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Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
286-11-18-16 – Jim’s Journey with Hearing Loss and Assistive Technology
Jim Rineheart, AT Specialist at Easter Seals Crossroads | www.EasterSealsTech.com
App: Capti Narrator www.BridgingApps.org
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JIM RINEHEART: Hi, I’m Jim Rineheart, an AT specialist at Easter Seals Crossroads, and this is your Assistance Technology Update.
WADE WINGLER: Hi, this is Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals crossroads in Indiana with your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Welcome to episode number 286 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on November 18 of 2016.
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Today we have an app review from BridgingApps, and then we are going to spend an extended time talking with my friend Jim Reinhardt about his personal journey with hearing loss and assistive technology. It’s a fascinating, very real conversation about what Jim has dealt with when it comes to having lost a part of his hearing and dealing with hearing aids and other kinds of assistive technology to be successful in his job as an assistive technology specialist.
Also, for the next two weeks we are going to break from our regular format of news and interviews and have our sixth annual holiday shopping show. The day after things giving, which is black Friday here in the United States, we will have our holiday shopping guide where we talk about all kinds of cool assistive technology gift ideas. We will do that for a couple of weeks and will come back after the break with something special. Please check out our website at www.eastersealstech.com, give us note on Twitter at INDATA Project, or call our listener line at 317-721-7124.
If you like this show, you might also check out one of our other shows, ATFAQ, assistive technology frequently asked questions, or accessibility minutes. You can find them all over at accessibility Channel.com. Lots of great shows; check them out.
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Each week, one of our partners tells us what’s happening in the ever-changing world of apps, so here’s an App Worth Mentioning.
AMY BARRY: This is Amy Barry with BridgingApps, and this is an app worth mentioning. This week’s app is called Capti Narrator. Capti Narrator is an assistive technology app that allows users to browse the web and add content to a playlist to be read aloud. Originally designed for individuals with visual impairments, the app is now being used by anyone who enjoys the convenience of collecting web content to be read aloud at a later time.
The app creators describes this app as providing freedom from the screen. Once web content is saved to a playlist on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod, it can be accessed, and the text is committed to speech. The user is able to choose from a multitude of high-quality English voices and set the rate of speed which is especially helpful for those with processing disorders and differing cognitive abilities.
The app recognizes content spread out upon multiple pages and allows hands-free listening anywhere, including off-line. Users can listen to main content while skipping ads, menus, and other annoying text. The app also works well with the accessibility feature of voiceover. Another great function is the ability to create playlist of chosen written material similar to a playlist of music. This feature saves the user time and is helpful for doing research quickly.
Another fun feature is the ability to share content via Facebook, twitter, text messages or email. We have used Capti Narrator with middle and high school students who have processing disorders, speech delays, and autism. It’s been extremely helpful to adults with visual impairments, physical impairments, and traumatic brain injuries.
Capti Narrator is available for free at the iTunes Store and is compatible with iOS devices. For more information on this app and others like it, visit BridgingApps.org.
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WADE WINGLER: On today’s show, we’re going to take a little bit of a different turn. We are going to spend some time talking to an individual and how they have experience hearing loss and assistive technology and what that has meant in terms of their life and how they do stuff. The interesting thing about the conversation today is it’s actually going to be with a good friend of mine and coworker. Jim Rineheart is an assistive technology specialist here at Easter Seals crossroads, so he is somebody who spends his days doing assistive technology for others and happens to be somebody who relies on assistive technology himself. We are calling the episode James journey with hearing loss, and we’re going to talk a little bit with them about how this has gone and what that unit has look like. Before we jump into that, Jim, how are you?
JIM RINEHEART: I’m doing well this morning. Thanks.
WADE WINGLER: We are recording early in the morning. Thanks for getting up and squeezing this in before you start your day. I’m excited about our conversation. You and I have had the chance to know each other really for a number of years and in some professional and personal context. But my audience doesn’t know you like I do. Let’s spend a little time before we get started here with talking about your hearing loss and assistive technology; tell me a little bit about you in your career and your job.
JIM RINEHEART: The career rise has been pretty eclectic. I started and retail many years ago and went back to school, get a degree in counseling, worked for a number of years and the Work One system as a career counselor and trainer, then made the move to disability services and worked for voc rehab for five years as a counselor and supervisor and jumped over to Easter Seals crossroads almost 3 years ago and have been working here as an assistive technology specialist since. When I’m not doing this, I enjoy playing the trumpet. I play in a couple of bands. In the summertime I umpire baseball and softball.
