The Hearing Loss Association of America-Santa Barbara Chapter will be hosting an open house from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11 at the Louis Lowry Davis Center.
The focus of the open house is how assistive technology can help you live better with your hearing loss.
Three presentations will be given from 10 to 11 a.m. on HLAA, home loop systems and assistive listening devices. Six information booths will open at 11 a.m. You will have the opportunity to learn more about HLAA chapter benefits, talk to an audiologist, learn about Let’s Loop Santa Barbara, view the latest captioned telephones, learn more about home loops and see the different types of assistive listening devices that could help you in your everyday life.
Hearing loss effects 20 percent of adults in the U.S. Those numbers climb to 33 percent for adults over 65 and 47 percent of those over 75. Hearing loss doesn’t just affect the person who has it, it affects family and friends as well. Learning how to live with your hearing loss, especially if it starts later in life, can be challenging. We can help.
The Hearing Loss Association of America-Santa Barbara Chapter is a nonprofit organization that provides assistance and resources for people with hearing loss, and their families, to learn how to adjust to living with hearing loss. Coping with a hearing loss can be difficult and stressful. You are not alone, and you do not have to face the everyday challenges alone.
Our chapter is 100 percent volunteer based. We are devoted to the welfare and interests of those in our community, and their family and friends, who live with a hearing loss. We actively support Let’s Loop Santa Barbara and the mission to make Santa Barbara the most hearing accessible city in California. We provide community education on how to effectively communicate with people who have a hearing loss. We provide training to people with hearing loss on effective communication strategies.
Our monthly chapter meetings are held at Wood Glen Hall, 3010 Foothill Road in Santa Barbara, from 10 a.m. to noon (except July and August). We discuss coping strategies, accessibility issues and the latest in hearing technology from hearing aids and cochlear implants to captioned telephones to assistive listening devices. We invite knowledgeable speakers who share their expertise and we have group discussions on the challenges we face and share in our daily lives.
Our meetings are captioned, and our meeting room is hearing looped. Light refreshment and snacks are served. Our meetings are free and open to all.
For more information, please visit our website by clicking here or contact us at info@hlaa-sbc.org or 805.563.1097.
— Cherie Alvarez is president of the Hearing Loss Association of America-Santa Barbara Chapter.