ESTHER: You all have T coils. Have you ever seen one. These are T-coils. You have them in your hearing aid and cochlear implant. This is a T-coil. They come in different shapes and sizes. You all have seen that before. What I wanted to say was something that Janet and I were discussing before it started. T-coils can be placed in hearing aids different positions or even in cochlear implants in different positions. I'll give you an example. I have discovered at church when I use -- where did my neck loop go? Hold on. When I use my neck loop at church with my FM listening system, normally maybe with hearing aids you can just leave it down here. That's fine in here. But I have discovered the way my T-coil, this little thing is in my cochlear implant, I have to hang it down my back and I hear perfect. When it slides forward the preacher isn't as loud. Got to try it sometimes. When I hang it down I hear better than ever. >>: I have to put the loop over the top -- ESTHER: Try hanging it down your back. I discovered yes I could hold it up here or I discovered hanging it down my back and it gives the signal. But my point is different T-coils are in different little positions in our listening system and the signal might -- that's probably why you have to hold it up here but try hanging it down your back and you might get the signal. It's not so much that it needs to be closer, as it needs to be in the direction of your T-coil. So I just thought people hear the word, they don't know what it is. This is such a good little picture of what it is. So that's #1. Secondly, there's stuff you can read about T-coils. Since we all use them we don't have to go into that. I want to talk about a couple of learning devices. Since I'm -- I'm preaching to the choir here. You all know so much. I'm going to give you a little human interest. Let us know why we're so needed here. I went to two different people this week. One was 52, and one was 29. The 52 year-old person, way down south of Dallas. I drove 60 miles round trip. He wore hearing aids for years, was working. About eight years ago lost all his hearing. Guess what, his family took away his driver's license, put him in a house with his 75 year-old dad and told him he couldn't do anything anymore. This is happening. And 2005, 2002. All over. This is not isolated. So now I get a call, dad died Friday. We don't know what to do with this guy because he can't hear the door knob. He has no phone, any kind of stuff. And we can't even get in there and he can't hear anything and he can't read lips. So he's a vegetable sitting in a house with him taking a tablet writing, go to the doctor, do this. No talking for eight years. 52 year-old, very healthy, very otherwise good man. Sad to see. I'm telling you this to tell you why we need these meetings. Technology is for this man. So his brother, his grand niece, he's never been married. He's always had hearing loss. But then it got real bad. All those years nobody ever told him there was something besides a hearing aid. So now he's got no hearing aids, can't read the lips. I took my laptop and typed for two hours to this person, and his brother was there. I told him all about cochlear implant. I told him about the caption phone so that they could communicate with him when he's there. I spent all this time, and his brother said my goodness, I see the tenseness coming out of his face. He's actually happy now, because he's been scared. They've been scared. That's Monday. Friday -- Thursday, I get a call from child protective services in another city. Not Dallas. And I can tell case histories. I can't tell people. 29 year-old mother of three, 10 through three. 10 year-old is doing everything. Phone calls. Doing everything because mom graduated from high school with her hearing aids and all, never knew anything but hearing aids. Actually even used an FM system in high school. But then lost all her hearing. She's a single mom now. No job. No nothing. Doesn't even have a phone land line. Her sister has given her a cell phone that she text messages on, and it vibrates to let her know someone is sending a text message so she carries her cell phone around all day, and she's got three little kids to raise. I was never so impressed as I was with child protective services, which we all think are grabbing everybody's children away from them and putting them in foster care and everybody's afraid of child protective services. I was impressed, they are not like that, at least not in this town. They love this woman. They wanted to help her. They did not want to take her children away. Even they, child protective services, are buying her a flashing smoke detector for her house. The child protective services is going to rig her house with door bells that flash to tell her someone is at the door. They are that interested and I am impressed that there are some people that are by the system that look at the whole picture and at this mom and what are we going to do about it. She has a Spanish speaking family that doesn't speak English. She has no support. Can't hear anything now. Lives alone. Food stamps and DARS denied her. All these things. So the child protective services called my office and said help, we don't know what to do. I'm taking her to DARS. She wants to work. Taking her to an appointment to see if she can get a cochlear implant. I'm taking her to all these places. I'm saying is there are right in this area people like that and all over. It's not isolated. I've had two in one week, and that scares me. That frustrates me. We think, oh, we have these meetings, everybody knows so much. We need to educate people here that when they notice something like that to take charge and do something about it. I'm only one person. I was overwhelmed with this week. I went home two times very sad that these things are happening for people here. And to top it off, this young girl, the 29 year-old said, well, I have an aunt who lives in Chicago who has a cochlear implant, and she hears, but nobody transmitted it to her that maybe that would help her. She was like totally isolated. Are you all surprised at these stories or what? >>: No because I know things like that happen, but it really upsets me, because if we could get more people to support HLAA, we could get out and do more for these people. ESTHER: Well, I know -- >>: My question would be with both of those people that you spoke of, I didn't hear you say that they were mentally -- ESTHER: They're perfect. They're healthy -- >>: Then why did they not stand up and say, can I -- is there nothing that I can -- I mean, TV shows you -- ESTHER: I have your answer. Because they both wore hearing aids and because audiologists don't bother to tell them about cochlear implants or technology, because time is money, and I've had many times, the hearing aid isn't enough anymore they say, can't help you. >>: That's true. That's something you've seen on these lists. It's a greed factor that goes on in the audiology business. ESTHER: That's true. They think they have it and it doesn't work anymore. >>: See, I understand that, because with my audiologist, I