We can’t let other people dictate who we are, only you know who you are and what you can do. I want to prove to myself and show others what I can accomplish and succeed at despite my hearing loss. Another motivation is seeing the lack of individuals with disabilities in TV and film. There are some actors who are deaf or hard of hearing, but they represent a very small percentage of the entertainment industry.
Action on Captions
I’m a longtime radio broadcaster and after 25 years on the air, I owned an advertising agency where all the work was creating radio and TV ads and video scripts all day, every day. I’ve spent nearly my entire adult life in a studio, wearing headphones.
Breaking Stereotypes: Hearing Loss in the Media
Hearing loss is both underrepresented and misrepresented in the media, which frustrates many of us who actually have hearing loss. When hearing loss is represented, individuals who are hard of hearing have typically been depicted as elderly, isolated, and disabled individuals who are dependent on others.
Net Gains
Along with Silent Network and its sign language programming, a new network called Access Network was launched in 2018, providing open captioned and language-free programming for the general public and deaf, hard of hearing, and people learning English as a second language.
Close-Minded Captioning
Sound can provide remarkable connections to the world around us. As a Longwood University communication sciences and disorders student, I’ve come to better understand how people with hearing loss experience sound, and that improvements to accessibility are urgently needed.
Hyped Up Now, Hurting Later
By Yishane Lee and Lauren McGrath
In an interview, longtime healthcare professional Bob Kambic warns about the health risks of the over-amplification that is becoming increasingly common at recreational events.
What got you interested in the topic of the dangers of loud entertainment?
I am 75 and a grandfather. Recently I was in Detroit for an event in which my grandchildren participated. The finale of the event was held in Ford Stadium, a football venue. The electronically amplified sound was deafening even wearing my noise-canceling headphones.
The 30,000 or so people in the stadium were subject to what in other places would be called torture. I wondered, is there a way to tell the organizers they are harming our young citizens, the future of our country?
As a retired healthcare professional, I have a half century of experience in the healthcare field and more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals. This got me thinking about noise levels in entertainment venues. Raising awareness of this public health problem needs to be done.
Why is the music so loud?
Consider a musician playing an electric guitar in front of a crowd. She will hear her music from an amplifier. But she then finds that she likes it loud and turns the small knob up. After weeks or months that level is not satisfactory and she makes another turn up.
Over time, as the louder sounds gradually diminish hearing, it becomes necessary to turn the knob up more and more. For music professionals, this is called increasing the gain, which is one way to increase the volume of sound from the speakers. The other way to increase volume is to turn up the signal coming out of the speakers themselves.
When musicians play to big crowds they now have amplifiers and systems that produce thousands of watts of power and can project over 100 decibels (dB). This technology is also used for recorded music. It “entertains” but it also may harm the listeners’ ears. Musicians and their producers know that “loudness does not equal quality”—but that caution can get lost in the need to entertain.
By 2022, live music industry revenue is projected to be worth $31 billion worldwide, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Like other industries, the money is the driver. To me this means the live music industry will continue to use larger and louder electronic amplification.
The electronically amplified sound is now also ubiquitous at rallies and sporting events, both professional and collegiate—or even younger—to hype up the crowd.
What can we do to protect our hearing, and especially the hearing of children?
Earplugs. I was happy to see an article in a music industry publication saying that the purchase of custom musician’s earplugs is one of the best investments a music industry worker can make. They didn’t recommend earphones, mixers, digital equipment, or music instruments—just earplugs. Frequent concert-goers should also invest in custom musician’s earplugs.
For children, this is a tough question because kids don’t want to be told what to listen to and how loud the sound should be. But there are a variety of products for hearing protection. The first are simple foam earplugs, widely available at hardware stores, pharmacies, and online. The disadvantage is that they must be pushed into the ear canal and may not fit all size ears. (See “8 Pairs of Earplugs in 4 Noisy Settings,” next page.)
The next step up is over-the-ear earmuffs that cover the ear entirely. They are long-lasting and work well but they are also big and bulky.
Finally there are noise-canceling headphones made by audio or electronic equipment manufacturers. I use battery-powered noise-canceling headphones on airplanes and trains, and was wearing them at the event at the Ford Stadium. You may want to explore the varying prices and technology. Many can also play personal music through wireless and/or wired connections.
Besides using hearing protection, what else can you do?
Take action against unnecessary noise. Groups of parents can petition their schools and sports teams to reduce amplification at indoor and outdoor events. Decibel meters are inexpensive or free as smartphone apps and can be used to show managers and administrators the sound level at events, and when the volume reaches dangerous levels at over 85 dB.
The music and electronic sound industry is in control of this problem because of the amount of money in the industry, but also because well-known musicians such as Huey Lewis and Eric Clapton, who are open about their hearing loss, are helping to raise awareness. Media coverage and local action can bring attention to bear, and over time the industry may become aware of amplification as a health problem for everyone, including the audience, not just for those in the industry.
Bob (Robert T.) Kambic, MSH, is a retired health professional who worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is a current visiting scientist with the JHU Medical School Division of Health Sciences Informatics and plays and sings American traditional music using acoustic instruments.
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Facing the Music
By Joe Mussomeli
Every family has holiday traditions—ours is to visit New York City. For the past five years, my mom, dad, and brother, Alex, have committed a single hour drive to experience the magic of the greatest city in the world during Christmas time. When we arrive each December, Alex and I are in awe of the magical sight of neon Christmas lights covering Radio City and the giant tree in Rockefeller Center. Despite our fascination with the city’s holiday decor, nothing we see outside compares to the highlight of our annual tradition, attending a musical performance on Broadway.
