First Look at the Bose Hearing Aid

Self-Fitting Bose “Hearing Aid” Resembles Bose Hearphones Hearing Tracker has gotten a first look at the FDA’s documentation for the much-anticipated Bose Hearing Aid. The product’s physical form factor looks nearly identical to the consumer-electronic giant’s last hearing-assistive product, the Bose “Hearphones”. But the Bose Hearing Aid is the first FDA-approved hearing aid in a newly-minted category of products known as “self-fitting air-conduction hearing aids.” Read more. Read Article

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Andy Meek @aemeek

February 4th, 2019 at 11:07 PM

Google is starting to roll out two new features for Android phones today that are meant to help the some 900 million people around the world who the World Health Organization says will be suffering from hearing loss by the year 2055. The features are actually two apps for Android called Live Transcribe and Sound Amplifier, both of which do exactly what the names imply.

The Live Transcribe app, for example, takes real-world speech and turns it into real-time captions using the phone’s microphone, while Sound Amplifier helps filter, augment and amplify sounds in the environment around the user. It increases quiet sounds while not over-boosting loud sounds, and it can also be customized, with sliders and toggles that can be used for noise reduction to minimize distractions in the background.

DON’T MISSAnyone with a phone that supports wireless charging would be crazy to pass up this deal

Sound Amplifier will be in the Play Store today for Android users, while Google says Live Transcribe will start rolling out in a limited beta today via the Play Store. It will also come pre-installed on Pixel 3 devices, and you can sign up here to be notified when it’s more widely available. Sound Amplifier will likewise come pre-installed on Pixel 3’s.

In a company blog post today, Google shows how the apps can be used by spotlighting the work of Dimitri Kanevsky, a research scientist at the company who’s worked on speech recognition and communications technology for 30 years. “Through his work, Dimitri — who has been deaf since early childhood — has helped shape the accessibility technologies he relies on. One of them is CART: A service where a captioner virtually joins a meeting to listen and create a transcription of spoken dialogue, which then displays on a computer screen. Dimitri’s teammate, Chet Gnegy, saw the challenges Dimitri faced using CART: He always carried multiple devices, it was costly and each meeting required a lot of preparation. This meant Dimitri could only use CART for formal business meetings or events, and not everyday conversations.”

That, the Google post continues, inspired Chet to work with the company’s Accessibility team to build a tool that could reduce Dimitri’s effort spent preparing for conversations. “We thought: What if we used cloud-based automatic speech recognition to display spoken words on a screen? A prototype was built and Googlers across a bunch of our offices — from Mountain View to Taipei — got involved. The result is Live Transcribe, an app that takes real-world speech and turns it into real-time captions using just the phone’s microphone.”

The app gives people who are deaf or hard of hearing, Google says, greater independence in their everyday interactions. People like Dimitri, who’s now closer to his loved ones and able to easily communicate with his young granddaughters without the help of family members.

https://youtu.be/jLCwjIaPXwA

Image Source: Google

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Preview YouTube video Android Accessibility: Live Transcribe

Android Accessibility: Live Transcribe

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Center for Living & Working, Inc.’s  Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program invites you to attend a Meet and Greet with MCDHH Commissioner Steven Florio.

Please come to meet and talk with Commissioner Florio Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Learn about his goals and vision for the future of MCDHH.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 26th, 2019
TIME: 2:00pm – 4:00pm
WHERE: Center for Living & Working, Inc.
484 Main Street, Suite 345
Denholm Building
Worcester, MA 01608

There will also be time to ask questions!  Refreshments will be provided.

Please RSVP by June 19th  RSVP to Joan Philip at JPhilip@centerlw.org or please call
508-762-1164.

ASL/English Interpreters will be provided. FM systems will be available.

Please contact Joan Philip for any other Communication Access requests.

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March 16th Meeting at The Northborough Town Library

2:30 to 4:30 pm  (Note the 2:30 pm start time)

Living with Hearing Loss: Share Your Experiences

The March “meeting” will not be our typical chapter meeting with a speaker.

Instead, we will all be the speakers! The format will be for us to break into small groups to identify common issues we experience with hearing loss and brainstorm potential solutions. We’ll come back as a full group to find out what each of the groups came up with.

This will be an excellent opportunity for us to interact with one another, share experiences, and learn from each other.

The Northborough Town Library

• Ample Free Parking
• Light Refreshments
• CART Provided (Computer Aided Real Time Captioning)
• First Timers Welcome… just show up!

QUESTIONS? Email us at info@hearinglosscentralma.org

34 Main St, Northborough, MA 01532 (Access Library from Rt. 20 at Patty Lane)

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My Journey as a Musician with Hearing Loss

A “Talk and Play” presentation
by Betty Hauck, viola and violin

For 50 years, Betty enjoyed a rich and rewarding career as a professional violist—until the day she realized that she had to retire because of progressive hearing loss. For three years, she completely turned her back on music. In this “Talk & Play” presentation, she will tell the story of how various twists and turns led her back into sharing the joy of music while educating and advocating for those with hearing loss. Her talk will be punctuated by short musical selections on both violin and viola. This will be a short 20 minute presentation in lieu of the usual sermon.

Sunday, March 24, 2019, 11:00 am

Unitarian Universalist Church, 147 High St, Medford, Massachusetts

Highlights of Betty’s career include performing for the Kennedys at the White House, playing in a string quartet with Yo-Yo Ma and, as a founding member of the Apple Hill Chamber Players, touring the Middle East annually, performing and teaching young Palestinian and Jewish music students.

Betty was recently featured in an NPR story about musicians and hearing loss:
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/04/17/classical-musicians-hearing-loss

Contact: bettiola@comcast.net

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Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell, MA provides open captioned performances.

The Haunted Life, Sunday, April 7th at 2:00 pm, and
Cry It Out, Sunday May 12th at 2:00 pm.

The venue is located at 50 East Merrimack Street

For more information please call 978-654-4678 or email box_office@mrt.org