don't think -- one, she's young. You met her. I don't think that she was I'll say educated. Maybe that's a good word. Because when I went first to see her, her attitude was, well, I'm not familiar with your system. And I looked at her like, I don't care whether you are or not, you get familiar. Because I'm comfortable with my system. And that's the time that I want -- you're telling me that I need a new system. Okay. I want the same one that I've got. Because I'm comfortable with it. And I need it to work. She came educated because I was dogmatic in insisting -- ESTHER: But see, you met someone -- audiologists, time is money. Let's just do this. And if I have lots of -- actually, I have one in Denton, a very -- a doctorate in audiology, I got to praise that man. He emailed me and said, I've got someone I can't find a hearing aid that will help him anymore. I'm sending him to you to learn about cochlear implants. He went that far at least. Although he wasn't willing to take the time to do that himself. But that's an unusual audiologist. Most of them say oh, well there's nothing out there. I'm sorry. And how does that man that's 52 that was a laborer. He was educated to be a laborer. Didn't graduate high school but the girl did. They don't have a computer. How do you know what to ask for if you don't know if there's something out there besides a hearing aid how do you know to ask for something besides a hearing aid. If you don't know that I have an FM system and hearing aids would help in a big room, you don't know there's such a thing because the audiologist doesn't say there's other technology out there too. It's been an uphill battle last couple of years where every person has no T-coil in the hearing aid. Or they have one in the phone ear because the audiologist says I'll put one in the phone ear. I'm here with two, and I tell them to go back and put one in the other ear. And we've been educating the DARS counselors and they're getting good at refusing to pay for it without T-coils. It's an uphill battle where more people need to be involved in educating technology. We don't need to push one kind, cochlear -- we just need to tell them to search further. There's more out there. A couple of years ago I went to a senior center and the woman said to me, my husband was told never buy him a hearing aid, he'll never hear again. This is true. It was a big room like this only bigger. I said where's your husband. She said, sitting in the corner reading the paper. He can't hear anything. So the woman in charge, it was her husband. So I put my FM system on him and a headset on him and walked all the way back around and had the microphone, and I said to the wife, I'm trying an FM system to see if he can hear anything with the headphones on and he jumped up and said I could hear you and the doctor and the audiologist told him not to bother spending any more money on it. People cried. This was way out in Farmersville. People cried. This man was a vegetable -- he was going to read his paper rest of his life. He was withdrawn. He was probably 73 and nobody told him. Nobody told him. I'm telling you it's not isolated. It's frustrating me. You hit me the wrong day because this week has been overwhelming with that. I want to cry. >>: The difference is there's a difference in people. I never had any hearing but I went on and did things because I was the kind of person to go on and do things. She's the same way. She's going to go on and do things. We're going to see for ourselves. But so many people don't have the whatever it takes inside themselves to do that, they have to have someone do it for them. ESTHER: The director of the senior center was a smart lady but she accepted what the doctor said and told him you can't hear anymore, you're done. >>: And Tommie, you told me too, that before you got your implant, that you thought you were fine, that you thought you were perfectly functional but you didn't realize how constrained your life had gotten. >>: What did I do, went to college, got married twice, raised two kids, had three different jobs. I never was associated with deaf people. I never was isolated. >>: Well, my point though is I think a lot of people, it's gradual, and you slowly make adjustments. You stop doing this because it's too hard. You stop doing that because you can't hear. And you think you're fine. But if you think about what you were doing five years ago or 10 years ago, you'd say, well, I used to travel alone. I used to go to restaurants. I used to go shopping anywhere I wanted and you realize you've made all these adjustments and I think a lot of people don't seek help because it's been a slow gradual shrinking of their world and they don't know how bad off they are. ESTHER: And I see someone like Tommie and probably -- have you had hearing loss all your life Fanay? I I'm going to say yes, but we didn't know it because all of my life -- my sister and I were in the same grade from the first grade. And she and all of my peers in the same grade were always correcting me when I would pronounce a word. Because that's what I heard. Then they would say, you know -- and I would look at them like, that's what I said. Because it was still coming in -- ESTHER: Those of you that had hearing loss all this time are different than these adults that suddenly are told, you can't do it anymore. They accept it. I find it -- late-deafened or late hard of hearing people, seem to give up easier than the general public. And I don't know if that's true or not. I mean, everybody's different. But the fact remains, there is people that I call, falling through the cracks, and there should not be falling through the cracks. >>: No, someone should be helping them. But that's what you guys are for. ESTHER: But I'm only one. I was down south of Dallas. I have driven like 300 miles this week for two people. >>: You remember back in SHHH, you remember when (inaudible) was the state coordinator, and we started this push back in the early 90s to get a specialist to get people to work with hard of hearing, and rose got her first job because of Clyde black and that committee. ESTHER: We need more of me and groups like this. Even though we're small, you're probably discouraged, doesn't matter. We need it. Somehow we need to get people to know it's there. Somehow we need things like this. That's my point today is to say that's needed. We'll try to get some technology because I know Janet wants to learn something new. So I want to talk about listening systems. I want you to go to this page, this one, it's about the fourth one up. I really think -- you know, I hear a lot of people saying -- a lot of people are saying -- hold on. Get a pocket talker. You all know what a pocket talker is. Okay. If you don't learn anything else today, this would be important to learn. A pocket talker is a little thing that I can hang around my neck, and I'm a little old lady in a nursing home, and this goes about 4 feet. And I'm going to hear because I don't have hearing aids. If I don't have hearing aids I'm going to put the headphone on. Going to stick my headphones on. I have taken this to