Interns are an integral part of making AG Bell run smoothly. Every year, a new team of interns join us from universities around the country to help organize the day-to-day management of our membership, communications, events-planning, fundraising and more.


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How AG Bell’s Internship Program Brings Real-World Experience to Students
Interns are an integral part of making AG Bell run smoothly. Every year, a new team of interns join us from universities around the country to help organize the day-to-day management of our membership, communications, events-planning, fundraising and more.
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My New Life With Cochlear Implants
“You should already have a cochlear implant in your left ear!” said the new, untried ear-nose-throat (ENT) doctor. It was February, 2018. His comment sparked the idea of receiving an implant, once again.

Creating a World Class Virtual Conference for LSL Practitioners – a Q&A with AG Bell’s Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium Co-Chairs
With the continuing COVID-19 pandemic limiting travel, AG Bell set out to adapt its annual Global Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Symposium as a virtual event, which was well received this past summer. Planning is well underway to provide an improved virtual symposium in 2021.

Supporting AG Bell Families Financially Through COVID-19
We have four children: Dylan, 17; Amanda, 14; Amelia, 5; and Denton, 3. Dylan and Amanda are typical hearing children, while Amelia and Denton both are profoundly deaf with cochlear implants.

AG Bell Student Earns Marshall Scholarship
AG Bell congratulates Caroline Yuk, who has been mentored by Dr. Tilak Ratnanather who leads AG Bell’s STEMM-HEAR initiative, on her award of the Marshall Scholarship. Caroline is a senior at the University of Alabama who will study neuroscience at the University of Oxford and audiology science at University College London next year.

Holiday Gathering Social Tips for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
The holidays bring to mind joyful festivities and gatherings with family and friends. For people with hearing loss, however, this time of the year brings a unique set of challenges. Volta Voices talked to some adults who are deaf and hard of hearing around the world who share their expert tips.

Helping AG Bell Families Financially Impacted by COVID
Coronavirus lockdown has been difficult for many of our AG Bell families. For some, it’s been harder than others—they’ve had pay cuts, lost jobs, or had to stop working to help their children through virtual schooling.

Holiday Gift Guide to Educational Toys
Gretchen Overton’s daughter is 2 ½-years-old and knows more than a thousand words—the average 2-year-old knows about 300. This Christmas will be her daughter’s third with hearing aids, too.

Checking in on School During the Pandemic
Back in August, Tina Morris made the difficult decision to send her son Karsen—who is deaf and wears cochlear implants—to brick and mortar school because his needs were more likely to be met. Unfortunately, after only a few weeks of school, the Morrises had to pull him out.

Abbey’s Road – A Journey Through Abbey’s Cochlear Implantation
Abbey Russell is a 23-year-old college graduate who is preparing to enter medical school. After 19 years of deafness in her left ear and hearing loss in the right, Abbey made the decision to undergo cochlear implant surgery.

Infant-Directed Speech in Non-Westernized Nations
Infant-directed speech (IDS), also referred to as caregiver talk, baby talk, or parentese, is the way many adults around the world typically talk to infants and young children. In addition to using simpler words, caregivers tend to repeat those words in a slower rate of speech that is higher pitched with an exaggerated melody and pitch.

In Memory of a Dear Friend: Arlene “Bonnie” Tenenbaum
AG Bell’s Leadership Opportunities for Teens (LOFT) Program long benefited from the kind support of Bonnie and Marty Tenenbaum, and many of our young adults have expressed their gratitude over the years. We are saddened by the loss of Bonnie, who passed away on October 15, 2020 at the age of 76.

Save the Date: 2021 AG Bell Global Listening and Spoken Language Symposium to Be Held as A Virtual Conference June 24 and 25.
Following the success of this year’s event, AG Bell has announced its dates for the 2021 Global Listening and Spoken Language Virtual Symposium to be July 8-9. Co-chairs for 2021 are Jane Madell, Elizabeth Tyszkiewicz, and Fernanda Hinojosa.

Abbey’s Road
Abigail Russell, or Abbey, an AG Bell intern and a Leadership Opportunities for Teens (LOFT) graduate, recently decided to get her first cochlear implant—at the age of 23. Born with a condition called Enlarged Vestibular Aqueduct (EVA), which affects hearing in children, Abbey’s hearing fluctuated in and out for the first few years, although she says she could usually hear.

Guiding the Development of Specific Self-Advocacy Skills in Very Young Children with Hearing Loss: A Family Focus
Many research papers report that children with hearing loss, when diagnosed and enriched with auditory language at a very young age, are able to achieve age-appropriate spoken language communication just like their peers with typical hearing.

Magic Ears
My 13-year-old daughter, Harper, is a tenacious and determined teen. She has possessed gusto since the moment she entered the world, which is what led her to publish a children’s book about hearing loss.

Parent Support Line: Help Your Child Grow From Cradle to Career
It’s truly an honor to be asked to help parents and grandparents who are on the journey with their child who is deaf or hard of hearing and is learning to listen and talk. For many, this is an unexpected journey…

The Perfect Vision
Jack McConnell describes the kid-version of himself as “a basic, bland kid who liked his comic books,” but he is anything but basic or bland. At age 11, he started his own nonprofit called 20/20 Hearing, directed at funding audiology equipment and services for people who needed them.

