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eagle102938

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I'm a student at Louisiana Tech in north Louisiana, going for my Chemical Engineering degree.

We found out I had a genetic hearing loss when I was 10 or 11, don't really remember. It's on my Mom's side, she and a couple of her sisters have it, as did her father. I have no clue as to the percentages, but I do wear hearing aids (Phonaks, just got them, they're awesome even if they irritate my ears some).

When I went home to visit my mom last month, it finally hit me that my hearing would get to be as bad as, or worse than, hers, especially since mine started going quicker than hers did. And since she was legally deaf without hearing aids at 55, I figured it couldn't hurt to learn ASL.

I'm using the lifeprint.com lessons by Bill Vicars. Anybody else tried it? It's pretty interesting, and I'm really enjoying it. But I don't have anyone here to practice with, which makes it more difficult sometimes.

Anyways, I found this site today, and figured I'd go for it. Glad to see a community!
 
eagle102938 said:
I'm a student at Louisiana Tech in north Louisiana, going for my Chemical Engineering degree.

We found out I had a genetic hearing loss when I was 10 or 11, don't really remember. It's on my Mom's side, she and a couple of her sisters have it, as did her father. I have no clue as to the percentages, but I do wear hearing aids (Phonaks, just got them, they're awesome even if they irritate my ears some).

When I went home to visit my mom last month, it finally hit me that my hearing would get to be as bad as, or worse than, hers, especially since mine started going quicker than hers did. And since she was legally deaf without hearing aids at 55, I figured it couldn't hurt to learn ASL.

I'm using the lifeprint.com lessons by Bill Vicars. Anybody else tried it? It's pretty interesting, and I'm really enjoying it. But I don't have anyone here to practice with, which makes it more difficult sometimes.

Anyways, I found this site today, and figured I'd go for it. Glad to see a community!
Click to expand...

:wave:Welcome!!! I lost all my perfect hearing overnight. I have found it very difficult to find a tutor to teach me ASL. I do use Lifeprint and think it is excellent. I do not know anyone who is deaf, so learning has been a slow process. All the ASL classes are full. I would love to hire an experienced ASL user to teach me. You can learn so much quicker being around people who sign.

Good luck!!!
 
eagle102938 said:
I'm a student at Louisiana Tech in north Louisiana, going for my Chemical Engineering degree.

We found out I had a genetic hearing loss when I was 10 or 11, don't really remember. It's on my Mom's side, she and a couple of her sisters have it, as did her father. I have no clue as to the percentages, but I do wear hearing aids (Phonaks, just got them, they're awesome even if they irritate my ears some).

When I went home to visit my mom last month, it finally hit me that my hearing would get to be as bad as, or worse than, hers, especially since mine started going quicker than hers did. And since she was legally deaf without hearing aids at 55, I figured it couldn't hurt to learn ASL.

I'm using the lifeprint.com lessons by Bill Vicars. Anybody else tried it? It's pretty interesting, and I'm really enjoying it. But I don't have anyone here to practice with, which makes it more difficult sometimes.

Anyways, I found this site today, and figured I'd go for it. Glad to see a community!
Click to expand...

Percentages? There's really no way to measure hearing loss by percentage you know. It's cool that you're postlingal but still interested in ASL and Deaf culture. Can you do semesters at schools? You might be able to spend a semester at RIT, Gally CSUN etc........I'm not sure about any local resources where you are.
 
and look at local deaf resources back home......Since you're in Dallas there should be a lot of stuff.......
 
eagle102938 said:
I'm a student at Louisiana Tech in north Louisiana, going for my Chemical Engineering degree.

We found out I had a genetic hearing loss when I was 10 or 11, don't really remember. It's on my Mom's side, she and a couple of her sisters have it, as did her father. I have no clue as to the percentages, but I do wear hearing aids (Phonaks, just got them, they're awesome even if they irritate my ears some).

When I went home to visit my mom last month, it finally hit me that my hearing would get to be as bad as, or worse than, hers, especially since mine started going quicker than hers did. And since she was legally deaf without hearing aids at 55, I figured it couldn't hurt to learn ASL.

I'm using the lifeprint.com lessons by Bill Vicars. Anybody else tried it? It's pretty interesting, and I'm really enjoying it. But I don't have anyone here to practice with, which makes it more difficult sometimes.

Anyways, I found this site today, and figured I'd go for it. Glad to see a community!
Click to expand...

First of all, welcome to the AllDeaf forum!

I wish you the best in getting a Chemical Engineering degree. If you put your mind to it, you will achieve just that!

Second of all, most of the causes of genetic deafness are linked to a recessive trait.

Third of all, learning ASL will not only help you be able to communicate later on with both the Deaf community and the hearing community through interpreters if your hearing progressively gets worse.

• ASL • American Sign Language is an awesome website for anyone who wants to learn sign language. There are many other resources online, but there are some resources locally as other commentators have mentioned. There are some deaf events in Louisiana that you most certainly could attend such as a monthly social at Starbucks.
 
On the percentages, I've just always had people ask me "how much" and never really knew how to answer. The loss is a mid-range "cookie bite" as the audiologist calls it, with a more significant loss at higher pitches.

The genetics on it is pretty interesting. My family was part of a study at the NIH in D.C. to look at our genes. If I remember correctly, its a mutation of the EYA4 gene, which makes the cilia in my cochlea turn brittle and break. Same thing that happens to everyone as they get older, but mine is at a faster rate.
As far as the recessiveness goes, I'm really not sure how it works. It's not a straight-recessive gene, I know that much. But they're still studying the progression. It's been a straight lineage through my mom, her dad, his dad, and so on, which flubs up the genetics...That's why I stick to engineering! haha

As for the semester breaks and such, it probably won't work right now. Firstly since we're on the quarter system at Tech, not semesters. And also because I'm going into my senior year, which means senior design classes, which means absolutely NO free time, haha. I can't take a break since I'm on scholarship.
So I'm just going to finish up this year, then see where I end up working, and might take some classes then. I would love to learn more about the culture, but there's not many resources in the "middle-of-nowhere" Louisiana. Although, we do have a school for the blind here, and I've learned a lot interacting with the students there.
 
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