nursing homes. And a lady cried. Hadn't heard anybody for two years. Put the headphone on her, plugged this in here, I talk into it. I mean, put this on her. I talk into it just for demonstration purposes. I talk into T is it loud? >>: Yeah I have to set it up here. ESTHER: But you put this on the little hard of hearing lady that couldn't hear for two years and everybody walks in and says hello, hello. No small talk. No love. No interaction. Put this on. Sit there for an hour and talk about stuff and she's crying because I haven't heard anybody talking to me in two years. I have hearing in there. Just didn't have hearing aids. This is like a hearing aid for people that are shut in. This is like a hearing aid, low cost, $170. And it doesn't make you hear clearly. >>: Oh, yeah. ESTHER: Direct input. So now this thing is if you meet somebody that says I'm too poor to get a hearing aid. This is fine. >>: You do have to have some residual hearing to use that. ESTHER: Yeah, and I use it in my office to test. I took it to the 29 year-old and to the man this week to see if there was anything left. Neither of them could hear a sound. >>: I could hear sounds with stuff like that but it didn't help the discrimination. ESTHER: They didn't have any sound. They're flat lined out. So this is a good testing tool. I'd say 80 percent of the people that came in my office. Even a 100 year-old man walked in. He walked in like he was 80. I had no idea he was 100. Couldn't hear anything. His daughter-in-law said he doesn't need to hear. He doesn't bother to talk anymore. So I put this on him and he heard through the microphone his daughter-in-law say that. And he said, well, I'd talk if I could hear. I got lots to say to you. It was really really funny. So then she backed up, she backed up and she said, oh, well he is pretty smart. He still does his taxes by himself. And that's the impression that family members get when someone loses their hearing, they've lost something up here too. So they were treating him for the last five years like he didn't need to hear anymore. Sit him in a corner. He's lost everything. But then actually his birthday was going to be in April and this was March. I said buy one of these for his birthday. On his 100th birthday party everyone talked and he could hear the first time in five years. Then I called Oticon hearing aids who was turning 100 and they gave him hearing aids because he was 100. Anyway back to the pocket talker. It's not for us people that are out and about and busy people. But please remember there is a fix for people who have little money. And this has something else to it. This has where I can take this out, I can plug it into this long long cord. Like this. And I don't want to unwrap the cord so just use your imagination. Plug this into here. Now I got a little old lady that's in her little apartment and can't hear and can't read the captions on the TV. I can lay this microphone where the TV sounds comes out. And she can sit in her easy chair with this long cord stretched and put her headset on and hear fine. Plus when the neighbor comes over to chat she can go back -- either she can let the nature sit across the room and hand the neighbor the microphone. I have a little lady in a wheelchair who does this all the time. She's so thrilled she can now have her neighbors come over and she hands the microphone to them and they talk into it. So this is called a pocket talker. Pocket talkers have their place for a lot of things. I'll tell you another place I used a pocket talker which will surprise you. I had a call from someone that scans groceries at target. And they were going to fire him because he's giving away free groceries. Why is he giving away free groceries? I went to target and watched him scan. He's got great hearing aids with T-coils on them. Wonderful hearing aids with T-coils on him. But he was hearing the beeps behind him at the next scanner, and thought that his item was scanned but it was really the beep he was hearing behind him. So then you're walking out with your free groceries because he didn't scan them. So again, I realized, he's already got what he needs. Got great hearing aids. So I put this neck loop. You can use a neck loop with this around his neck. I put this in his pocket. And now this man has a microphone actually pointed at his scanner in his pocket. His hearing aids are on T-coil, so the background noise is drowned out. So now he can't hear the scanner behind him. This is picking up the beeps from his scanner going to his hearing aids. Plus if someone talks and he can't understand them he can let them talk into the microphone. So now he saved his job because of the little cheap pocket talker, along with his hearing aids. So you have to be creative sometimes with technology. And you don't always have to spend thousands of dollars. But I help people with different things. So that's called a pocket talker. And I find that many people get -- and I'm so twisted up here. Going to have to get this off of me. Many people get confused about technology. Do you all understand a basic pocket talker. >>: We're -- ESTHER: Do you all have any questions about the pocket talker. >>: I have one question. I hear a lot of complaints from people about being able to hear the TV specifically. Is that the best cheap solution or is there something else. ESTHER: I tell you what. It's a good solution for someone who has low money and needs the pocket talker plus TV help. This would save them money because it costs the same as a special TV technology which I'll talk about next, since you asked. But I would evaluate, do they just need something for the TV and they don't need for conversation? Then I would get them the TV device. But if they need both I would give them this device. >>: This is people at church and they'll say usually it's someone complaining about their spouse. And the spouse usually has hearing aids, but in order to hear the TV they're turning it up so loud that it's blasting the spouse out. ESTHER: Well, that type of person would turn -- let me turn you to page -- now I brought the book. For TV -- let me find it -- I had it a minute ago hold on. >>: On the front -- ESTHER: That one I don't like. Don't like that one at all. Turn to page 39 in your book. I'm getting you working here. This is interactive. Here get to 39. >>: I've got a TV -- ESTHER: It tells what's good and what's bad. Page 39. Let me explain. Fanay just said this one. But if they have hearing aids they got to take them off to use that so that's a stupid idea. If they have hearing aids, you would want -- the picture isn't shown here, but this particular one at the top comes with either the device that stick necessary your ear or you can order one with a neck loop. Same thing. So you would want to get this with a neck loop. So that now all I did was put my TV device -- this goes on the top of the TV. It's an infrared light. I put my neck loop with my little box receiver. This box receiver plugs into the neck loop. Looks like a pocket talker but it's wireless. It's not like this long cord like the pocket talker had, and I can sit