WADE WINGLER: Plus you have some grandkids and family spent some time with as well.
JIM RINEHEART: I do. I’ve been married to my wife Judy for 31 years, and I’ve got two children and three grandchildren now. We are starting in that phase of life which is very cool. Grandkids are wonderful. I highly recommend them.
WADE WINGLER: I know family is important to you so I wanted to give you a chance to do a shout out there. You and I got to know each other originally in your role as a vocational rehabilitation counselor, and then we got to know each other as coworkers and friends after that. I want to rewind a little bit in your life. Tell me about when and how you initially noticed that you had some hearing loss.
JIM RINEHEART: I guess initially it was probably my wife and noticed it more than anything else, as well as myself. I thought it was a case where earwax got clogged up in and year. I had an ear that was feeling foggy and stuffed up. It was only on one side. I want to an ear, nose, and throat specialist and he checked it out and said it’s not that. He started checking my hearing and said you got some hearing loss, at that time initially on the right side. Not knowing much about it at that point, because again that was before I started working with folks with disabilities, I said what does this mean? He says it’s nerve damage. Okay. He says the best way I can explain it is like you’ve got a car, and you bought 60,000 mile tires for the car, except you’ve got 120,000 miles on those tires, so basically the tires are worn out. That’s basically what’s happening with the nerves inside your ear, is that they are getting worn. It just doesn’t work like they used to. At that initial point, I really wasn’t a candidate for hearing aids or anything like that.
WADE WINGLER: When you are maybe your wife started noticing these issues, did you go look for help right away or did you wait? What did that time and look like?
JIM RINEHEART: It probably took several years. They say you’re not a candidate for hearing aids, so what do you do? There didn’t seem to be a lot of answers at that juncture. You went along. The thing about it, at least speaking for me, I guess it was gradually, progressive. What I find myself doing was repositioning myself. At that time the hearing in my left ear was normal. If I would go to a meeting, I would sit in a place where everybody was to my left so I can hear them all in my left ear. I started doing some compensation like that, really not knowing or seeking any help with assistive technology, and really didn’t find a lot of things that made a real difference at that early juncture.
I guess we’re kind of went from there was I was working for voc rehab in Kokomo. One of my staff members who was the deaf and hard of hearing counselor, the RCD, came into my office one day and said, Jim, you don’t hear as well as you think you do. I said tell me about that. We were talking. She wanted to encourage me to go get tested again. The results of that hearing test, which were a few years from the initial one, still showed for the normal hearing on the left side, but a decrease again on the right side versus the earlier test to her at that point I was a candidate for hearing aids.
WADE WINGLER: We’ve got a lot of things to talk about here. I want to get to the technology specifically. You mentioned and beatings, you positioned yourself where everybody was on the side that you would hear better with. Where their other compensation things you did or were there other day to day challenges that you dealt with that might sound familiar to folks in our audience?
JIM RINEHEART: As it progresses – I guess that’s the method for a lot of folks. Sometimes you don’t notice it until you start doing things. If I’m watching television, I turn the volume up higher on the television. It was to where I know if I was traveling somewhere with somebody in the car with me, and if I was driving, of course the person with them be to my right. I would have to have them actually turn and face me to talk because my good hearing would be on the driver side and would be picking up the road noise and everything else. There were some things like that that weren’t necessarily assistive technology specific but were certainly things I found myself starting to do, and people around me to do to compensate in that sense.
WADE WINGLER: I’m going to guess that that probably is pretty common to start looking for those strategies. Let’s talk about how technology has been a part of this. Tell me a little bit about when you started looking for a technology solution and what was your first solution.
JIM RINEHEART: I think the first looking for technology solution going back to when I was working at voc rehab and the RCD had mentioned it to me. I got connected with a VR, like a lot of people I work with now, and became a client. So I was an employee and the client at the same time at that time. I got tested and they said, yeah, you are eligible because of this and some of the reasons you would be eligible for voc rehab. The solution at that time was they bought a single hearing it for the right side. I wore that for a few years. What I also started noticing is that it didn’t seem to be working as well as it one time was. Probably again shameful, but at that point I just quit wearing it because I still felt like my hearing on the left side was okay. That was the first venture into voc rehab and assistive technology. Again, initially, it worked very well. My wife will tell you, it worked very well at least for a while, because I could drive and she would be right next to me and I could hear her in that single hearing aid on the right side. Over time, that seemed to get worse. That led me to the next step.
