Used Hearing Aid Drive

Hello my name is Ray Deardorff.  I'm with HearingHealth4, part of a non-profit group committed to helping people hear better by providing quality used hearing aids at affordable pricing.

One of the ways we accomplish this is through the continued support of hearing aid providers.  We are in need of used hearing aids to help meet the ongoing growing demand from the hard of hearing who can't afford the high cost of new hearing aids.

We are associated with HLAA as a provider on the financial assistance page of their website.

We are looking for donations of used hearing aids.  We would appreciate your donation of (any style) hearing aids.

All donations to HH4U are tax-deductible as contributions to a 501c3 charity.

Thank a lot - 

Ray Deardorff

1-208-571-1934

HearingHealth4U

33 E Idaho Ave. #200

Meridian ID. 83642

www.hearinghealth4u.com

Hearing Devices Survey By Health Economics Research Group

Dear Hearing Aid Teacher,

We are a health economics research group at Leipzig University, Germany. Currently we are working on the project titled “how to make hearing aids and implants more affordable”.

We would like to ask you to help us with the data collection for our research by filling out the questionnaire. Please could you publish the link on your blog?


The link to the questionnaire is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KRLJWZF 


The questionnaire is anonymous. We do not ask deaf and hard of hearing anything that can identify them. The only things we are interested in are: the type of the hearing loss they have, general demographic information, their experience with hearing instruments and implants, and how they bought or would like to buy a hearing instrument or an implant. Using the answers, we are going to develop recommendations for ministries of health and insurance companies in different countries. 


We are willing to send you those recommendations once they are developed. If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for your time.


Kind regards, 


Health Economics Research Group, 
Leipzig University, Germany



*I took this survey. It asked interesting questions, some of them really thought provoking. Some were hard to answer and did not have the answer choices I would choose, so I chose the best ones. 
I encourage hearing aid and cochlear implant users to take the survey, especially if it is for research about how to make hearing devices more affordable. Before taking the survey, I recommend that you dig up your recent audiogram to answer questions about how you hear. If you don't have an audiogram, I guess just do the best you can. 


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Censored Closed Captions Issue Resolved!!

I got this email today from the Disability Rights Office Federal Communications Commission:


Good Afternoon Ms. [ (e ],


I have received the company response regarding your complaint. The company concludes this matter is resolved and this email to verify resolution between you, the company and this specific complaint. 


Thanks in advance.

It's official. The issue has been resolved. This is great news!!!

Being persistent and patient paid off! I don't know how many letters I sent to AMC TV Networks expressing my disappointment in how they censored the language used only in the closed captions but not the audio portion on several of their television shows such as Breaking Bad, Hell On Wheels, and The Walking Dead. I pleaded with them to listen and to resolve the issue as soon as possible. I wanted the dialogue to match the captions. If the spoken dialogue is not censored, don't censor it in the captions. If the spoken dialogue is censored, censor it in the captions. I want to read what the hearing audience is hearing. I blogged about this issue several times to the point of being obsessive. It is an important issue that I and several others feel strongly about and something needed to be done. 

A big thanks to everyone who got involved and sent complaints and letters to the FCC and AMC TV Networks!  Thank you!!!


I would also like to personally thank the following:

My family, friends, boyfriend, readers, and fellow bloggers for your encouragement and support.

My father for helping me form my thoughts and write clear and effective letters. I also want to thank him for reminding me to remain cordial, respectful, calm, and professional when discussing my issues with AMC TV Networks and the FCC. 

Scott Johnston for first pointing out this issue to me. Without Scott, I would not have started watching Breaking Bad and experience the horror of censored closed captions. 

Don Grushkin, Liddle Simpson, and Scott Johnston for your efforts and support. 

The FCC for taking my complaints seriously and helping with resolving the issue. 

Greg Hlibok, Chief of the FCC's Disability Rights Office, for your support and for taking the time to respond to our emails and to explain the situation. 

I apologize if I forgot anyone. I am writing this blog post quickly and in excitement. There were many others who got involved, but I am not sure if they want me to put their names here, for privacy reasons. 

Thank you AMC TV Networks for finally agreeing to resolve the issue fully! 

Whew! I feel like celebrating. :)

*For more information please visit Closed Captions Watch. 

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