For the first time in six years, HLAA gathered its hearing loss community online for a national virtual meeting, hosted by Roxana Rotundo, Holly Cohen, and Shari Eberts. The evening included a recap of the research symposium from the recent HLAA Convention in Louisville, "The AI Revolution in Hearing Health: Smarter and Greater Access," as well as community sharing. 

Shari dialogued with Dr. Jan Blustein — physician, health services researcher, person with hearing loss, and the symposium's moderator — to unpack the big takeaways from the three symposium speakers: Dr. Nicholas Lesica (bioengineer, University College London), Cole Morris (co-founder of hearing aid maker Fortell), and Dr. Samantha Robler (audiologist and public health researcher).

The conversation demystified what AI actually is (a tool for finding patterns in data), why simply "having AI" in a hearing aid means little on its own, and what really matters for understanding speech in noise — improving the signal-to-noise ratio and solving the tricky "intent" problem of knowing which voice you want to hear. They also explored how AI could expand access to care in rural and underserved communities, how to see through marketing claims, and the privacy questions worth keeping in mind. 

A lively community sharing session followed, where attendees reflected on the “Silver Linings” or unexpected gifts of living with hearing loss. Examples included the strength and warmth of the hearing loss community itself, the development of deep empathy and caring for others, as well as the many tools, including meditation, that people use to live well with their hearing loss.

Missed the meeting or want to listen again? Click here.

If you want to watch the entire HLAA Research Symposium, click here.

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 people 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 people 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.

In the last issue of News & Views, we reported on the achievements of Lawrence Goldfeld, the third winner of the Albert B. Chen Scholarship. Here are some updates on other previous winners.

Our first winner, Nicole Varghese, graduated last year from Hunter College with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a minor in Human Rights. During her time at Hunter, she was involved in the pre-law program and completed internships at a law firm, at the District Attorney’s Office, and at the Richmond County court where she gained firsthand experience in legal research and public service. She is excited to be starting the next chapter of her academic and professional journey this fall at Seton Hall Law School.

This spring Jonesy Strell, the second scholarship winner, earned a B.A. in Political Science at the George Washington University Columbian College of Arts & Science. He reports that he has been working on the finance and field organizing team for Representative Josh Riley's campaign. This includes handling fundraising and knocking on doors through Representative Jamie Raskin’s Democracy Summer program. Dealing with what was the most expensive House race in 2024, and the most rural district in America held by a Democrat, has been a whirlwind, but it’s giving him a massive jumpstart in professional campaign finance. He’s glad to be building on the experience he gained from chairing the GWU Student Government Finance Committee. On top of the campaign work, he has been heavily involved in disability and mental health advocacy and recently joined the new Disability Caucus branch of the College Democrats to help push for key initiatives. This builds on the work he started last spring with Students for Mental Health Action, where he met with multiple House and Senate staffers to advocate for mental health reform. Specifically, they have been pushing to add the 988 lifeline number to college ID cards, a cause that is deeply personal to Jonesy as a disabled student with hearing loss

In September, the fourth winner, Kiana Clercin, will enter her junior year at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she is majoring in Human Services with a minor in social entrepreneurship. This summer she worked as a summer camp intern in the NYC Summer Youth Employment Program. She recently attended the Department of Health Services field day for students with hearing loss, and the Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game for the NYC Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education Services education community.

The 2025 winner, Madelyn Kim, is a student at Rutgers where she is a Genetics major and will be Secretary for Rutgers’ Associate of Undergraduate Geneticists Club. This semester, she is working in a lab and is an ambassador/mentor for her major. She reports that she takes every chance to educate her friends about hearing loss and to answer their questions. She has found that now that she is in college people are more curious than judgmental. Most people tell her, “Wow you’re so lucky” because the accommodations Rutgers offers for students with disabilities are great. She has recommended that people apply for accommodations because any help is better than none. In addition, her audiologist has referred her to a genetic doctor who specializes in hearing loss. Her main goal is to combine her hearing loss journey with her professional career in genetics.

Ruth Bernstein

Travel Tips for People with Hearing Loss

Despite the passage of time, travel rules of the road have not changed for people with hearing loss. We encounter the same problems all the time. The good news is technology has improved a lot, making it easier to cope. We have access to captioning apps on our smart phones (e.g., Google's Live Transcribe, Apple's Live Captions). Airline apps notify travelers online when flights are delayed. There are captioned movies on some flights. Hopefully, onboard announcements will be captioned soon. Read more of this post.

Katherine Bouton

How I "Hear" Music

I’m a total amateur when it comes to music. I can’t play an instrument. I can’t carry a tune. I can’t even dance if it involves learning steps. But I do love music and one of the major losses that came with my deafness was music. Over the years, I’ve discovered some strategies and workarounds. I don’t actually hear music better, but the tricks make me think I do. I was reminded of this when I went to see Paul Simon at Tanglewood early this summer. Read more of this post.

Shari Eberts

LivingWithHearingLoss.com

What I Told a Room Full of Hearing Scientists

Last month I stood in front of a room full of PhD-level hearing scientists and told them what hearing loss actually feels like from the inside — something they spend their careers studying but that many of them may never fully experience. These are the people studying the hair cells, synapses, and biological machinery of hearing—the researchers whose work may one day lead to treatments and cures that people like you and me can only dream about. Read more of this post.

Gael Hannan

Hearing Aids: Visible Signs of Healing

What do our hearing aids tell other people about us? It should be just one thing – the devices help us hear. Not that we’re broken, or lesser than – in fact, just the opposite. Using hearing aids should indicate that we have identified a problem and have taken steps to address it. The adjective ‘broken’ means damaged or no longer working properly. When we develop hearing loss, our auditory system may be broken but we, as people, are not. Read more of this post.

Toni Iacolucci and Peggy Ellertsen

Healthcare with Hearing Loss

Reflection

I have been thinking about what was for many years my default reaction to the all-too-common patient experience of working with healthcare systems that fell short of integrating my communication needs during an appointment or procedure. Almost always, I would feel tense and aggravated, my reaction routinely rooted in the perception that I was placing demands on my providers for which they were not prepared. Often, I felt that my provider had unintentionally relegated my hearing loss to the back burner of our appointment. Read more of this post.

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