“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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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 (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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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.

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,…

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.

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.

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…

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…

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…

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

India has lost a pioneer and advocate for listening and spoken language. Saraswathi Narayanaswamy, 78, passed away recently after a brief illness.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?