1. Children of a Lesser God (1986)

The now-classic film that introduced Marlee Matlin, the first Academy-award winning actress who happened to be deaf. I saw both the play on Broadway and the film. When I saw the Broadway play, I was still a child and all I remember is that Phyllis Frelich (deaf) was the star. When I saw the movie, I was a student at Gallaudet University and I loved the scene of Marlee Matlin swimming with William Hurt.

2. Sound And Fury (2000)

This is the original version with Patty Duke. I saw it when I was a child, when it was shown at my local community college, as one of the captioned films for the deaf.

3. Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995)

About a musician whose son is deaf. I thought it was alright, but was not particularly impressed. Maybe you will feel differently.

Here’s the site:

www.alldeaf.com

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) – Can you hear me now? More and more people can’t! At least 30 million Americans are having trouble hearing. Now, a new type of hearing aid is making it easier for people to get help without everyone knowing it.

This is the first time Patrick Mulvey has jumped in a swimming pool in 10 years. He gave it up when his hearing started to go.

“I cranked the music up a little bit too loud, and I started feeling the effects of it,” Mulvey told Ivanhoe.

Both ears suffered moderate hearing loss — so much so, that without help, life is practically impossible to hear.

“It’s difficult to understand people on the whole,” Mulvey explained.

Now, the next generation of hearing aids can help Mulvey hear in and out of the water.

“That’s the hearing aid,” Robert Sweetow, Ph.D., director of audiology and professor of otolaryngology at UCSF, showed Ivanhoe.

This Lyric hearing aid is the first of its kind to be studied in swimmers. And it’s virtually invisible.

“This is the only hearing aid that’s immersed this deeply down the ear canal,” Dr. Sweetow explained.

It sits one-sixth of an inch from the eardrum. The sound can be turned up and down with the use of a magnet outside the ear.

“It doesn’t fall out because the ear canal goes in and curves, so there are two flanges on this device that grip the bone of the ear canal,” Dr. Sweetow said.

The Lyric cannot help people with very small ear canals, bone protrusions or severe hearing loss. But for those with less or moderate loss, this gives them a new option.

Traditional hearing aids may have feedback, over amplify background noises, the batteries die frequently and have to be removed while showering or swimming.

Now, Mulvey is back in the pool and says he’ll dive in more often.

“If I can do this, I’ll probably end up doing it a couple a times a week,” Mulvey said.

Patients pay an annual subscription fee of up to $3600 per pair and get an entirely new hearing aid when the battery dies. Dr. Sweetow says insurance plans usually don’t cover hearing aids, but that is gradually changing.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Insound Medical
(800) 599-5109
http://www.insoundmedical.com

Lyic Hearing
(866) 964-8450
http://www.lyrichearing.com

• History – First, we will talk with you about your hearing health history. We want to understand what problems you are having, and what improvements you would like to see.
• Examination – We will clean and inspect your present hearing aids, then examine your ears with the video otoscope, which enables you to see your own eardrum. Next you will receive a comprehensive audiometric evaluation including Pure Tones, Speech Audiometry, Bone conduction, Speech discrimination, and Tympanometry.
• Explanation – We will explain your results to you, in a way that helps you better understand your hearing loss.
• Demonstration – If appropriate, we will recommend and demonstrate hearing solutions appropriate for your hearing loss, your lifestyle and your budget.

What to Bring:

• A friend: It is necessary for you to bring a spouse, family member, or friend to your visit. You will be making important decisions and learning a lot of new information and it’s always better to bounce ideas off someone you know. There will be a lot of information to be recalled and this meeting will also answer your family’s questions. Sometimes, those close to you can tell us what difficulties you have had. While demonstrating hearing aids, it is good to see how your friend or family member’s voice sounds. You will truly be able to see if you can hear them better.
• Your Health Insurance Cards: Unfortunately, Medicare does not pay for hearing instruments at this time but, if you have secondary insurance such as Blue Cross, or a HMO bring those cards in. We will be able to check with your insurance company and see if you have any benefits, while you are being tested. We honor most insurance discounts. At this time we are not set up to take Medi-Cal (Medicaid) or Cal-Optima. Check back in December ’07 for those insurances.
• Your Old Hearing Aids: We can see how old they are, what you are used to, and what you did or did not like.

We have our own movie theater, fine tuned for you. Our screen is 90 inches, and we use English captions. Movies are free, chosen for high speech to noise ratio, and you can make an appointment beforehand to have a pair of state-of-the-art hearing aids fit to wear during the movie!

Our next date is: Tuesday, June 15

Showing:   The African Queen

Starring Humphrey Bogart and Kate Hepburn

7:00 pm

Please call to reserve a place

714-754-7777