Interpreters who are HoH?

Byrdie714 said:
Not to start a flame war but I wonder about your statement in the bold.

Why do you find wearing HA's uncomfortable in your line of work when it's a neccessity? Is it wearing them while interpreting, knowing that the deaf client may question your ability to hear the conversation/situation?

I been in situations where I had to question the interpreter's ability to hear the dialogue of what is going on and 75% of the time--they were right but I missed out on the 25%.

Not fair for the client.
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I think he means they are physically uncomfortable at times - not that he's embarrassed etc by them.

I wear my BTE HA when I "need it" (whatever that means - I lived without it for 20years lol) - and remove it when I don't as well. In the summer when it's really hot, I only wear it if I need it to help me navigate a hearing environment, but for shopping in the mall, walking outside, or hanging out at home I don't wear my HA because it gets hot and itchy.


Just my 2 cents
 
Etoile said:
Why should someone who has been an interpreter for many years, has all the training, has the certifications, loves the job, and can use HA or CI, have to quit their job?

Personally that's why I spent $5700 on my HA's. Because I love my job. I have been through training, I have CI/CT certification, and I don't want to stop being an interpreter. If somebody told me I have to quit, I would be pretty angry. I am a GOOD interpreter. There is no reason for me to quit.
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Did you say $5,700! OMG! :shock:
 
HoHGuyOhio said:
I think I'm one of the other HOH interpreters that Etoile is referring to. And she and I are in similar boats. :)

I grew up with chronic ear infections that gradually took their toll on my hearing. To be more specific, I have a sloping high frequency hearing loss. My hearing is a little below normal in the low frequencies, and tapers off to a moderate/severe hearing loss in the middle and high frequencies respectively.

Because I grew up speaking English and my hearing loss was pretty gradual, my brain learned to make up for the deficiencies in my hearing. It eventually got to the point where I was struggling in certain situations (women and children with higher-pitched voices, rooms with poor acoustics, a large number of participants, etc). I now have two hearing aids that I wear in those situations. I don't wear them all the time because I find them uncomfortable. But I notice that I can't understand the TV without looking at it (I lipread more than I ever thought I did) if I don't have my hearing aids on.

How does this impact my work? Not much, really. I haven't had any negative reactions from deaf consumers. I wear my HAs when I need to, and I don't wear them when I don't. But I always have them with me.

EDIT: I also have a VERY hard time understanding people who speak accented English (southern, English, especially Asian and African people who speak English with an accent).
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Interesting! Very interesting indeed. Thanks for sharing.
 
$5700 apiece, or for both? Mine cost $2,000 each. Is there a substantial advantage to $5700 HAs over the $2,000 kind? Just curious, that's all. I find that if I try to turn up the volume too much (to get louder sound) I get feedback, so I don't even try anymore. So does the $5700 have better volume control?
 
AlleyCat said:
$5700 apiece, or for both? Mine cost $2,000 each. Is there a substantial advantage to $5700 HAs over the $2,000 kind? Just curious, that's all. I find that if I try to turn up the volume too much (to get louder sound) I get feedback, so I don't even try anymore. So does the $5700 have better volume control?
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Not really...I get feedback all the time! But mine are open fit actually, and that contributes to feedback. I wish I had gotten standard rather than open fit...the feedback drives me crazy! Mine are Oticon Epoqs.
 
Etoile, what about digital hearing aids can working for you; and you
can interpreting at anyone who you are using a digital hearing aids?

Anyways, it's very interesting topic. It's very interesting to know about that because I grew up in elementary school, I was with HOH-interpreter at Gym Class in about 15 years ago.

I don't think it would be deaf using with hearing aids could be hear well, could they do?
 
CCfan said:
Etoile, what about digital hearing aids can working for you; and you
can interpreting at anyone who you are using a digital hearing aids?

Anyways, it's very interesting topic. It's very interesting to know about that because I grew up in elementary school, I was with HOH-interpreter at Gym Class in about 15 years ago.

I don't think it would be deaf using with hearing aids could be hear well, could they do?
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These are digital, and they work just fine. I wear my hearing aids all the time when I am interpreting. :)

By the way, I agree with Chris regarding what he said about identity. I'm not hearing, I'm not deaf, sometimes I am Deaf, but I'm always hard of hearing. It's who I am. :)
 
Some of my friends thought i could be interpreter but I said NO WAY! i don't wanna do it. Myself already experienced it.
 
