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Newsletter Issue 140 December 2011 Dear all, Inside this issue: Page 2 A word from our Chairman Page 3 Volunteer news Pioneering hearing aid research Interview with the Master of Peterhouse Page 4 Photos from the Annual Lunch Page 5 Christmas entertain ment Christmas quiz Page 6 Subtitle bloopers Answers to quiz Dates for your diary PAGE 1 Christmas is coming and the news is that we expect to have a cold one. It is hard to believe, as we are told this is likely to be the warmest November on record, but the weather could turn very cold very suddenly. Our volunteers are hardy but don’t overdo it in the bad weather and make sure, if you haven’t already had one, to get your flu jab. Some of the rooms we work in are very well heated and one of the times when we are most vulnerable is when we move rapidly from hot to cold. The UK has no lower records of hypothermia than much colder countries, and it is believed this is because we don’t protect ourselves properly against the cold when we go outside. I recently went to a discussion about keeping warm in winter and we all agreed that the value of hats and warm clothing is underestimated, so you will be seeing me wearing a hat through most of the winter, and please wrap up yourselves. Annoyingly, hats designed to cover the ears make my hearing aids whistle. Fashion, warmth and hearing are sometimes at odds. The Cambridgeshire Celebrates Age Day at Millbrook House in Soham was well attended, so thanks to the Barbara Driver, Janet Pettit and Alan Jones who helped with the stall. For those of you who have not visited Millbrook House, it is a state of the art facility for older people and even includes a gym. We made some useful contacts and were able to demonstrate our hearing help service and our deaf awareness DVD. In September we held an Equipment Demonstration in St Ives and by the time you get this we will have completed our final one of the year at Scostdales Garden centre in Shelford. The St Ives demonstration went well with nearly 30 “customers” and we hope for a similar success at Scotsdales. Barbara and Chris Seekings are helping out Fenland CAMTAD with the Doddington equipment clinic in December. We are reviewing the year’s programme and planning for next year, perhaps varying the format from time to time, so please make suggestions for improvements. We will also have a presentation by Sarabec on the latest equipment on 16th February and all are welcome to come. (See “Dates for your diary”.) Anyone who would like to join the equipment group should give me or Melanie their details and we will put you on the mailing list and invite you to the regular training sessions. We have purchased two new pieces of equipment for demonstration, the first is the CM1 wireless personal listener obtained from Sarabec. This is one of the cheapest in the wireless range (although still costly!) but I have tried it out and found that it has a good quality sound. The second is a room loop with remote control to adjust the volume and tone. This makes it much easier for the user to finesse the quality of sound, but the downside of course is yet Cambridge Campaign for Tackling Acquired Deafness, 8a Romsey Terrace, Cambridge CB1 3NH Telephone 01223 416141 Fax 01223 245800 www.camtadcambs.org.uk email [email protected] Registered charity No 27815 another remote to lose or confuse with others. Both these items can be viewed at the office by appointment or at the drop in equipment demonstrations but we cannot lend them at present. The Annual lunch took place on 21st November and we were again well served by the students at Cambridge Regional College. Sadly we were not joined by the Hard of Hearing Club this year. You can see the photographs on page 4. The raffle raised £41. New volunteer training in Cambridge will be finished by the end of the month and the trainees will be ready to start in the sessions. I was very pleased to connect up with the County Council Workforce Development Team who were able to deliver the training for us on good practice on Infec- tion Control. But this had an added benefit. Through that contact I was asked if I could help design the course for care assistants and managers, on hearing loss and the use of hearing aids, by training the trainers who deliver the course. At present they have a section on vision in their training but nothing on hearing loss. This will potentially have a very significant impact on the quality of care across