA for patients in medical settings: https://www.hearingloss.org/hearing-help/communities/patients/.