and I can have my receiver with my neck loop getting the TV sound, and it costs about the same as the pocket talker. So you would want to get people in your church if they have T-coils on their hearing aids they would want to get something that has a neck loop that's wireless. This is a wire and it's frustrating. >>: Okay. So this one is wireless. Is this one wireless too? ESTHER: Yes. That's wireless. But you have to take your hearing aids out and stick the ear buds in your ears. >>: This one you can get an optional neck loop. >>: I used this with a family that had a loop system around their living room. And their TV was playing so low I could not even hear it. But if I switched into T-coil mode I could hear the TV. ESTHER: She had another thing. You can actually wire a whole room. It's about $200. And just step inside and push your T-coils on and that's what she did at somebody's family. >>: They just had a loop around their living room, you know those magnetic loops, what I'm talking about? Esther can you explain that to them. The magnetic loop? ESTHER: I'll show you one. >>: It's just a wire that you put up, and then you switch on your T-coil and it picks up the signal from that wire. The wire is plugged to the TV so that the signal is driven around that wire. ESTHER: What tommy is talking about is you'd have this kind of box at your TV. Then you would take a wire like this and wire it around your room. And then it would have a signal but it has to be connected to a box somewhere. >>: Right. ESTHER: Then it also comes with a TV connector. I don't have the TV connector. You know where you put your yellow, red and white, you plug it into the TV. >>: And we bought one of those, and it came with the wire, if you want to wire the room. I just haven't been able to think of a way to do it where it looks attractive. >>: These people had theirs down around the base board and you couldn't even see T it was just a wire running around the top of the base board. >>: That would probably work. How would we do the door way? ESTHER: You don't have this? Did you buy it? This is sort of different than the loop you're talking about. It's the same loop that's wired around the room. And she has it in her office but can be your home TV too. But you can sit this on your easy chair, sit down, and since you're the only person with hearing loss in the room you run the wire over to the TV and you have this there. And you put your T-coil on and I'm sitting on an induction loop here in my chair and hearing everything. They have another little adaptar that Fanay has this in her office where she plugs it into her digital phone line at work and she sits on her chair pad at work and pushes on her T-coils and she can hear with two ears on the phone at work. So the loop system has a lot of applications but yes you can loop a whole room so you step inside and it's on. >>: Esther when she uses it with the phone does the phone have to plug into the box somehow. ESTHER: Yes, you have to buy a special adaptar from radio shack that costs $17. >>: I'm still kind of figuring out how to get the maximum use. ESTHER: I go to offices and hook these up. I was just up in north Dallas. I travel a lot. I was just in north Dallas and hooked up for a lady. She was just so excited about it at work. Hooked up the chair pad for her. Not everybody likes this as much as others. But there again I have one person that was sitting on it because of where her T-coil was wasn't as good. So we hung it over the back of the chair and she could hear fine with it because of the signal going to the T-coil differently. >>: I really love it. It's the first time I've been able to really hear the TV in years. I would use the captioning so I would know what was being said but, you know, a lot of commercials are not captioned and I couldn't hear the music. And with that I can. ESTHER: So you use that on the TV? >>: I do on the TV. ESTHER: And you can hear it? >>: Yeah, it's wonderful. The only drawback is the wire, you know, you have to have a wire stretched across the room. And if you don't just sit there -- I tend to want to iron, or get up and use the computer while watching TV. >>: We still have the loop up that Clyde used but they just have theirs around the ceiling. ESTHER: Loop it around the edge of the room. >>: That way Clyde could walk in and hear whatever was coming out over the loop. >>: That would be nice. >>: These other people had theirs down around the base board and that was fixed where you can sit on their couch and hear their TV. And I'm serious. It was playing so low, I heard nothing with both of my implants turned on. But I switched to T-coil and I could hear that TV. But now I don't want TV. ESTHER: I do. Let me show you this one. If you're ever trying to explain to someone about why you need extra assistive devices, this little picture shows the speech comes out of their mouth or their TV and by the time it gets to my hearing aid, because of the distance factor, it's soft. But you put the little FM system on or the chair pad, now the speech goes right into my head from there to there. >>: It's like you're right up in their ear talking. ESTHER: So it's for you to explain how speech in general -- you know people don't get it -- it's even true with cochlear implants. We have microphones, and I've said it 100 times. The singer that sings into the microphone, when they take it away we don't hear as well. Our hearing aids or cochlear implants, they're a microphone. 6 feet is perfect. 12 feet, it's distance. And the hearing world thinks we're fixed so they can hear across the room. But it's like that microphone is going away further from us. It's not that we're not hearing as well. Our microphone can't pick up across the room. We have a good 6-foot range and people don't understand that. >>: Esther, is 6 feet the effective range on a hearing aid? ESTHER: Yes. The most effective. And one doctor at Callier said 3 feet but I'll say 6 feet. And the only way to explain it to people is to say if the singer holds the mike here and take it away you can't hear. This is a microphone. If I'm here 6 feet, I'm good. If I'm out there it's taken away. Everyone that wears hearing aids don't get that. And the family members say I paid $4,000 and they don't work. But they're expecting the moon when there's limits. >>: With my deficit, it's not hearing sound. It's the understanding and clarification of the word. I mean, you can go over there and I can turn my system on FM. And you're blasting me out. ESTHER: That's why we need FM. >>: But I have to see your mouth. ESTHER: Because of your understanding. >>: Because I -- you can yell and scream at me and I can hear you, but I don't understand because I can't -- that's my deafness. ESTHER: What you just said is fact. If you get louder your microphone will pick it up. It's not any clearer. It's a microphone. Isn't fixing your hearing. Just allowing you to hear things louder. >>: You can be standing right in front of me. Just like now you wouldn't put your hand in front of your mouth, and I could hear you but I didn't know what you said. ESTHER: That's why you don't