Our first musical, Annie, was an incredible experience for our family, but it was difficult for Alex. Born with a hearing loss, Alex uses a hearing aid and cochlear implant. Though his devices have greatly helped him over the years, there are some situations where their benefits are limited. While watching Annie, Alex had trouble understanding some of the lines that the actors were saying, missing every few words spoken. As a result, he couldn’t grasp the full context of the story or make sense of the audience’s reactions. Whenever the audience laughed, Alex would laugh along with them. He laughed knowing that he had missed a word, had lost a sentence, and didn’t catch the joke.
Alex followed this copycat formula for the next few Broadway plays we attended. When we saw The Lion King, he was amazed by the costumes and the bright lights, but he couldn’t hear Timon and Pumbaa singing “Hakuna Matata.” The beautiful music in Aladdin delighted Alex, but he didn’t pick up on Jafar calling Aladdin a “diamond in the rough.” After we saw Aladdin, I asked Alex if he enjoyed the musical. He told me that he did, but felt as if viewing the show was like trying to complete a project without all the tools. For Alex, the musical was a puzzle and he had lost a few pieces while assembling the final product.
Last December, my family and I watched our newest musical, Dear Evan Hansen, and it was Alex’s favorite so far. We arrived at the theater happy to know there was a closed captioning option for guests with hearing loss. Weeks before, my parents had called the captioning company that provides services for Broadway musicals and reserved a closed captioning device for Alex. He was given a small tablet and was told that the actors’ lines would appear on the tablet as they were spoken. Minutes later, the musical began, and Alex was just as invested in the show as the rest of the audience. Now, he could understand everything that was happening on stage! It was an enlightening experience for him. He understood every sentence, took in every word, and laughed at every joke, and not for the sake of laughing along to fit in, but because he got the joke. When we finished the musical I turned to Alex and asked him if he liked it. He replied with three words: “I loved it.” Finally, Alex had completed his puzzle with ease.
Joe Mussomeli is a 10th-grade student who lives in Westport, CT. His younger brother, Alex, has been featured in Hearing Health magazine and is a participant in HHF’s “Faces of Hearing Loss” campaign.
Making Entertainment Relatable and Accessible for More
By C. Adrean Mejia
Films, plays, and television series have long served as platforms to create awareness of important topics that have otherwise been kept out of the spotlight. Hearing loss is one example of such a topic.
As an organization that seeks to inform the public about the prevalence, prevention, and treatment of hearing loss, Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) applauds the growing prioritization of this issue in entertainment. We are pleased to know that the number of films featuring characters with hearing loss—played by actors with hearing loss—has risen with the years, generating greater public awareness of the third most common health condition in the United States. Complementing this trend of an increased presence of hearing loss on screen is the introduction of recent legislation to make entertainment more accessible to viewers with hearing loss.
Actors and characters with hearing loss expand society’s understanding of the condition. Hearing loss empowers abilities, emotions, and experiences unlike those of people with typical hearing. Some recent works with characters with hearing loss include the following:
The Silent Child tells the story of a profoundly deaf four-year-old girl who is about to attend a mainstream school with minimal support—until a social worker teaches her American Sign Language (ASL). The film communicates the disappointing statistic that over 78% of deaf children attend mainstream school without accommodations. A final comment that states that the creators “hope this film contributes in the fight for sign language to be recognized in every school across the globe.”
Children of a Lesser God, a play written in 1979, made its Broadway debut last April. The piece focuses on the professional and romantic relationship between a deaf janitor and a typical hearing teacher and shows the contrasting worlds off sound and silence. To Sarah, the janitor, deafness is an identity, not a defect.
This Close is a TV series by two deaf writers and actors that narrates the true story of their lives. The show provides a close look of the everyday day life of two best friends, emphasizing their challenges and frustrations while highlighting the positive and beautiful things that their hearing loss brings to their existence.
HHF commends these and the artists behind similar works for the awareness their creations have generated. Likewise, the organization is proud to witness the introduction of new laws and procedures to make entertainment more accessible to the hearing loss community.
Credit: Naugatuck Patch
The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) first broke barriers by advocating for the requirement that all video program distributors close caption their TV shows. But it wasn’t until recently, with the help of technology, that these rules have expanded. On November 2016, the Final Rule on the ADA Title III was signed, requiring all American movie theaters to provide accessibility for captions. Large cinemas now offer assistive listening, closed captions, and descriptive audio.
Broadway, too, has made tremendous improvements. In 2016, the Theater Development Fund (TDF) and The Broadway League, launched www.theatreaccess.nyc, a website with information about tickets prices, dates and accommodations for theatergoers with disabilities. In addition, TDF now provides accessibility programs with open captioning and/or ASL at select Broadway performances.
Entertainment has made progress in becoming more inclusive for people with hearing loss since the implementation of these programs, but additional work is needed. Though mandating captioning at movie theaters represents great progress, other entertainment settings, including sports arenas and concert halls, must follow suit.
To optimize the listening experience for audience members with hearing loss, more must adopt the use of hearing loops, which transmit sound from a PA system to hearing aids and cochlear implants. In December 2017, the state of Minnesota passed a bill requiring hearing loops in public meeting spaces, taking after similar New York City legislation from earlier in 2017.
HHF looks forward to a day where no one must live with hearing loss. As long as hearing remains out of reach for tens of million Americans, fair accommodations are the most ethical choice.