Atcherson, S.R. (Spring 2003)

Atcherson, S.R. (Spring 2003) - JAMPHL

Volume 1 Number 2, Spring 2003

Editorial
There's More to Communication than Hearing and Hearing Loss

"In the process of losing hearing one is neither a hearing nor deaf person. For the hearing impaired person there is a middle place of fog. Sounds reach us that we cannot define. We may be aware that a person is speaking, that a voice or voices are present close by, but we may be unable to decipher more than an occasional word." (Hannah Merker, Listening: Ways of Hearing in a Silent World)

     It is often said that individuals who have normal hearing abilities take for granted that which they can hear. Having the ability to hear and understand well are natural skills acquired and developed from childhood. However, individuals with hearing loss may have a set of skills that they too can take for granted.

     Because hearing loss may obscure speech to the point that "we may be unable to decipher more than the occasional word", our eyes take on an important role in our effort to understand speech and language. It has been said that individuals with hearing loss listen with their eyes. Supplementing the eyes with the ears (amplified or bioelectric) enable some of us to make the most of the language of the acoustical and visual worlds. How much we depend on our eyes and ears for communication, independent of one another, ultimately depends on the nature of our hearing losses and on the circumstances of our acoustically hostile environments. Are these two sensory systems, i.e. audition and vision, mutually exclusive? Can we use one without the other? Do they enhance one another? Are there unseen advantages or ways in which we can use these skills? In this issue of the JAMPHL, we have two articles that focus on such skills: lipreading and speechreading.

     Stacey Cordwell Carroll, RNCS, Ph.D.(c) tells us how we can use lipreading abilities in the clinical environment, and she provides real-life examples of how it has come in handy. Ms. Carroll suggests that healthcare professionals with hearing loss can become translators for individuals who are unable to speak, but can still move their lips to produce words. Julie Fitzer, a senior psychology major from Washington and Lee University, tells us about the combinatorial effects of auditory and vision in speechreading. She provides scientific examples of some interesting, yet puzzling, phenomena related to this skill.

     The last article featured in this issue is titled, "How to Describe and Characterize Your Hearing Loss" by Samuel Atcherson, M.Ed. and Tina Prout, M.S. This article attempts to take the pain out of interpreting an audiogram and describing an individual’s hearing loss. Having the ability to describe hearing loss may go a long way in terms of improving communicative environments with co-workers and possibly justifying use of work-related accommodations.

     This quarter’s installment of the journal begins the benefits for paid subscribers of the AMPHL. The Winter 2002 issue, however, will remain free for those who would like a sample copy of what the JAMPHL has to offer.

Happy New Year,

Samuel R. Atcherson, M.Ed.
JAMPHL Editor-in-Chief