understand it. And that's way back further. You know, I always put these in everything I hand out. Cochlear, perfect hair cells. Damaged hair cells. You have damage. All the microphones in the world are not going to fix the damage. It's still going to be unclear. The purpose of some of your hearing aids are to program the sound when it goes in your microphone, change the pitch a little to hit where you might not have as much damage. Low pitch or high pitch. But as long as we have this, we're not going to get clearer. And the hearing family members don't get it, and they get mad that they're spending money. So we need to convey especially to people wearing hearing aids, to the family, yes I need my hearing aids. Yes they help. But as you just said, I don't care how loud you are, if that sound is where there's a lot of damage I'm not going to understand it. But when I show the family member this, they say, oh, is that what it is? They keep thinking you're not trying until they understand why they're not understanding with these expensive hearing aids. So what I'm giving you here is really helpful to help people understand, there's damage. Now, the reason mine is not damaged -- clear anymore is with the cochlear implant. The electrodes cover the damage totally, and they put it so close to the wall of my cochlea that the nerve endings in the wall of the cochlea are still good. And you and everybody. So now they put those electrodes to access the sound in the wall of my cochlea, and this is generating the sound to that rather than generating the sound to this, and that's why we're getting clearer speech. Someone who hasn't heard for years, their brain needs to be retrained to hear those sounds, but the sound is going clearer to our brains with the cochlear implant because we've covered up this damage. A hearing aid is only sending a microphone to the damage and that's the difference. >>: Sometimes the amplification is enough to overcome the damage it'll stimulate the damaged cells to where they'll work to some degree. But eventually there will be some damage it won't work at all and that's when amplification doesn't work anymore. ESTHER: That's right. So we need helps with these. We need this stuff with our cochlear implants. With need this stuff with our hearing aids simply because of that difference factor, the 6-foot distance factor and audiologists ought to be doing this too. They sell hearing aids to -- I just read where the hearing loss association of America has where 80 percent of their members wear hearing aids. >>: That's what they're claiming. ESTHER: All right. So they're wearing hearing aids. I'm sorry but how many of them are wearing assistive devices and how many of them have ever been told they have a 6-foot distance of clarity? Hardly any of them. So family and friends are frustrated. >>: And you know -- ESTHER: Did anyone ever tell that you? >>: You hear that audiologists don't recommend telecoils because they don't make money off of them. But the fact is once somebody gets their hearing aid, the audiologist's ability to make money off them is limited until they need a new one. But if they were selling all of this assistive technology, I think it would be smart business wise because you have the telecoil, they could introduce you to all these other things that could be of help to you. ESTHER: But after they just sold you $2,000 hearing aids to tell you now it's only a 6-foot rule. They'd be scared to death to tell you that. They need to educate. That's where I go, I was in Beaumont and I would go to El Paso and Laredo talking to audiologists and hearing aid dispensers about technology and about the necessity of getting those T-coils on all of them. It's $50. It's nothing. The necessity if they had better clients, if they would help them to get everything they need. That's why everybody puts their hearing aids in their dresser drawer because they're not enough. But they're needed. I went and talked at a Polk senior center on Wednesday. A man walked up to me and he said, I bought $4,000 worth of hearing aids. I paid $2,000 down. I tried them and I hated them and I won't wear them. They're in my dresser drawer. I said did anybody tell you you had a month to try them and you could have your money back if you didn't like them? No they didn't but the collection agency came after me and said I had to pay the other $2,000. I said what'd you do. He said I paid it. So now he has $4,000 worth of hearing aids he won't put on his head because no one helped him understand it. Fortunately he could afford it but he was upset -- he said I knew by three weeks, he could have got his money back and no one told him. >>: I thought those dispensers and audiologists were required by law to tell them. ESTHER: They are. But they don't. >>: Then he should report them and get their license jerked. ESTHER: That's right. I did have one that reported it and they did come after them. You can go to the boards. So the man, here he is, no hearing aids, $4,000 in the drawer about six months later when I meet him six months later. And he tells me this story. But I said possibly either the hearing aids weren't enough or he got the wrong kind. You know old radios have different sounds. I could put a hearing aid on three hard of hearing people, same brand, and each person would like it differently because they're not all the same sounds. They don't have the same type -- and one person's hearing loss needs -- or they've received hearing with the style of that one. I remember audiologists used to try to sell me a different brand and they sounded weird so I'd go back to Oticon. That was the one I liked. And it sounded like I thought it should sound because different manufacturers have different sounds in their hearing aids. Did you know that? They're not all the same. Not all hearing aids sound the same. Just like old radios you can buy three of them and their sound is different. Do you know what I'm talking about in the mechanics of it? >>: With radios it's a matter of quality. If you buy a good expensive radio it'll sound good no matter what brand it is. ESTHER: That explains why Fanay told her audiologist this is the one I'm used to. It's partly that, that you might try a different brand and it's going to give you a different type of sound. Or a different even pitch of sound. So that could explain why you're right in wanting what your brain understands the best. So you were right in that and you need to stand on that. And I had one audiologist say here try this brand, the latest digital hearing aid. Right before I got my implant. And I know you won't want an implant and I know this is perfect for you. And two weeks later I went back to her and said thank you. You've just convinced me I have to have a cochlear implant. This is not for me. >>: I wish they gave you the opportunity to try different brands, but -- ESTHER: You should. You should never go to anyone unless they let you try different brands. >>: And I've never even -- really good audiologists who I've been otherwise happy with, it seems like each of them has one brand that they like and promote, and