Hearing Mojo Reviews LACE Online

Check out this great review of our latest product release: LACE Online

LACE Online makes it a lot easier to access auditory training than earlier versions, which came on DVDs and CD-ROMs, and it performs extremely well. One of the challenges of a highly interactive online site with a lot of audio and video is to deliver response times fast enough to keep up with the user’s pace through the program. LACE Online met all my expectations for immediate response times, not only with my high-bandwidth fiber connection to my desktop, but also when I used the much slower 3G wireless data connection with my iPad2 (LACE Online doesn’t depend on Flash, so all the videos run beautifully on the iPad).

 
Click Here To Read The Review
 
For more information regarding LACE Online, contact us today!

Independent study of the effectiveness of LACE

A recent independent study of the effectiveness of LACE training has been published in the journal, Cerebral Cortex (Song, et al, 2011). In this study the authors describe behavioral improvements on speech in noise measures, and, for the first time, changes in neurophysiologic responses in participants that completed the LACE training.

More about the study:
Participants were normal hearing young adults, all of whom were proficient in the English language, but half of the participants were non-native speakers of English. Participants were randomly assigned to the training group, or to a control group. Both groups completed baseline testing that included the QuickSIN, HINT and auditory brainstem responses. The training group completed the LACE protocol and showed significant improvements on the LACE training tasks, the QuickSIN and the HINT. These participants also showed enhancements in the neurophysiologic representation of pitch cues in the presence of background noise. The control group did not show changes on any measures. This study is the first to show that short-term training with naturalistic stimuli, like those used in LACE, can improve the neural representation of speech cues that are critical for understanding speech in noise.

When discussing the study the authors contend: “…change in perception and neurophysiology likely resulted from the way in which LACE integrates cognitive factors into its auditory training exercises.” The authors stress the importance of LACE’s unique approach of integrating sensory and cognitive training to improve listening in difficult environments.

At Neurotone we are very pleased to see independent studies like these and wanted to share with you the latest support for using LACE in your practice.

Dig Deeper:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21799207
http://www.soc.northwestern.edu/brainvolts/publications.php
Direct link to full study – PDF file

Better Hearing Institute Aural Education Article

Check out the newest aural education article for consumers at the Better Hearing Institute. Dr. Robert W. Sweetow, Professor of Otolaryngology, University of California, San Francisco has created a patient counseling article which helps the consumer understand why training the brain to listen is so important in optimizing the hearing aid experience.

The Better Hearing Institute (BHI) is a not-for-profit corporation that educates the public about the neglected problem of hearing loss and what can be done about it. Learn More

“LACE will train our brains how to better interpret these sounds”

We recently conducted in interview with Dr. Cheryl Lokanis AuD from Evergreen Speech & Hearing Clinic regarding their successful implementation of LACE into their practice. Please read the complete interview below.

How exactly do you use LACE in your practice?

At Evergreen Speech & Hearing Clinic, we have a comprehensive aural rehabilitation program called “The Connect Program” which incorporates several keys elements, including LACE. The hearing instruments allow patients to gain access to sound, while the LACE training sharpens the ability to make sense of these sounds that the patient hears. We dispense LACE to all our Connect patients, both new and long term, who have recently purchased new hearing devices.

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New Video Relay Service iPhone 4 App for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Great to see new technologies being released to assist the hearing impaired on mobile devices:

AT&T* today announced a new video relay service (VRS) app for iPhone 4 that allows deaf and hard of hearing customers to make VRS calls. The AT&T VRS app is available today on the App Store.

AT&T VRS is a service that allows a person who uses American Sign Language (ASL) to place a relay call to a hearing person by communicating through a certified ASL interpreter. AT&T has offered video relay services to customers for many years, but the new AT&T VRS app provides a more flexible and convenient way for users to make VRS calls on the go. iPhone 4 customers can make unlimited VRS calls using the AT&T VRS app at no additional cost.

READ MORE GET THE APP

President Obama Signs 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act

On October 8th 2010, President Obama signed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 into law.

According to the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), the new law:

• Provides definitions for “advanced communications” (including interconnected and non-interconnected voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), electronic messaging, and interoperable video conferencing services); “consumer-generated media”; and “disability.”
• Requires telephones used with the Internet to be hearing aid compatible.

For a complete list of the items this law covers, visit the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology.

Watch Video of President Obama Signing the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act below

10 Recent Comments From LACE Users

We would like to thank all the folks who have reached the 20-day training milestone in LACE and have taken the time to provide feedback on their experiences. User feedback is very important to product evolution and we certainly appreciate hearing from all of you.

Below is just a small sample of some recent feedback we’ve received on LACE:

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LACE in Australia and New Zealand

 Neurotone is proud to announce the availability of LACE in Australia and New Zealand!
LACE is now sold in Australia and New Zealand from Blamey & Saunders Hearing. Blamey & Saunders Hearing are owned by well-known scientists in the area of evidence-based hearing technology, and have partnered with leading international suppliers to develop a hearing aid specially designed to be adjusted by you, the user. This way you get to adjust the hearing aid just how you want it to sound.

To learn more about Blamey & Saunders Hearing click here.

One in Five U.S. Adolescents Has Hearing Loss

According to new research from Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), hearing loss among U.S. adolescents has surged. Quote from Hearing Mojo:

In findings published in this month’s Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers analyzed data from two major surveys done by the National Institutes of Health, one done in 2005-2006 and the other done from 1988 through 1994. They found the rate of significant hearing loss — such as inability to hear soft sounds such as whispers or high-frequency sounds such as high musical notes or high-pitched voices — had increased among adolescents aged 12-19 from 14.9 percent in the first survey to 19.5 percent in the second, a 30 percent increase.

Read the whole story at Hearing Mojo

Sign Language Over Mobile Phones

Here’s an interesting article on the the “MobileASL” project at UW.

The MobileASL project at UW has been working to optimize compressed video signals for sign language. By increasing image quality around the face and hands, researchers have brought the data rate down to 30 kilobytes per second while still delivering intelligible sign language. MobileASL also uses motion detection to identify whether a person is signing or not, in order to extend the phones’ battery life during video use.

Click here to read the full article at GizMag.com

Check out the video below explaining the research and showing the phones in action