10,000 bc to 1700 ad
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- Not much ... unless you count getting eaten by a tiger or perhaps, if you were luckier, being considered an idiot because you couldn't hear well.
| This was not a good time to be Hard of Hearing.
1700 ad - about 1900 ad
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- Ear Trumpets used by some Hard of Hearing People
| This was not a much better time to be Hard of Hearing. Fortunately, people still didn't live very long.
1900s
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- Silent (Captioned) Movies
- First electronic hearing aid patented
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- Imagine, Hard of Hearing People could go to the movies!
- Actually the first electronic hearing aid was developed before the turn of the century, but no one patented an electronic hearing aid until 1901. If you think body aids and BTEs are large, you should have seen these early aids ... One was so large it was actually built into a CHAIR! At least you didn't have to stick it in your ear.
1920s
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| No more captions ... Well, easy come, easy go! ... And to make matters worse, the US implemented Prohibition, so you couldn't even drown your sorrow at the loss of the subtitles in movies.
1940s
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- Electronic (Body) Hearing Aids
| Hearing aids finally become small enough to wear instead of sitting in. But, they are expensive and not many people have them. Hearing loss? Not me ... That's for Old People, Isn't it?
1950s
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| Let's face it, not much of anything (with the
possible exception of Elvis)happened in the 50s, but telecoils were one of
the good things that did happen. If you don't know what a telecoil is, then
you definitely need to join SHHH.
1960s
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- Behind the Ear (BTE) Hearing Aids
- American Sign Language (ASL) first recognized as a language
- TTYs
Hard of Hearing People Still Hiding.
1970s
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- In the Ear (ITE) Hearing Aids
- Amplified Phones
- Assistive Listening Systems
- Cued Speech Invented
- Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc Established
| At Last, a Support Group!, but Most Still Hiding.
1980s
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- Personal Assistive Listening Devices
- In the Canal Hearing Aids
- Programmable Hearing Aids
- Closed Captions
- NC DSDHH Formed
- Cochlear Implants
- Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA)Established
- Auditory Brain-Stem Implant (ABI)
- Computer Assisted Note Taking (CAN)
- Micro-Surgery Corrects Some Hearing Loss
| Technology Takes Off! A few brave Hard of Hearing Souls Venture Out.
1990s
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- NC DSDHH Hard of Hearing Task Force
NCSHHH State Association Recognized by SHHH National
Computer Translation of Stenography to English
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA>)
Digital Hearing Aids
Relay
First Ever NCSHHH/DSDHH Conference on Hearing Loss in North Carolina
Computer Speech Recognition
Text Pagers
Beyond Hearing (Internet List about hearing loss issues) Established
Hearing Aid Implants
E-Mail
Voice Carry Over (VCO) Relay
Video Relay
Internet Chat Tools
World Wide Web Has Lots of Hard of Hearing Links
Most Hearing Aids Still Advertised as "Almost Invisible"
- Hard of Hearing People Start to Accept and Overcome their Hearing Loss
| There has never been a better time to be Hard of Hearing, but there is a lot of work to be done. Are you taking advantage of all the recent advances? You can help yourself and others by joining SHHH, now.
2000 & Beyond
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- Hard of Hearing People accept themselves!
- SHHH Membership Soars!
- Assistive Technology is Everywhere!
- Assistive Listening Systems are common for even people with normal hearing. Audio from all types of sources (TV, Stereo, Computer, Telephones) is available via radio to high-tech receivers that are one everyone's MUST HAVE list of cool "appliances".
- Speech recognition software and hardware is so good that it can instantly interpret speech in almost any environment) and discretely display the text to hard of hearing people.
- Discrimination is a Thing of the Past.
- Hard of Hearing People can enjoy movies, TV, plays, lectures, jobs, friends and family.
- All movies, theaters, auditoriums, stadiums, museums and churches are innately
accessible via assistive listening systems and via discrete captioning or speech
recognition tools.
| Think this is too good to be true? It CAN happen, but only if we make it happen.
There has never been a better time to start doing something positive about your hearing loss ... Go to the SHHH Website and join, now! You'll be doing your part to help this rosey future occur and you'll be helping yourself right now.
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