even if they are capable of working on others, if you get a new one, they're going to want to give you your -- I don't even know what the brands are anymore. Starkey or whatever. >>: Whatever they're familiar with. >>: Phonac is good. ESTHER: Turn to the very next page from the one we just looked at. It says page -- -- the page with the FM system. I'm wishing this talk was next Saturday because I have discovered one of the most fantastic FM systems ever invented and I like FM systems. Remember we learned the pocket talker is wired. FM is wireless. For years I have used William sound FM system, which is a receiver and a transmitter. You're going to have to look at this picture. This is just invented. It's from Sweden. And I have it in my office but I broke it. I actually dropped it and broke it. And it's being repaired and it's in the mail coming back. Probably be at my office Monday. I wanted to bring it today and put it on every one of you. This is the most fantastic thing I've ever found. It's got a transmitter and it's got a receiver. The transmitter is not something that I have to go to say to the speaker and put it on as a transmitter. I went to Collin county college in the auditorium and I set this little very light weight square thing up on the front of the platform. Not even on the podium. Just set this thing right here. I took the receiver with my neck loop -- they don't show the whole loop but it's a neck loop. I sat in the last seat of the auditorium -- the reason this is so wonderful compared to older FM systems, I have controls for that transmitter up there and for my receiver all on me. So now Rose Minette was on the platform walking around as she does, talking away. And when she got off the platform and went down in the front I could push this button to make my transmitter louder while I'm sitting in the back seat and I could still hear every word she said because I had control of the volume of the transmitter up in the platform. Then I also have -- when someone leans over me and wants to say something. I've got two microphones right on me and two microphones right up on the platform. It has four microphones altogether. Where a traditional FM system either has just the microphone on the speaker and once in a while one for me. But once in -- I put this on, made rose louder. I'm controlling the speaker and sitting on the last row. Person wants to say something to me I can make my microphone -- talk into my microphone and can hear everything. I got up and went outside the auditorium. I could still hear rose talking. But then Charles Beatty started talking to me outside the door. Because I have dual mikes here, I'm deaf and I could hear Charles Beatty talking to me in the hall way, and still hear what rose was saying, all with this fantastic FM system. >>: When you want to hear Charles do you have to turn on or put in a microphone. ESTHER: The microphones are all built in. You can't even see them. They're all built in. I wish I had it with me. These things, I just plug them into the wall once a week. They charge up. There's no batteries to change, no nothing. And I just take this, set it -- and it has -- I tried it in my house. I took this transmitter, by my television, just set it on the table. I went in the kitchen and started making breakfast and I could hear the TV in the living room with the FM system going in the kitchen with this. So I like this a lot. And the DARS counselors are now because of my recommendation and my training, they're buying these for many people for work. Because as I said, some FM systems only have a microphone for the speaker. This one has it for me and the speaker so if people -- say I'm in a long conference room and I just set this on the table up there. And then I sit at the other end of the table. Now I've got microphones picking up these people talking, and I've got microphones picking up the people at the other end of the table talking. Microphones everywhere on my system. It costs $900 -- but so does the old FM system costs $790 and it had one microphone. So this is called -- they sell it a lot of places. This is the catalog. I didn't have enough to bring you this catalog but everything I show you is sold in this catalog but I couldn't go home today without telling you and feeling sick -- maybe I'll bring it next month to a meeting and let everybody try it. But this is an awesome type of FM. >>: How much. ESTHER: I don't think I have the price on here, around $900 something. >>: The little square thing is like. ESTHER: That's the carrying case. This is the microphone for the speaker, the up front podium, and the other side is your one that's hooked into your neck loop. >>: So it's like a transmitter and a remote microphone in one piece that you set up there. What if -- I have a Comtech FM system that I used. ESTHER: Comtech is wonderful except it's one microphone for the speaker. You have nothing for you and when you put your T-coils on, you can't hear around you. >>: Mine has a little screw-in mike. ESTHER: You have an extra one. That's good. >>: Which you need because otherwise you can't hear around you. But I was just trying to think whether this has any advantage over -- ESTHER: Well, your Comtechs has two mikes. That's good. >>: It does. But you're right you pay extra for the screw in mike. >>: She probably has an auditory trainer system. That's what they use in the school so the kids can hear themselves as well as the teacher. ESTHER: Yeah. But I would say, just keep your Comtech. But if someone is buying something I would say this instead of Comtech in the future. I would say this system -- because you don't have to make the speaker put the mike on. Plus you can't control the volume of the mike on your end. >>: At class the teachers are walking around all over the class room so with the Comtech they clip on the body microphone. Can this work the same way. ESTHER: You can clip it on the speaker if you want. But you don't have to. The speaker can wear it. But I just put it up front. You can do either. I think your Comtech is fine for you. But in the future if you needed something, I like something that I can control the microphones all over. I can control the volume and everything. It's just something neat and new. >>: The one reason I was asking is my Comtech is getting old and pieces of it are starting to fail and having to be replaced. I was wondering when I do finally have to replace it completely if this would be a better system. Maybe so? >>: I've got an old Comtech something like what you use, and I don't use it anymore but what she says I think would be better. >>: The Comtech is tough. You can drop those transmitters and they don't break. ESTHER: This won't break. Actually what I did when I dropped it, I grabbed it and plugged the plug into the wrong hole and shorted it out. This is wonderful for charging. You just charge it up. There's no batteries or anything on it ever. >>: Can you three with (inaudible) use my system. ESTHER: Say that again. >>: Can you use my system? Because this is my controls. ESTHER: No. You would just have to have a neck loop and hook your T-coils. This