OTC Heading Aids on NBC Nightly News!
In case you missed it, Barbara Kelley made an appearance on NBC Nightly News to discuss the current legislation pushing for OTC hearing aids. You can watch the OTC segment that aired at the link below:
Author: Tim Browning
Good Times at the Memorial Weekend Picnic
Memorial Day Party
Good times and much needed catching up was the scene at our Memorial Weekend picnic held for the first time at Lacy Park in San Marino. The location for our gathering was in a beautiful shaded area of Lacy Park so with blue skies and cool temperatures – we couldn’t have asked for a better setting! A big thank you to our President, Heather Lehr for arranging the location and gathering!
Memorial Weekend Picnic Party! Come Join Us!
Here is the 411 for our picnic, which will be in lieu of our usual meeting. Our chapter will be supplying sandwiches as a main course along with beverages and paper goods. The rest will be potluck, so please let Jenna know what you will be bringing! You can send her an email as mentioned on our Yahoo Groups picnic thread or use the Contact Us form to let us know.
Chapter Members Join the March for Science!
HLAA-LA members joined thousands of other March for Science attendees in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, April 22, 2017, to show support for a cause that touches the lives of everyone with hearing loss. As President Heather Lehr explained, our goal was not to march against anyone or anything, but rather to show our support for government-supported research, while spreading awareness about hearing loss and hearing loss technology.
First Meeting At Our New Home A Big Success!
The start of the 2017 HLAA-LA Chapter year got off to a great start at our new Huntington Hospital home! Finding the conference room for the meeting proved to be a little challenging but with the nearly full room of participants, it looked like people found their way just fine.
LA Cochlear Implant Group Meeting January 21, 2017
This is the first LA Cochlear Implant Group meeting of 2017! Cochlear Americas is speaking to us so please review the information provided below. Come and hear about the latest in their technology!!!
Hope to see many of you there!
A Joyous 2016 Holiday Party!
It was a happening holiday party filled with fun, laughter and much needed catching up with friends we just don’t get to see enough of. As usual, Danny was our White Elephant host providing laughter and interesting insights to the various gifts received. Even without a loop! Any many thanks to Heather Lehr for opening up her wonderful home to the vast array of foods and invasion of numerous people. As far as we can tell, everyone was recognizable so no party crashers!
Self Identifying Seat Belt Covers!
During our chapter meeting, Nancy Gray brought an interesting item and idea to share. It is something you can put on your seat-belt that would identify you as deaf, hard-of-hearing, a cochlear implant user, etc…you can customize the text to say whatever you’d like it. Nancy also included her “In Case of Emergency” as an example of what further you can do to customize.
She bought it from the Cochlear Apparel store on Etsy.com (no affiliation to Cochlear Americas). Here’s the link: Cochlear Apparel Store.
Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
Tim’s 2016 HLAA National Convention Experience – Perseverance and Career Success
(From Tim Browning – HLAA-LA Steering Committee member)
This was my first time at the HLAA National Convention held in Washington D.C. and what an experience it was! This was the first convention I’ve attended that didn’t include worries and concerns about what information am I going to miss, can I communicate with others effectively, and will the effort just to hear wear me down over time! With everyone at the convention sharing the same struggles and experiences I’ve had, it was an empowering experience but took time to realize.
How to Closed Captions Your Facebook Videos!
Interesting announcement came out recently, shared by our own Ken Clusky, on how to add your own closed captioning to Facebook videos. Link is below the will take you to the how-to guide to do this!
5 Reasons Why You Should Caption Your Facebook Videos
- Videos get more impressions on the newsfeed than any other type of post.
- Facebook videos auto-play on mute, so captions are needed to let the viewer follow along.
- Captions make your video accessible to all users, from a deaf viewer to someone on a noisy train or a quiet library.
- Subtitles in other languages make your video accessible to international viewers.
- Closed captions are proven to increase engagement and watch-time.
Here is the link to the how-to guide.