Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Hearing assistance at cohousing conference

[Morrison, Robert (romorris]

  On Mon, 30 Aug 1999, barbara keppel <71612.340 [at] compuserve.com> wrote re
hearing assistance at cohousing conference.
> Out of curiosity, I wonder if there are other hearing impaired 
>folks who plan to attend the North American Cohousing Conference 
>in Oct. and need some kind of assistance? Are there others like 
>me who need to have speakers use a mike? Who can't participate in
>conversations if there is a lot of background noise? 

  I don't have any problem with my hearing, but a lot of people do. I hope
the people in charge of the upcoming conference will make arrangements to
make sure that everyone can hear the presenters without any problem. I
realize that renting and setting up PA systems in all the meeting rooms
costs money and takes time, but I think we should do it, if the rooms are
not already equipped with such systems. The fact is that very few people can
talk loud enough to make themselves heard clearly at the back of a crowded
room, even if they think they can.
  I know from second-hand experience that most hearing aids don't enable
people to hear speech in the presence of background noise. This being the
case, I hope that the people in charge will do something about this too. 
  The new system of hearing assistance in which court reporters transcribe
speech into text in real time is ingenious. It would be great if we could
use this system at the upcoming conference, but I think our first priority
should be to make it possible for people who have impaired hearing to hear
both the speakers and the audience.

Bob Morrison
Salem, NH