the county, much greater than we can achieve by talking to individual groups of carers or staff. You may have noticed that Fran is very busy supervising all the hearing help sessions at the moment. We are going to recruit a new session supervisor to assist her but in the meantime please help her out as much as you can. I am very grateful to the volun- teers who are putting in extra time to support the sessions. The advertisement for the new post will be in the press and on the website shortly. Everyone has worked incredibly hard in 2011. The changes brought about by the new audiology service have been extremely challenging for us to accommodate and our volunteers have brought commonsense and good humour to make it as easy as possible. The receptionists have had a tough time and I am especially grateful to them for sticking with us and upgrading our record keeping to the new standards required. I’m hoping for a more tranquil 2012 for CAMTAD. Happy Christmas and enjoy a lovely holiday. Frances A word from our Chairman As your new Chairman I would like to send a brief message to you all. I was fortunate to be a founder member of CAMTAD with Dorothy Parry, Christopher South of the Cambridge Evening News and John Mellaney, the Secretary of the United Cambridge Hospitals. Dorothy’s passion for deaf awareness and her determination to make a difference made a lasting impression upon me. She was an PAGE 2 inspiration! I feel very proud to be your Chairman now, although I am getting a little long in the tooth as Stephen Webster kindly put it. I won’t be able to match his long service to CAMTAD, but I will be very happy to steer the ship while we consolidate our position in the new Cambridgeshire Adult Hearing Service and in Huntingdon, and offer Fenland CAMTAD whatever support they wish. There are also other exciting opportunities for us to pursue. We have a proud history, an excellent staff team and all of you. Without you CAMTAD is nothing. Thank you for all your hard work. I wish you a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas. Alan Jones Vo l u n t e e r N e w s We are very sad to report that Maggie Highwood died suddenly on 17th November. Maggie had been a committed and loyal volunteer at a number of different hearing help sessions and will be greatly missed by all her knew her. Our deepest sympathy and thoughts are with her family. Cornie Thorne has retired after 11 years of stalwart service as a CAMTAD volunteer. Our thanks to him for all his work as a volunteer and best wishes for his retirement. Ian Callaghan has left CAMTAD to move back to Oxford. We wish him all the best for the future and thank him for all he has contributed as a volunteer. Pioneering hearing aid research A Cambridge university research project, funded by Action on Hearing Loss, is looking at new ways to improve hearing aids for people with severe hearing loss. The pioneering project is investigating the effectiveness of hearing aids that help people with severe, highfrequency hearing loss. Many of these people simply cannot hear sounds (like ’t’ and ’k’) that are important for understanding speech, even when the sounds are amplified by a hearing aid. These sounds can be made audible if their frequencies are lowered. The team aims to compare the effectiveness of different methods for implementing frequency lowering in hearing aids. The project was recently visited by Cambirdge MP Dr Julian Huppert who said “I’m delighted to see this valuable research being carried out. It demonstrates Action on Hearing Loss’s tremendous dedication to improving the lives of people with hearing loss”. Reproduced from an article in Action on Hearing Loss Magazine, Oct/Nov 2011 Interview with the Master of Peterhouse In the latest edition of Action on Hearing Loss Magazine, Professor Adrian Dixon (currently Master of Peterhhouse College Cambridge, and NHS Consultant Radiologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital) talks about his hearing loss. Here are some extracts from the interview: “ I have fairly severe lateonset familial deafness. My father and grandmother were even deafer than I am now. Thus, as a family we are all used to it!” “It is ridiculous not to own up to a hearing loss and one should get advice early. Both my sister and I were taught lipreading when young, but I am not that good at it. Facial expressions count for a lot. The ‘stiff upper lip’ can cause a problem!” “My hearing loss makes some students shyer than they would otherwise be, but