Share the Road
I read with interest the article "Life with Hearing Loss: Fast-Paced Canadian Race Car Driver Sets Sights on NASCAR" (Spring 2010). However, Kris Martin is not the first North American race car driver born profoundly deaf. My cousin, Greg Gunderson, has been racing since the late 1980s (I believe the first year was 1988). He is profoundly deaf and comes from a racing family. The 2010 season is Greg's 15th year of Sprint car racing. His Web site is www.gundersonracing.com.
Marsha Gunderson
via www.drf.org
Editor's Note: The above-mentioned article implied that Kris Martin hopes to be the first North American race car driver born profoundly deaf. In fact, he hopes to be the first born-deaf North American NASCAR driver. Our apologies to Greg Gunderson.
Good Vibrations
The article "Cell Phones and Hearing Aids, More Compatible than Ever" (Winter 2010), did not say anything about the vibrate mode on cell phones. If you wear a hearing aid, as I do, it is hard to hear the ring tones, so I depend on the vibration to answer the phone. Most of the new phones have a very poor vibrate mode that cannot be felt. I just got a Droid phone very nice and I can hear on it with a profound hearing loss, but cannot answer it because of the poor vibrate. So I will return it. Meanwhile, I'm still looking for one with a good vibrate mode.
Jim Barnard
Ventura, Calif.
The Audiogram
Explained, AgainSome important information was omitted in final edits from my article "The Audiogram Explained, At Last" (Spring 2010). The following helps to more thoroughly explain the process of fine tuning an audiogram for young children: When testing is new to a young child, it will likely be minimal response levels that are noted. As the child gains practice with the testing, thresholds will more likely be obtained. Often early testing of infants and young children will give only a general idea of hearing levels and type of hearing loss. It can take some time and a few test sessions to get a complete picture of a young child's hearing levels for all pitches. Treatment can begin based on the general idea of a young child's hearing loss while still working to more accurately define the audiogram.
Also, this statement: "If these bone conduction bracket symbols are above your Xs and Os on the graph, then hearing loss is all or partly conductive. This indicates that your inner ear is hearing well but
something in the outer or middle ear is blocking hearing" should more accurately state that the inner ear is hearing better than the outer, middle and inner ear together.
Melanie Sisson, Au.D., CCC-A Stonington, Conn.
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Letters are printed on space available basis and edited for clarity.
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