The Dementia Question: What is the relationship, and what can we do to mitigate risk? 

Dr. Justin Golub, Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Faculty Development in the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at Columbia University, will address the nature of the relationship between hearing loss and cognitive decline. What does an “association” mean? What is the evidence that hearing aids can reduce the risk, and if so, why? Is it a matter of increased cognitive effort, or might it be explained by something else? He will discuss recent research findings as well as future developments.

Dr. George Alexiades, formerly of Weill Cornell Medicine and currently at NYU Langone located on Long Island will give an update on cochlear implants: new technologies, qualifications for surgery, the implantation process. Dr Alexiades will be joined by Dr. Paul Lavra, speech pathologist at NYU Langone Cochlear Implant Center in NYC who will discuss aural rehabilitation for implant candidates. Insurance coverage will be discussed.

Speaker Andy Chandler, a retired cybersecurity professional will discuss what people with hearing loss need to know about cybersecurity. We are bombarded daily with phishing attacks, security warnings and fraud alerts. How do we protect ourselves from relay calls, romance scams, identify theft, loss of funds and loss of reputation? Artificial Intelligence is on everyone’s minds and makes it even easier for cybercriminals to conduct their scams. With over 20 years of cybersecurity experience, and as a lifelong hearing aid wearer and CI recipient, Andy will provide tips and tricks to help keep you safe from scams.

On November 19 the NYC Chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America presented a program on Auracast and the future of hearing-assistive technology. Juliette Sterkens and Stephen Frazier spoke about the future of technology like hearing loops, IR and FM systems. They explored the current state of Auracast, its anticipated adoption timeline, and how this emerging technology may enhance auditory experiences in public venues for everyone.

Peggy Ellertsen and Toni Iacolucci, members of the strategic committee of HLAA’s Communication Access in Health Care program will discuss barriers and solutions to ensuring that patients can communicate safely and accurately in all medical encounters. They will be joined by Steve Gordon, Coordinator for Civil Rights Enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Steve is an expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and will address the legal aspects of securing needed accommodations and support for effective communication.

The basics and more: telecoils, how to care for your hearing aid, when and how to change the ear mold, hearing aid insurance, return policy for newly purchased hearing aids. How often you should wear your new hearing aids. Smartphone as an assistive device. A guide to assistive devices by hearing aid brand.

Speakers:

• Michele DiStefano, director of hearing and hearing technology at the Berelson Audiology Center at CHC.

• Claire Bernstein, a professor at Gallaudet, will talk about auditory rehab as it applies to both cochlear implants and hearing aids.

Our featured speaker, Dr. Alexander Chern, will discuss his life story- including how he overcame the challenges of hearing loss to achieve academic success. In addition, he will describe how his hearing loss informed his choice to become an ear surgeon. He will finish with a description of his current research in music, hearing, and cognition. That night we will also award the fourth annual $5000 Albert B. Chen scholarship for a high school senior with hearing loss to Kiana Clercin. She is a student at the Brooklyn Institute of Liberal Arts and will attend John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Diane Martinez, a Florida audiologist, who spoke on this topic at HLAA’s Tampa Convention, will be joined by Karen Beverly-Ducker, the Senior Director of Multicultural Practices at ASHA, and Lyssy Pastrana, a chapter board member, will offer a patient's perspective and to share her experience in outreach to diverse communities.

Tina Childress, a deaf audiologist in Illinois, will speak about captioning apps for personal communication, including Innocaption+, Google Live Transcribe, and Otter ai. She will also discuss our rights to captioning at live events and where to complain about inadequate tv captions.

Our panel includes: Carolyn Ginsburg Stern, Director of Outreach and Strategic Initiatives at the Center for Hearing and Communication (CHC). Vanessa Kelly, a practicing corporate lawyer and a deaf disability advocate, speaker, and writer. Laura Friedman, currently a Senior Vice President, Communications and People Strategy Lead for Markets Technology at Citigroup. Maria Laghi, who retired in 2010 after a long career as an arts administrator, including fifteen years with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Film at Lincoln Center.

Barbara Weinstein, CUNY department head and former professional advisor, will talk about what’s new in hearing aids. Thomas Powers, an audiologist and expert on Over the Counter Hearing Aids, will also speak.

Jeff Wax will moderate our annual interactive program on the emotional side of hearing loss.

Our speaker will be Alex Lacamoire, a Cuban-American composer/arranger/conductor and associate of Lin-Manuel Miranda. He has worked on In the Heights, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and others. He has hearing loss and wears hearing aids.

We did not receive permission to post the recording of this conversation.

Our speakers will include Rachel Cohen from New York City Transit’s Systemwide Accessibility and David Nelson, Manager, Passenger Accessibility Office,  Amtrak. David Nelson will speak via an ASL interpreter. We hope to have a representative of air travel.

Meghan Despotidis, Columbia audiologist, will moderate a panel that will include Board member, Toni Iacolucci, along with a parent and 16-year-old child with a CI.  They will talk about the history of their hearing loss, the considerations involved in deciding to get a CI, the actual surgery and activation, and an update on their progress.

Speakers include Lisa Carling, Director of TDF Accessibility Programs; Jerry Bergman, advocate for the deaf and hard of hearing; and Francesca Rosenberg. the Museum of Modern Art's Director of Access Programs and Initiatives.