A question....what about profoundly deaf people who have CIs are are "hard of hearing" with them. Can they become terps?

I read a book about childrne with CIs and there were examples of their audiograms and without their CIs, they rated at 90 dB or below but with their CIs, they rated at around 30 dB.

If I am wrong, let me know but I am just wondering.
 
shel90 said:
A question....what about profoundly deaf people who have CIs are are "hard of hearing" with them. Can they become terps?

I read a book about childrne with CIs and there were examples of their audiograms and without their CIs, they rated at 90 dB or below but with their CIs, they rated at around 30 dB.

If I am wrong, let me know but I am just wondering.
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IMHO, whether or not you can become a terp depends on if you can "function as a hearing person." Just like with any other job, interpreters are allowed to use accommodations they need to do their job successfully. For me that is hearing aids, for someone else it might be a CI. I don't think it would be that big a deal...as long as the person can "function as a hearing person" with their equipment (whatever it is), then I would think they could be an interpreter.

However, there is also the fact that not everyone hears equally well with a CI. Maybe you can hear at 30 dB, but if your speech recognition is low, you couldn't be an interpreter. You also have to be able to speak clearly and be understood in order to be an ASL-English interpreter.
 
Etoile said:
IMHO, whether or not you can become a terp depends on if you can "function as a hearing person." Just like with any other job, interpreters are allowed to use accommodations they need to do their job successfully. For me that is hearing aids, for someone else it might be a CI. I don't think it would be that big a deal...as long as the person can "function as a hearing person" with their equipment (whatever it is), then I would think they could be an interpreter.

However, there is also the fact that not everyone hears equally well with a CI. Maybe you can hear at 30 dB, but if your speech recognition is low, you couldn't be an interpreter. You also have to be able to speak clearly and be understood in order to be an ASL-English interpreter.
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Right Right about not everyone not being able to hear equally well with a CI...I wish the drs and audis knew that!


Just wondering...
 
It all comes down to this..if you are d/Deaf, you don't hear at all. If you are "hearie" you do. If you are hoh, there are so many degrees to being hoh that you can't be pigeonholed. With the last ha, I was hoh but could hear and understand all speech. d/Deaf in one ear, but mild loss in the other. Now? I am on my second ha and although it works great for volume, it does not help that well with clarity so most speech sounds all the same...just like Charlie Brown's teacher (wa wa, wa wa wa). I can understand what you say in a very quiet room. But, if you add noises like tv, radio, computers and fans..I have to pick up what I can by reading lips. There are certain exceptions, as in a certain voice that comes in loud and clear, but that is not the norm. \
Had I had the training before, I could have been a translator while wearing my first ha. Now? Not a safe bet.:laugh2:
 
etalton said:
It all comes down to this..if you are d/Deaf, you don't hear at all. If you are "hearie" you do. If you are hoh, there are so many degrees to being hoh that you can't be pigeonholed. With the last ha, I was hoh but could hear and understand all speech. d/Deaf in one ear, but mild loss in the other. Now? I am on my second ha and although it works great for volume, it does not help that well with clarity so most speech sounds all the same...just like Charlie Brown's teacher (wa wa, wa wa wa). I can understand what you say in a very quiet room. But, if you add noises like tv, radio, computers and fans..I have to pick up what I can by reading lips. There are certain exceptions, as in a certain voice that comes in loud and clear, but that is not the norm. \
Had I had the training before, I could have been a translator while wearing my first ha. Now? Not a safe bet.:laugh2:
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I gotta disagree with you about using d/Deaf all the time...they have different meanings. You do NOT have to be profoundly deaf in order to be Deaf. There is no dB loss requirement for Deafness or Deafhood. So you could say "if you are deaf, you don't hear at all" but saying "if you are Deaf, you don't hear at all" is not accurate. I also don't think that everyone who DOES hear somewhat is a "hearie" - it seems to me you are trying to paint something black and white when really the Deaf community is a whole rainbow of people.
 
shel90 said:
Right Right about not everyone not being able to hear equally well with a CI...I wish the drs and audis knew that!