takes a whole system. She wants to use her FM system. >>: What does she have? ESTHER: She has an FM system and the watch is the one that turns it off and on. It's a special watch that comes with her system and the watch actually turns on her FM system. She's got a little extra control. So let's look at her system so you can learn about everything. >>: Here's my mike that you're talking about. ESTHER: That's an FM, yes. >>: And it has the three buttons that I can control. ESTHER: And you control with your watch to put your T-coils on your hearing aid or put your system and connect it. But this microphone, do you give it to the speaker? I decide what I want to do with it. I can either set it up there -- or I can give it to you to wear. ESTHER: Okay. But Fanay, you don't have anything on you to hear the people around you if you're in the back of the auditorium and this is at the speaker. But that's not -- >>: I can switch it back and forth. ESTHER: Okay. So then you can turn off the speaker and then hear there. But you can't do like this. You can hear both at the same time. That's the only difference. >>: I wouldn't be able to understand either one of them. ESTHER: This is phonac. This is what Richard Nealy has. >>: That's what Nancy has in Houston. ESTHER: Richard Nealy uses this too. >>: This also is a blue tooth for my cellular phone. ESTHER: Yeah. It's a wonderful thing but it costs like -- ROSE: About 4 or 5,000. >>: Yes. Very expensive. ESTHER: Yes. >>: For everything that I have. >>: But it is really cool. I like it because with this, I don't have to go like this to turn you off. I can just sit down here and use it. Volume up, volume down. FM plus them. It means I can be 50 miles away. Big conference room or whatever and this thing is on -- I push that and it's blasting my ears out. It's great. I don't ever use it. I still can't understand. ESTHER: Our time is up but I wanted to show you guys something you never saw. Has nothing to do with using hearing aids. Suppose I'm hard of hearing, and I have to care give to somebody and I got to keep running back in the bedroom to see if they're okay. Here's a TV camera. >>: I wish Tamara was here. ESTHER: And here is this. It's my TV camera. I've got it on my belt. And sound too. It does not vibrate. But at least you can look and see if the person is okay without running through the house to find out. This is like $200 something. It's in the Teltex catalog but I wanted to show hard of hearing people. It's for adults. Not just a baby monitor. It could be for care givers that say you've got actually a TV monitor on your belt for $200. >>: What brand is that Esther? ESTHER: This is -- let me find a brand. It's called baby sounds. And it's in Teltex. Everything aye I'm showing you is in this catalog. I just brought this because it's another thing that might face us some day where we can't hear all the time. We're going to be stressed out. Now it would be nice to have a flashing light when we're sleeping but in the day time at least this gives you a visual. And I hear noise, you look in there, oh, they're just turning over. It's just another option of something that isn't expensive to help, whether you're watching kids or adults or whatever. >>: , you know, we have a lady in the chapter with a new baby and one of her biggest worries was how she was going to hear the baby at night. ESTHER: And she has the baby now right. >>: She has the baby now and they have something that they're using. ESTHER: Yeah but she could probably use the flashing light and use this in the day time. >>: So she could see if the baby is just playing -- ESTHER: Yeah and it's got really loud volume. Tell her to go on the Teltex catalog site and find that. This is what's out there. I just try to think of something different and new. And you all know about my blue tooth. Where'd I put my blue tooth. And somebody has a blue tooth. This is my blue tooth. And it hangs around my neck like a neck loop. My phone rings, I push that and push my T-coil and I just talk while my phone is still in my purse and I don't do anything but talk. So that's all -- weave gone over our time. I thought it was good today because like I said you guys know a lot. But it was good to hear what we think of different things. It was really good interaction. >>: I don't know a lot about technology because I'm not that much of a techy. But I like to know about it because I can say oh, Esther was talking about that. You go talk to Esther. ESTHER: Well, now you take your paper home and you could show and tell. >>: I could tell somebody else to let you go show and tell. ESTHER: There's a lot of others in the back. I only scratched the surface but the blue tooth is back there. This I don't always think is needed. This is supposed to be something you put on the California of the doctor's office but they have to lean over to it and you put your T-coils on. I prefer the clip board for real estate, doctors, anybody, and I did bring the clip board. Microphone built in. You turn this on. My battery is dead. Of course I didn't charge it up. This is a microphone built in this neck loop. And I am sitting at the front desk office intake and everybody comes and says, I have an appointment at 4, whispering, and I'm there what? So now I've got my intake here. My microphone is a neck loop. It's just talking right in there. Amplifying. This is a great tool for certain jobs for people who need more amplification when you go to places. So this is a neck loop and clip board. This is the most expensive of everything I showed you. This is between 3 and $400 which is ridiculous. Because the chair pad system is 200. Whoever makes this one is high priced. But DARS will buy it for someone if they need it for their job. I've had people try it and they go wow I can really hear -- or the real estate sales man. She's taking her stuff. People don't even know she's getting input to her hearing aids. So that's just a good thing. >>: I have a work question. We have a lady at church, and she just got a hearing aid, and it may be that the hearing aid helps her enough that it's not so bad. But she works at Wal-Mart out on the floor. And she was having a problem that people will come up behind her and speak to her and she won't hear them. And they think she's ignoring them and had complaints to her supervisor. I'm not. ESTHER: Because of the 6-foot distance. People might be calling or 6-foot away. >>: It could be that too. She hasn't had a hearing aid. She got her hearing aid and that may be helping her that it's in the a problem but if it still is I was wondering about something like that. That's directional -- ESTHER: Something like that or a pocket talker. Something directional but she needs to educate her people that yes I have my hearing aids but they have that 6-foot limit that you do need to get my attention. She needs to do some education. >>: It's the customers that are the problem. ESTHER: When she has a customer. She probably might need an extra pocket talker thing or something to bring more sound in. >>: She could get one of those face me I read lips things and put it on the back