September 15. HLAA Beyond New York. HLAA’s Executive Director Barbara Kelley will talk about the national HLAA office and its work on public policy, advocacy, and providing support for people with hearing loss. She’ll discuss the organization’s efforts on Capitol Hill, at the Federal Communications Commission, in Health and Human Services, and at the National Institutes of Health. This is your chance to take your questions and comments to the top. What areas would you like to see HLAA pursuing?

October 20. Cochlear Implants. Dr. Katrina Stidham, Director of the Cochlear Implant Center and the Balance Center at Westchester Medical Center, will provide basic information about cost, eligibility, and procedure for those new to implants. She will also discuss advances in implants, including new-on-the-market fully implantable devices, and the role of AI in cochlear implants.

November 17. Hearing Aids. Drs. Michelle Kraskin and Haley Bruce, Director of Audiology and Senior Audiologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center, will talk about advances in hearing aids, including AI for speech in noise. What does this mean and how widespread is it? They’ll also cover the basics for those new to hearing aids: Where you should start (answer: with an audiologist) and how do you proceed? If you choose an audiologist, what is the process for fittings and the window for returns? If you choose to go the over-the-counter route, where should you go, how much should you pay, what are return policies, and how do you know what to buy?

December 15. Our annual music program. Speaker will be Charles Mokotoff, a guitarist who had sudden hearing loss at age 14. Program details TBD.

January. No meeting.

February 16. Auditory Rehab. Caroline Ruocco is a speech-language pathologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, where she serves on the cochlear implant team and sees pediatric and adult patients with hearing loss. She has bilateral hearing loss for which she wears hearing aids. She will speak from the perspective of both the provider and the patient. She’ll also talk about practicalities: getting started with rehab, center-based and at-home practice, treatment timeline, cost (and who pays for it), and what you should expect in terms of outcomes. Caroline is a member of our Board of Directors.

March 16. Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. Dr. James Henry is a longtime researcher clinician in the forefront of treatment for recalcitrant tinnitus, primarily through his work with the VA. Now retired, Dr. Henry was a principal or co-principal investigator for 43 funded research grants and projects, with a total funding of $28 million, and he has authored or co-authored over 246 publications on tinnitus and hyperacusis. Tinnitus is the single most common service-connected disability among U.S. veterans, and affects many others as well.

April 20. The Emotional Aspects of Hearing Loss. Speakers TBD.

May 18. Scholarship meeting. Speaker TBD.

At this year's annual HLAA convention, held this June in Louisville, Kentucky, HLAA-NYC Chapter President Katherine Bouton received the Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award. Named for HLAA's founder, the award is presented "For exemplification of the philosophy envisioned by Rocky Stone and for extraordinary contributions to HLAA."

Pictured here holding the award—with award presenter Mike Meyer (of HLAA's Board of Directors) to her left and Barbara Kelley (HLAA's Executive Director) to her right—Katherine, a former New York Times reporter, wrote the book, Shouting Won't Help: Why I and 50 Million Other Americans Can't Hear You, which won a Kirkus Reviews Award for Best Nonfiction Book of 2013 and stresses the need to emerge from the hearing loss closet. She also wrote the book Smart Hearing: Strategies, Skills, and Resources for Living Better with Hearing Loss, and she writes the blog Smart Hearing.

In nominating Katherine for the award, the HLAA-NYC Chapter board noted: "In addition to her blog posts, as a member of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, as well as the MTA's Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility (ACTA) and HLAA's Board of Trustees, Katherine spreads the word about the many things HLAA does to enhance life for people with hearing loss."

Lawrence Goldfeld, the 2023 winner of HLAA-NYC's Alfred B. Chen $5,000 scholarship for a high school senior with hearing loss, is double majoring in mechanical engineering and molecular biology at Macaulay Honors College (CUNY). He is slated to graduate in May 2028. Recently, he received Macaulay’s competitive extended tuition funding award—presented to only ten CUNY students each year—to fund a fifth year of undergraduate study, alongside completing graduate-level coursework in molecular biotechnology. He was also nominated for the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, an annual honor for just four students per school preparing for a career in academic research.

On campus, Lawrence participates in student organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). He also works part-time at the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research, where he assists with National Science Foundation (NSF) grant paperwork and helps coordinate the college’s annual research conferences for undergraduate and graduate students.

Hands-on research remains central to Lawrence’s academic journey. Following a nine-week NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) in microbiology tailored for deaf and hard of hearing students in Knoxville, Tennessee, Lawrence is participating in another NSF REU at the Center for Biofilm Engineering in Bozeman, Montana. There, he is training in atomic force microscopy to image bacteria and networking with leaders across academia and industry at the Montana Biofilm Meeting.

Lawrence extends his deep appreciation to Al Chen and the HLAA NYC Chapter board for their support, and he welcomes the opportunity to connect with and mentor deaf or hard of hearing undergraduates interested in pursuing research or graduate school.

Katherine Bouton

Hearing Loss Can Up-End Your Life. Here's How to Restart

Sudden hearing loss can be terrifying and disorienting. Existing loss that worsens, or becomes bilateral, or in other ways changes can also be difficult to adjust to. This is no less true today than when I suffered a devastating decline back in 2008, manageable loss that suddenly was no longer manageable. As readers of “Shouting Won’t Help” know, I struggled to hold on to my job for a year, and then gave up. Read more of this post.

Shari Eberts

LivingWithHearingLoss.com

When Communication Gets Tough, Just Breathe

Sweating in the hot yoga room, I work to hold the posture. I fall out, but try again. And again. It’s a difficult practice, so struggle is to be expected. The teacher reminds us to focus on our breath. We can’t control the heat, or how long she holds the postures, but we can control our response—and that’s what helps us stay calm and focused amid the challenge. Read more of this post.

Gael Hannan

Go Where the People with Hearing Loss Are

I’ve got my annual June blues – the feelings that always follow my time at the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) convention. As much as I love my Hearing Husband and my wonderful Hearing Friends, after attending the conference I miss the connectedness of being with people – lots of people – who get each other. We understand that crucial aspect of each other: the hearing loss that disrupts, often severely, our ability to understand what other people are saying and the consequences. Read more of this post.

Toni Iacolucci and Peggy Ellertsen

Healthcare with Hearing Loss

Wayfinding and the Long Game

I joined my radiologist in her office at a large medical system in my home city for our consultation appointment around a recent CT scan. The session was scheduled to share information about the source of pain that had begun to radiate across my shoulder and down my arm a few months before. I was nervous but hopeful as I settled into the chair in the specialist’s office. I opened the voice recognition app on my phone as I shared with her that captions would be there to add a margin of accuracy to our communications. The use of my captioning app was quickly ended by the physician; the accommodation was not permitted. Read more of this post.

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