A Star is Born
Our son, Phoenix, is a born artist. He has always been passionate about film and television. He has a mature sense of analyzing film as an art and dives deep into each genre. He watches and researches all types of film—foreign, classics, the ‘80’s, etc.—and loves to be challenged about the medium.

How Practitioners and Families Can Ensure a Successful Telepractice During COVID-19
Left to Right: Courtney Pakenham, Grace, Lindsay Zombek Written By: Lisa A. Goldstein At the end of March 2020, when much of the U.S. was under lockdown due to COVID-19,…

Five-month-old Becomes One of Youngest Patients to Receive Cochlear Implants
After becoming profoundly deaf due to bacterial meningitis, a Pennsylvania baby becomes one of the youngest people in the United States to receive cochlear implants—and all during the pandemic, when doctor’s offices and hospitals were severely limited in terms of visitation.

A Conversation with Jenna Voss and Susan Lenihan, AG Bell’s New Chairs
AG Bell’s new chairs, Susan Lenihan, PhD, CED, and Jenna Voss, PhD, CED, LSLS Cert. AVEd, are entering their respective leaderships at an interesting time, to say the least.

Legislation for Audiology and Speech Language Pathology-Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC) Aims to Bring Professionals Across State Lines
In an effort for qualified professionals to reach more families, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), in collaboration of the National Council of State Boards of Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology…

LOFT in the Time of Coronavirus
Yet another of AG Bell’s annual highlights, the Leadership Opportunities for Teens (LOFT), remained unthwarted by the pandemic this July. Though the event moved online, it still brought together teenagers who are deaf and hard of hearing from around the country…

Planning for School During COVID-19
The school district in St. Augustine, Florida, where Tina Morris lives is providing synchronous teaching for families who choose online. Initially, the plan was for Morris’ son—who is deaf or hard of hearing and wears cochlear implants—to log into each class period every day…

Why I Contribute to AG Bell: John Stanton
John Stanton serves on AG Bell’s Board of Directors. As a lawyer, he has advocated for AG Bell in a variety of legal matters. He served as AG Bell’s counsel in court cases impacting the rights of people who are deaf and hard of hearing, as well as more generally for people with disabilities.

Masked Challenges for People who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Christine Anthony, a cochlear implant recipient from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, recently found herself almost in tears after a lunch outing with her mom and daughter.

How Infants Learn Language: Part II
What is infant-direct speech (IDS)? It’s a method of language development that uses simpler words, repetition, a higher range of pitch and slower rate of speaking to help a child learn to speak.

AG Bell’s Internship Experience
Every summer, AG Bell welcomes four interns to work alongside its staff to experience how a nonprofit works, to learn about the AG Bell community, and to provide support for its functions and events.

A Global Virtual Learning Experience
Nearly 900 people from 40 countries representing all six inhabited continents participated in the AG Bell Global Virtual Listening and Spoken Language Symposium, July 9-10. Attendees came together in a virtual learning environment to hear from leaders in the field of listening and spoken language through a variety of online learning formats.

Arizona Panel Discusses Effects of COVID-19 Quarantine on Community who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
On April 23, 2020, professionals and members of the community who are deaf and hard of hearing came together online for an enlightening panel discussion about how COVID-19 has affected those living with hearing loss.

Graduating During a Pandemic
Recent graduates who are deaf and hard of hearing have faced unique challenges as members of the Class of 2020 during COVID-19. High school and college seniors have missed out on traditions they’ve looked forward to and earned, including graduation.

Summer Activities for Kids Who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing During COVID-19
This will be a summer to remember. Family trips and summer camps have been cancelled due to COVID-19. When it’s hot outside and school’s not in session, how will the kids stay occupied?

How Infants Learn Language: Part I
Statistical learning is a foundational ability to detect regularities in the natural world. It means developing a sensitivity to distributional and statistical regularities in the environment. Newborns are known to be statistical learners in that they can decipher and recognize patterns from information presented to them.

In Memoriam: Saraswathi Narayanaswamy, founder of Balavidyalaya School for Deaf in Chennai, India
India has lost a pioneer and advocate for listening and spoken language. Saraswathi Narayanaswamy, 78, passed away recently after a brief illness.

AG Bell to Host Global Virtual LSL Symposium on July 9-10
The 2020 AG Bell Global Virtual Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Symposium will be a place to learn, network and connect with colleagues all over the world—without needing to travel.

Volta Voices Goes Digital
Welcome to the new, faster, mightier, digitized Volta Voices! Our online format will only differ in platform and presentation from our retired print version, but we will continue to bring you high-quality reporting and writing from our award-winning team.

The Value of Certification for Families of Deaf Children
My name is Pedro Brás da Silva and I have worked as a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) in Portugal for about 20 years, almost all of them working with babies, children and adolescents who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH).

Contentedness in the Time of Coronavirus
Ordinarily, I dance five days a week. I go to North Idaho College four days a week, and attend high school classes online, and work at least two days a week.

Online Learning for Kids with Hearing Loss: Challenges and Solutions
Now that school has gone virtual, kids who are deaf and hard of hearing are adjusting to the new classroom. What challenges are they facing, and what are the solutions?
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