Engaging Young People to Talk about Hearing Loss

Brittany Nievinski will discuss her personal journey as a designer and how she overcame the challenges of hearing loss to succeed in college and graduate school. She will also speak about social design and what it means to develop a practice grounded in lived experience and personal values. In her work as a Graphic Designer, she focuses on openness, holding space for conversation, and exploring what hearing health means to her. She hopes to engage with other young people around the topic of hearing health.

We will also award the third annual $5000 Albert B. Chen scholarship for a high school senior with hearing loss to Lawrence Goldfeld of Staten Island Technical High School who will be attending the Macaulay Honors College at the College of Staten Island.  

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will give us an online tour of museum highlights, including Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware and Jackson Pollock's Autumn Rhythm. We will also explore both grand and hidden spaces in the museum, including the Temple of Dendur and the Astor Chinese Garden Court. No comfortable shoes necessary for this online event.

Although this meeting was not recorded, at the speaker's request, here are links to the art she discussed:

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm (Number 30); David Hockney, Mount Fuji and Flower; Katsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagaw; Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbi; Torah Crown; Dancing Ganesha; Goya, Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga; Emmanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware; Crown of the Andes; Our Lady of Cocharcas; The Astor Chinese Garden Court; The Temple of Dendur.

Vanessa AineLeigh Kelly will talk about meditation, mindful movement (yoga, etc.), and immersion in nature as ways of coping with hearing loss. Speaking from her own experience, she will how these have been profoundly transformative for her. The audience will be invited to share their own experiences.

Terrence Williams, board member and assistant director of the CHC’s Berelson Hearing and Technology Center and Carolyn Stern, CHC’s Director of Outreach and Strategic Initiatives, will discuss how you can make your home environment safer through technology. They will introduce and demonstrate low-cost or free and easy-to-use solutions including alerting devices and apps designed for people with hearing loss. 

David Landberger, Ph.D., an auditory scientist at NYU and a member of the chapter’s Board of Directors, will be the featured speaker. Dr. Landsberger will discuss the rich history of the cochlear implant from its early origins through the cutting edge of cochlear implant technology to the future possibilities. In the early days, it was hoped that cochlear implants might be useful aids for lipreading. Early pioneers took great risks getting experimental devices implanted into their heads with the hope of possibly hearing something again. With time, the cochlear implant has evolved such that surgery has become routine and outcomes highly exceed the expectations of the early pioneers.

This is our annual interactive program, where chapter members share stories and advice without an outside moderator or speaker. The topic this year is how hearing loss affects us emotionally and psychologically. Attendees will talk about specific challenges they’ve faced --  with technology, getting accommodations, with family, friends, the workplace, or in the public sector -- and how they managed them. Others are invited to contribute their own experiences in similar situations. 

Chapter President Katherine Bouton, who is the author of “Shouting Won’t Help” and “Smart Hearing,” will facilitate. Comments can be made orally (three minutes per speaker), entered into the chat box, or submitted prior to the meeting.

Kate Gfeller of the U. of Iowa will be joined by a panel of musicians with cochlear implants who will share their experiences playing their instruments with CIs. In addition, they will discuss the issues they confronted in their pursuit of appropriate audiological services. We hope that one or more of them will perform.

On November 15, the NYC chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America will present a program on advocacy for the hearing loss community. Attorney Bruce Gitlin will speak about the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it affects us individually. Chapter member and advocate Jerry Bergman will discuss local advocacy initiatives, and attorney John Waldo will discuss national initiatives.

Nina Kraus is Professor of Communication Sciences, Neurobiology, and Otolaryngology at Northwestern University. As a biologist and amateur musician, she thinks about sound and brain health. Her research has found that our lives in sound, for better (musicians, bilinguals) and for worse (concussion, hearing loss, language disorders, noise), shape how our brain makes sense of the sounds we hear. Her book OF SOUND MIND - How our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World, was written for the intellectually curious. See www.brainvolts.northwestern.edu

She will examine the partnership of sound and brain, demonstrating that the processing of sound drives many of the brain’s core functions and leaves a fundamental imprint on who we are as human beings. Our hearing brain interacts with what we know, with our emotions, with how we think, with our movements, and with our other senses. Hearing problems, whether in the form of decreased audibility overall or difficulty hearing in noise in particular, are isolating. Kraus will explore the power of auditory training, playing music and learning a second language to strengthen the sound mind. After her lecture, Kraus will lead a discussion on hearing loss and the sound mind. Be prepared to tell her what you wish everyone knew about having hearing loss.

A panel of ENT's and audiologists will talk about how their own hearing loss affects their work as clinicians. David Landsberger will moderate. The panelists range in age (some newly minted, some newly retired) and hearing histories. Confirmed speakers are Viral Tejani, clinical audiologist and Ph.D. researcher; Paul Hammerschlag, retired otolaryngologist (NYU); Terrence Williams, board member and assistant director of the CHC technology center; Sophie Racine, an audiologist at Montefiore Medical Center and recent graduate of the CUNY Doctors of Audiology Program.

Our annual meeting and awards ceremony will include the announcement of the second annual Al Chen Scholarship award winner, Jonesy Strell of Millenium High School, as well as a talk by Christopher Caulfield, a product manager at Microsoft who was born deaf. Caulfield, a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology with a Master's degree in Computer Science from Cornell, will talk about his experiences in academia and in the workplace.