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Heard Around the World
A participant in InteraXon’s Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games Light Show controls lights at Toronto’s CN Tower remotely using thought. Photo courtesy of www.interaxon.ca

Untreated Hearing Loss in Colombia

Five million Colombians, about 11 percent of the country's population, have hearing problems, due mainly to alcohol, medicines, drugs and noise exposure to MP3 players and road noise, according to
Asoaudio and Imbanaco, two Colombian organizations that promote awareness of hearing loss in their country. Additionally, untreated ear infections cause much hearing impairment. Only about 30 percent of people with hearing loss, however, seek assistance from a doctor or hearing healthcare professional.

Thought-Controlled Olympic Light Show

Visitors to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver controlled the lights 2,000 miles away at Toronto's CN Tower, Ottawa's Parliament Buildings and Niagara Falls using thought alone. The technology, developed by InteraXon, measures the brain's electrical output and reacts to alpha waves, associated with relaxation, and beta waves, associated with concentration. As users relaxed or focused their thoughts, the InteraXon headset and related software connected these thoughts to lighting controls at the major landmarks. The outcome was a thoughtgenerated light show that was projected on massive screens during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

"InteraXon helps companies looking to engage in the exploding thoughtcontrolled computing market develop their own brainwave-controlled products and services," explains Chief Operating Officer Trevor Coleman. The implications for people with disabilities are immense. Thought-controlled wheelchairs and prosthetics are already a reality and will become more accessible and affordable in the coming years. "As the technology gets smaller, more precise and less expensive, there's no limit to the kinds of things we can control with our minds," adds Chief Technical Officer Chris Aimone. Could applications for people with hearing and speech impairment be far behind?

Assistive Technology Conferences

The Assistive Technology Industry Association will hold its annual Chicago conference from October 27-30, 2010, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center. The Orlando Conference will be January 27-29, 2011, at the Caribe Royale All-Suites Hotel and Convention Center. With several thousand attendees, 275 educational sessions and 120 company and organization exhibits, these conferences showcase the newest and best in assistive technologies to enhance learning, working and independence for people with disabilities.

Marcia B. Dugan
1932-2010


Marcia B. Dugan, a community volunteer, author and advocate for people with hearing loss, died at age 78 on February 7, 2010, at her home in Yates County, N.Y., after a year-long battle with leukemia. Dugan worked at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college at Rochester Institute of Technology, from 1980 to 1995 as director of public affairs and special assistant to the NTID Director. She served nine years on the national board of trustees of Hearing Loss Association of America, including two years as president, and was president of the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People from 2001 to 2006. Dugan was a representative to the International Alliance, which was instrumental in drafting the 2008 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Accessible Travel

Hotels.com, the largest worldwide lodging service, announced new site features that help travellers easily search for and reserve hotel rooms online with specific accessibility needs in mind. Hotels.com users can now search for lodgings in the U.S. that offer wheel chair accessible pathways, accessible showers, Braille signage and telephone equipment for people with hearing loss. Customers can also request a room with one or more specific accessibility features on the online reservations page. All such requests will be reviewed by Hotels.com customer service agents, who will contact the traveller directly to confirm the reservation or to offer to locate a similar room at an equivalent rate at another hotel.

Best Friends for Life Minus Hearing

Fifteen-year old Arielle Schacter recently launched a new Web site, bf4life-hearing (best friends for life minus hearing, http://bf4life-hearing.weebly.com) a social network for teens with hearing loss, which also provides up-to-date information on hearing issues. "I never meet another person just like me who is deaf or hard of hearing. I started thinking that if I can't meet people who have a hearing loss, then probably tons of other kids have the same difficulties!" says Schacter.