State program provides phone equipment for disabled in Montana. Missoula Conference introduces new technology to hearing impaired students

Gil Martell has listened to plenty of testimonies praising the Montana Telecommunications Access Program, which provides and installs telephone equipment for deaf and partially deaf residents across the state.

"One woman hadn’t used the phone for years because she didn’t hear well. Then she got phone equipment from MTAP, and her son said she had to stop calling him at work so much," Martell said with a chuckle.

Martell, who retired from teaching earlier this year, is hard of hearing himself, and has used an amplified telephone through the program for several years. His particular phone has a built-in volume control to make incoming sounds louder. Some amplified phones come with tone and frequency adjustments and adjustable ringers. Others come with large number keys to make reading and dialing numbers easier.

According to Bowen Greenwood, outreach coordinator for MTAP, the phone Martell has is the most frequently used piece of equipment the program distributes.

Because hearing loss typically affects a specific frequency range, higher sounds such as a woman’s voice might be more difficult to hear than low sounds like a man’s voice. In some cases, just the opposite is true.

By SUZANNE KYDLAND ADY
Of The Gazette Staff

Full Story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?ts=1&display=rednews/2005/12/14/build/health/20-phones.inc

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Conference introduces new technology to hearing impaired students

By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian

Faith Dawson was born with a minor hearing impairment that got worse with each passing year.

Her hearing challenges weren’t a big deal when she was young because her family and friends knew how to communicate with her, and together they developed their own language.

But when Dawson entered public school and her hearing worsened, she felt isolated and lonely, and communicating with anyone outside her family became a chore. At the time, she was painfully self-conscious about being different from her classmates.
While she worked hard at her studies, she also learned to fade into the background.

Despite her withdrawal, her ambition would not be denied.

What she describes as a great awakening took place when she entered the University of Montana. She realized that if she were to achieve her goal of obtaining a college education, she would have to be her own advocate.

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/12/15/news/local/news02.txt