they rapidly get to know my ways and speak up. Answering questions at conferences can be problematic—the amplification is often directed at the audience and not the people sitting on stage! I always ask for an interpreter—to allow me more time to compose my answers! For students with hearing loss, most lecturers now have to prepare detailed handouts. Quite a few of our lecture theatres now have loop systems, but this supposes that the lecturer is happy to be ‘wired up’ and does not stray too far from the microphone– not always a given! At our college we are mainly involved with small group (supervision) teaching so this is less of a problem” Extracts reproduced from an interview by Alice Lagnardo, Action on Hearing Loss Magazine Nov/Dec 2011 PAGE 3 Photos from the Annual Lunch, 21st November 2011 PAGE 4 Christmas entertainment hearing. Bookings can be made online via the Corn Exchange website http://www.cornex.co.uk/ The Cambridge Corn Exchange have announced a special interpreted performance of their 2011 Christmas Show, Annie, starring Sue Pollard. The performance, on 28 December 2011 at 7pm, will include "live" British Sign Language signing for the deaf and hard-of- by phone on (01223) 357851 or via the text relay service ‘Typetalk’: 0800 515152 Meanwhile local cinamas are now starting to offer subtitled performances of certain films. Full details are available via a national website www.yourlocalcinema.com Currently only a small number of subtitled screenings are available—Cambridge Cineworld are showing ‘Dream House’ and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Cambridge Vue are also showing Twilight Saga, plus Happy Feet 2. However, the website offers an email service to be notified when new shows are added, and its organisers are involved in trying to persuade local cinemas to provide more subtitled screenings. Christmas quiz - sound and hearing 1. Which of the following is not one of the three smallest bones in the ear? A) Anvil B) Hammer C) Bridle D) Stirrup C) Breathe D) See 2. Your semi-circular canals help you do what? A) Hear B) Maintain balance 3. Which animal has the smallest frequency range of hearing? A) Human B) Dolphin C) Bat D) Cat 4. Sound is a form of energy. True or false? 5. The bones in the inner ear are the smallest bones in your body. Together they are smaller than an orange seed. True or false? 6. What is the volume of a normal conversation in decibels (dB) ? A) 150dB B) 60 dB c)10 dB D) 1000 dB C) 100 dB D)10,000 dB 7. What is the volume of a typical rock concert? A) 80dB B) 1000 dB Answers on page 6 PAGE 5 Subtitle bloopers We all know how important the subtitling of TV programmes is for people with a hearing impairment, and it can be annoying when there are mistakes. However, some of these ‘bloopers’ can be very amusing, and there have recently been some funny examples published in the Radio Times and on the Web. So, as a bit of seasonal light relief, here are some of the best ones spotted recently. Reproduced from Radio Times 1-7 Oct and 8-14 Oct, and the BBC website. “And with us now, Bethany Hughes” became “and with a snout, Bettany Hughes”; Residents of the Midlands were surprised to see “a cluster of Sharons” approaching, rather than showers; On Strictly Come Dancing, contestants were appropriately described as having been “in the tans off” (dance-off) and “doing the frocks trot” Other examples include: “Pasta dough blade” (Paso doble) “Open, yum!” (Opium) “the foetus” (Theo Paphitis) “toy hauteur” (Toyota) “canning a roux” (kangaroo) “Back the barman” and “back the bomber” (Barack Obama) Answers to Christmas quiz 1. C) Bridle (The hammer, anvil and stirrup are the three bones in the inner ear which transfer vibrations from the eardrum to the cochlea) 2. B) The semi-circular canals are three loops of fluid-filled tubes that are attached to the cochlea, and help us maintain our sense of balance. 3. A) Human. The average human hearing range is 20-20,000 Hz. A dolphin’s is 200-150,000 Hz; a bat’s is 20-120,000 Hz; a cat’s is 00-60,000 Hz 4. True 5. True 6. B) 60dB 7. C) 100 dB (though volumes as high as 120-140 dB have been reported, which is dangerously loud). Dates for your diary 16th February, 9.30-12.30 Equipment demonstration from Sarabec - all welcome CDA, 8 Romsey Terrace (next door to CAMTAD) 26th January and the last Thursday of every month (except December and August) Hard of Hearing Club meetings, open to all Buchan Street Neighbourhood Centre off Kings Hedges Road, Cambridge