Just wondering...
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yep , second that , in addition i actually wish they'd be honest about the gains and stop painting a misleading picture that is akin to the 'miracles of science' to overcome heariong problems.... it's fallacious
 
Etoile said:
These are digital, and they work just fine. I wear my hearing aids all the time when I am interpreting. :)

By the way, I agree with Chris regarding what he said about identity. I'm not hearing, I'm not deaf, sometimes I am Deaf, but I'm always hard of hearing. It's who I am. :)
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Thanks. Now, I know about that. Digital hearing aids are better than
analog?
 
CCfan said:
Thanks. Now, I know about that. Digital hearing aids are better than
analog?
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not always, all depends on the residential hearing you might have, and the 'listening style'? if theres a such thing to describe like some ppl like to hear details of the environments, others focus on voices and other might like certain environmental noises in such a way that if changed it become irritable. Analog aids might suits those who likes to hear everything up loud as so they are comfortable with the 'shape' of the heairng curves (think audiograms), others likes it more controlled and have some tweaks here and there...with this kind, digital might be more in favour.
Analog HAs tend to suck out the batteries faster than digitals.
Myself sometimes wonder if digital aid tend to entice tinnitus because of exposure to that 'not-used-to-sounds' for too long that the brain cannot cope the 'audio signals' being mutated from whereas it has been adapted to a certain patterns over the looooong duration (read lifetime recognised patterns) so yeah i dont know. I have tinnitus now , and had digital aids for the last 5 years , never had that problem before and am wondering if the modified/controlled sound process contributes to this issue. in the hindsight i think I should have stuck with analog, i liked their grunt too.
Apparently i heard unitron is a good aid, if pressed for another one soon, (wearing Oticon Sumo DM here) Id get Unitron instead but I dont have the vast funds to do this. dammit.

Analog is older ,but it doesnt mean it not useful anymore. I have a valves stereo (selling that soon- cant enjoy it anymore) it made way better music than even some of the most expensive audio gears in town, (think Plinus, Classe', Mark Levinson) mine actually beat it! and its analog, not digital, very rich in tone and details.... but as they always says YMMV
 
Grummer said:
not always, all depends on the residential hearing you might have, and the 'listening style'? if theres a such thing to describe like some ppl like to hear details of the environments, others focus on voices and other might like certain environmental noises in such a way that if changed it become irritable. Analog aids might suits those who likes to hear everything up loud as so they are comfortable with the 'shape' of the heairng curves (think audiograms), others likes it more controlled and have some tweaks here and there...with this kind, digital might be more in favour.
Analog HAs tend to suck out the batteries faster than digitals.
Myself sometimes wonder if digital aid tend to entice tinnitus because of exposure to that 'not-used-to-sounds' for too long that the brain cannot cope the 'audio signals' being mutated from whereas it has been adapted to a certain patterns over the looooong duration (read lifetime recognised patterns) so yeah i dont know. I have tinnitus now , and had digital aids for the last 5 years , never had that problem before and am wondering if the modified/controlled sound process contributes to this issue. in the hindsight i think I should have stuck with analog, i liked their grunt too.
Apparently i heard unitron is a good aid, if pressed for another one soon, (wearing Oticon Sumo DM here) Id get Unitron instead but I dont have the vast funds to do this. dammit.

Analog is older ,but it doesnt mean it not useful anymore. I have a valves stereo (selling that soon- cant enjoy it anymore) it made way better music than even some of the most expensive audio gears in town, (think Plinus, Classe', Mark Levinson) mine actually beat it! and its analog, not digital, very rich in tone and details.... but as they always says YMMV
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It's very interesting to know about them. But I am not planning to get
a hearing aid. Because it failed me when I were kid. Oh well.
 
CCfan said:
It's very interesting to know about them. But I am not planning to get
a hearing aid. Because it failed me when I were kid. Oh well.
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Hearing aids have changed a lot since you was a kid. They might work for you now. You can always ask for a trial (try and see period) and check it out without having to pay for it. I demanded a trail before I bought mine. It was supposed to be for two weeks but on the second day, I was convinced. Just an idea. ;)
 
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