Deaf people in 1970's

Foxrac

Foxrac

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In 1970's, there's no CI then how deaf people can get sounds so clearly and learn to use oral language. Hearing aids aren't help enough for profound deaf, also speech processors with earmold aren't help and it looks ugly and too big for young people to walk around here.

If nothing then just accept to being deaf.
 
volcomskatz said:
In 1970's, there's no CI then how deaf people can get sounds so clearly and learn to use oral language. Hearing aids aren't help enough for profound deaf, also speech processors with earmold aren't help and it looks ugly and too big for young people to walk around here.

If nothing then just accept to being deaf.
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True - the technology wasn't particularly good but I don't think any deaf person wants to return to the 1970s and beyond. Back then there weren't as many interpreters and children in schools were still being punished for signing and deaf children were being treated like retards. There wasn't the same legal support against disability discrimination that we get today either.

Today is a much better world for a deaf person regardless of whether they have devices or not.
 
R2D2 said:
True - the technology wasn't particularly good but I don't think any deaf person wants to return to the 1970s and beyond. Back then there weren't as many interpreters and children in schools were still being punished for signing and deaf children were being treated like retards. There wasn't the same legal support against disability discrimination that we get today either.

Today is a much better world for a deaf person regardless of whether they have devices or not.
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Yes and when I was a kid in the late 1970's I had a big hearing aid with a denim pocket that was attached to my body with white straps and those silver button on's and I had two ear plugs that were so big. You know what I am talking about right ? I wore that at school and at home too, if I remember it right.The hearing aids sounded more like a motor with mechnical whirring than a real hearing aid. I would love to have those good moral values we had way back then combined with today's technology to be here. That really would have been good.
 
Well, I guess you can call me a pioneer! I started out with one of those huge things and gradually HAs became smaller and because of my profound deafness I never really profited from hearing anything with them. I graduated high school in 1970. I have seen technology grow by leaps and bounds and I tell my children (AND I sure will tell my grandkids!) how they have it much better than me (doesn't this remind you of older folks telling the younger ones they have it easy as they had to walk through 3 feet of snow 5 or so miles to get to school!) LOL
 
For centuries, hearing people have sought ways to make the deaf hear, without as much focus on making the deaf successful. Hearing people don't usually understand that deaf people can succeed without hearing, but hearing people don't usually see it that way.

The problem today is that now we have a quick fix, and because of that, most hearing parents don't care that deaf people have succeeded for centuries. (Just look at the book Great Deaf Americans.) They just want to make their kids hear because they are told the CI is the last resort.
 
well the body worn hearing were powerful enough than BTE of today.. because of battery size back then. I worn it in 70's it was helpful. just that I only hate the earmold it was a stiffest I ever had. had to use vaseline to get in eh.

and I was in oral deaf education during that decade.
 
Boult said:
well the body worn hearing were powerful enough than BTE of today.. because of battery size back then. I worn it in 70's it was helpful. just that I only hate the earmold it was a stiffest I ever had. had to use vaseline to get in eh.

and I was in oral deaf education during that decade.
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Ahh !!!! The vaseline in the earmold and going to the bathroom, not to take a leak but for paper towel to clean my ears and the earmold itself especially during springtime and near hot summertime temperatures. Ahhh.... The good ol' days. Sometimes I got a good peek at the teacher's blouse when she was cleaning my hearing aids..... I sure was a naughty bad boy..... :D :naughty:
 
R2D2 said:
True - the technology wasn't particularly good but I don't think any deaf person wants to return to the 1970s and beyond. Back then there weren't as many interpreters and children in schools were still being punished for signing and deaf children were being treated like retards. There wasn't the same legal support against disability discrimination that we get today either.

Today is a much better world for a deaf person regardless of whether they have devices or not.
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True that technology wasn't great but useful though. I would agree about not going back to 70's and earlier. you are right about not many interpreters but I wasn't punished for signing and wasn't treated as retards. I guess that time in Az was different. the hearing parents of deaf childs in Az were vocals of deaf educations because at that time ASDB were not educating their kids very well so they demanded that a hearing impaired programs in other word mainstreaming in public schools be created.. My good friend's mother got that kickstarted... I was in two public schools mainstreaming in 3rd grade. It was great mingling with both deaf and hearing in same classroom. ...better than shipped off to deaf school as sardine in tincan!