of her jacket. >>: Seriously. You hate to have to wear a sign that says I am hard of hearing but that's almost what she needs. >>: The new Captel phone, have they said anything about it? Do you know anything. ESTHER: What are you talking about? What's new about it? I brought a Captel to tell you what's new. Are you talking about the one that plugs into the computer? >>: Yes. That and they said they were going to come out with a newer phone than that one. ESTHER: It's not out yet. >>: And that's what I'm wanting -- ESTHER: Do you all know that right now you can get a Captel phone that plugs into your computer and you're talking on the phone and can make the font larger and save everything on your computer. >>: I didn't know about that. ESTHER: Comes with a USB port attachment and you just plug it into your computer. You're sitting, the screen is printing out and you save it and you've got all that. It also comes with -- I brought an old one. It comes with the newer one where not here but right down here there's a place to plug in a neck loop. A William sound neck loop. Any neck loop you've got and you plug the neck loop in there and you can hear with your two hearing aids instead of in here you just talk in here. And then it comes with a USB port that you can plug it in and put it on the computer. >>: I don't even know what a USB port is. ESTHER: Remember the flash drive and the jump drive. Remember I showed you that. The same thing. >>: That has such a small screen, you know, it's just a small little screen. ESTHER: Next time at your house I'll put my flash drive in and say that's the USB port. >>: I knew we wouldn't let you get through all your material. ESTHER: Okay. So this was fun today. I'm glad we did it. I wish you'd all just think of those people that I met this week. I'm actually praying that they'll get help. Those people that are so desperate. And all of us in this room please pray for a man and a lady. The 29 year-old. I'm not allowed to give names. We could just call them Jane and hairy. Whatever you want to do. God will know who they are. I want them to get the help. >>: Do you know if terry king is going to be able to get her second cochlear implant? ESTHER: Who? >>: Isn't her name king, terry king. ESTHER: I don't know. >>: She said she was. She said she was scheduled. Terry king. She goes to the Fort Worth chapter and sometimes comes here too. She said she was scheduled for surgery. >>: She told me that target has cut her hours down and she may lose her insurance. ESTHER: But she could pay cobra for one month and still get it. I have a friend that got their cochlear implant on cobra. She can do it. >>: I don't know all these things. I told her she needed to talk to you about it. ESTHER: Tell her to call me. >>: Do you carry cards, since I pay for this stuff, go see her. >>: She emailed me and was wanting me to helper. I said terry I can't help you. ESTHER: If anything -- you have a month after your job stops. >>: I told her, I said go to UT southwestern, get them to put your surgery date up. And I said file a complaint against target for cutting your hours down for discrimination. Anybody else want some, just hand them and just tell people -- ESTHER: If she even lost her job tomorrow she'd have insurance for one more month and then if she'd pick up cobra for a couple of months. Once that's approved she could get her implant even with cobra. >>: That's what -- I told her some stuff like that but I don't know. Sometimes people just seem so damn dumb and helpless it just breaks my heart and I just want to cry. Where is your brain? ESTHER: I know. It's just hard. Well, next month we're back at the church right. >>: We are and next month the program is going to be Pam Kroger talking about cochlear implants. ESTHER: Pam Krueger, is back with Dr. Roland right. >>: She is. Since so many of us have the implants I asked her to focus particularly on how to get the most out of your implant. But I'm sure she'll talk in general too about them. ESTHER: I'm going to get my upgraded freedom from a 22 in the next month. I am so excited. I already -- I got my order approved yesterday, and now maybe by then will have my newest freedom. >>: Every time I have had an upgrade, I have heard better. ESTHER: Yeah. Well,, you know, 22 people had to wait longer and I've had my implant 95. What is this? 13 years. So now I'm going to have what she has on the outside with my -- >>: Is it just the external part? ESTHER: Upgrade freedom finally. >>: I have a freedom on this side and so I'll have it on both sides. I have to buy the coil though because they gave me two processors when I bought this one. The processors are the same. It's the coil that's different. ESTHER: You have to buy the coil. I'm going to get the regular freedom and the mini. I'll have to see which I like better. The mini one only takes two batteries. I don't know if the sound is as good. I'll have to test the difference between the regular sized and the mini-sized one. This will be fun for me to do. Maybe I'll have it at the time Pam talks. >>: I might even have mine by then. ESTHER: Great. And what else were you going to say? >>: Oh, I was just going to -- I had a question but it must not have been -- don't worry about it. ESTHER: You can always e-mail me. Well, thank you for having me. And thank you for writing. I love terra. By the way, do you do CART at your church. She writes CART every Sunday for Scofield church in Dallas and Susan Jones writes for Heights Baptist Church in Richardson. -- >>: That's Plano, not Richardson. ESTHER: It's a Richardson address. It's not Plano. They do need to get a Fort Worth church to do captioning. >>: Our church is moving in a few years. And we have a staff liaison that I met with, and I have not -- I've realized that to do CART in our current worship center would be really difficult but when I talked to them about the new worship center, they asked me about CART. ESTHER: Why would it be hard? At our church we just put a TV screen for two rows of seats. And that's all you need. >>: Well, I don't know. It maybe could be done. ESTHER: And there was a church that put it in their budget but they put like $8,000 of the year in their budget to pay for a CART writer to come. That's not a lot of money in church budgets. >>: They've already told me that the new sanctuary, they told me they want to build it so there's a dedicated screen for CART and will put the money in the budget for a CART provider. So maybe a few years from now, I'll be contacting you. ESTHER: But if you need it ahead of time, you need to investigate -- we just have a TV monitor flat screen, couple of seats. Fanay comes. And CART is written. ESTHER: Ours is actually on this. A portable. They wheel it in and out every Sunday for the service. Three rows can see it good. And it's just in the first row of the side. So there are ways. It does not have to be on the wall. It does not have to be up in Plano years ago they had a pull-down screen under the balcony. So just people sitting under the balcony section could see the pull down screen. Anyway I guess I'm done. Thank you for coming.