I didn't have problem back in 70's in Tucson, because, my parent were sick of me taking off wandering around the city myself back then. It was blast, I even met some people in a bar when I am little kid (you know minor wasn't allowed today but that was 70's different rule! more lax than today) I would ask for a drink hoping it would be beer but they served me MILK! and even asked me what is this (my hearing aid) I told it is a CB! I was pretending to be detective! (got that from tv in black and white of course) they laughed at me... they figured it out what it is. I didn't have hard time communicating with them that time. It is really different when you are grown up.

I agree with your last statement.
 
greema said:
Well, I guess you can call me a pioneer! I started out with one of those huge things and gradually HAs became smaller and because of my profound deafness I never really profited from hearing anything with them. I graduated high school in 1970. I have seen technology grow by leaps and bounds and I tell my children (AND I sure will tell my grandkids!) how they have it much better than me (doesn't this remind you of older folks telling the younger ones they have it easy as they had to walk through 3 feet of snow 5 or so miles to get to school!) LOL
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I bet you've really seen a lot of big changes. I was born in the 1970s and have photos of me with big body aids and wires everywhere.

Apparently the first prototype CIs back in the 1970s were so big that people had to sit next to a big machine in order to hear anything and a while after that people had to carry around a machine the size of a briefcase! It's amazing that it's all behind the ear now. I heard a rumour on a another list that Cochlear is bringing out a smaller BTE speech processor in the next few months due to a smaller battery compartment (2 batteries instead of 3).

Also with surgery people used to spend a week in hospital and the incision used to go from the back of the head right to the front. I don't think I would have got one back then!
 
Boult said:
well the body worn hearing were powerful enough than BTE of today.. because of battery size back then. I worn it in 70's it was helpful. just that I only hate the earmold it was a stiffest I ever had. had to use vaseline to get in eh.

and I was in oral deaf education during that decade.
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Why does USA don't make body worn hearing (non-CI) anymore?
 
Er...who wants to wear one?

I had my fill of one when I was young and it stuck to me all these years that I wasn't wearing one ever again. Of course, a CI can be bodyworn like a pager which is a lot more palatable these days. Still, I knew when I got my CI it was going to be a BTE not a BWP no matter how convenient the new ones were.
 
volcomskatz said:
Why does USA don't make body worn hearing (non-CI) anymore?
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dunno if they are still selling them around.. but BTE pretty much phased them out..
 
Boult said:
dunno if they are still selling them around.. but BTE pretty much phased them out..
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HA's BTE need work more to make powerful enough for people that who are profound deaf then it would be hot compete with CI.
 
well the body worn hearing were powerful enough than BTE of today
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Agreed, in some cases, the BWHA is a lot more powerful then the BTEs.
Actually Boult, they do still sell the body worns.....they just aren't as common. I remmy seeing a deaf guy with one (NOT a BWP) at Big River.
 
volcomskatz said:
HA's BTE need work more to make powerful enough for people that who are profound deaf then it would be hot compete with CI.
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Ok I don't mean phased out but I mean old Body worn hearing aid brand like Zenith was phased out because other company now sell BTE.

Only if they improve on better circuity and powerful battery and louder speaker but who wants to shatter the eardrum and damage the cochlea further... :dunno:
 
volcomskatz said:
HA's BTE need work more to make powerful enough for people that who are profound deaf then it would be hot compete with CI.
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You have to remember - BTE's only *amplify* sound. They don't provide clarity, regardless how strong they are. CI's stimulate the auditory nerves, which makes them two VASTLY different pieces of equipment.
 
volcomskatz said:
HA's BTE need work more to make powerful enough for people that who are profound deaf then it would be hot compete with CI.
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Why? I mean, sure, more options is always good, but why would using a "more powerful" BTE be more acceptable than getting a CI?
 
neecy said:
You have to remember - BTE's only *amplify* sound. They don't provide clarity, regardless how strong they are. CI's stimulate the auditory nerves, which makes them two VASTLY different pieces of equipment.
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Don't matters, some profound deaf people can hear so well with HA, some are not depends on understand with sounds and technology for HA are currently under research right now.
 
ismi said:
Why? I mean, sure, more options is always good, but why would using a "more powerful" BTE be more acceptable than getting a CI?
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Some people don't want get surgery because of their personal reason.
 
Afraid of CI surgery then get one...
http://www.hearing-loss-help-co.com/index.html?974.html&1

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