WADE WINGLER: Tell me about that a little bit. What happened next? You had some technology, it stop working for you or your hearing a change in such a way it wasn’t the greatest solution, and then you do something next. Tell me about that.
JIM RINEHEART: That was as I started noticing changes. I went and got tested again. The new specialist I saw does the test and says – because I had the audiogram from the previous test – she says, you know your hearing has changed a lot since the last time you were here. I said that’s part of why I’m here, I was noticing that. What happened is that not only was the right side a little worse than what it was, but also the left side was starting to show some deficits as well. By then I was working here at Easter Seals crossroads. In my role as an assistive technology specialist, I spent an awful lot of time talking to folks either on the phone or in person. If you can’t hear them well or understand them well, it’s really hard to do your job because it’s larger contingent upon having a good understanding of what your client is saying to you. She painted a fairly bleak picture at the moment. She said if this continues, you’re going to be a candidate for cochlear implants by the time your 70s. I’m in my mid-50s now. That wasn’t something I was excited to hear about. That motivated me to start looking for another solution.
WADE WINGLER: I’m going to interrupt you here because I remember that. I remember being in meetings with you and having some directions with you. It was real clear to me that you were asking me to repeat some things, and they were sometimes when you and I would have this facial interaction and I thought you weren’t quite getting it, and you were sort of signaling to me with some facial interaction that you weren’t quite hearing everything that I was saying. That’s a vivid to me. I remember that not long after that, you started using an iPhone and an app, right?
JIM RINEHEART: That was the first assistive technology piece that I came across. The director of our program, Brian Norton, introduced me to it. It’s an app called Petralex. It works on an iPhone or iDevice or Android. It’s a free download. Use your microphone as the input and use the earbuds for your hearing device. It’s a really good app. You can go in to the settings and set up different profiles for different situations that you are in, whether you are in meetings or one-on-one with people or in a group place like an auditorium or a church or something like that. You set the parameters for each of those, so you have different profiles within the app. It works pretty well. I have to admit I became sold on it right away. As far as a temporary solution or if funding is not available for hearing aids, this is a viable alternative, I think. It doesn’t replace going and seeing a specialist and doesn’t replace looking for medical help, if you need it, but as far as a temporary or stopgap solution. For some people it may do the whole job for them in that regard.
WADE WINGLER: I remember sitting in meetings with you where you are wearing the earphones and the iPhone, and it seemed to be working well. It made me wonder: is that a permanent solution? It seems that now you’ve moved on to something new. You’ve got some new hearing aids, right?
JIM RINEHEART: I do. Again, after the last visit to the ear, nose, and throat specialist, I went back to voc rehab and reenrolled and went through the eligibility process and was deemed eligible again. That takes some time, at times. In the meantime, I was using Petralex as my solution. I had been using that with customers and meetings and anything else. The RCD I worked with, as efficiently I think as she could, walked me through the process, and we’ve got two hearing aids, one on each side. They are programmable so I got four different settings to go to depending on the situation that I’m in. Anywhere from talking one-on-one with folks, like I am with you now with the hearing aids underneath my headphones, or playing music in my band I plan, different settings for those, not only settings and obviously volume adjustments as well, just depending. That’s where I’m at right now. It’s a new set of hearing aids that I was able with the help of folk rehab. I’ve had them now probably two months or so, and we are still kind of in a tweaking process to get them dialed down. It was initially so much better, and I when I take them out at night, it’s like this is what it used to be like. It sounds like an ad, but you didn’t know what you’re missing.
WADE WINGLER: We are getting close on time here but I’ve got some questions I want to try to squeeze in. Tell me about what the day in the life looks like when you’re wearing hearing aids. Let’s start with they are on your nightstand when you wake up in the morning. What does the day look like in terms of your hearing aids? Is there a whole lot to it or is a pretty simple?
JIM RINEHEART: It’s fairly simple. I assess when I need to put them in, because if I’m sitting here at my desk typing or something like that, it’s not that critical. When I feel like I need to start hearing stuff, I’ll put them in. That’s mostly sitting battery life on the batteries. Then once they are in, I try to keep them in all day. The things you try not to do: you don’t want to get them wet, so you don’t wear them when you take a shower; if it’s raining outside I usually will take them out before I go outside because I don’t want to get them wet and the audiologist told me don’t get them wet. Other than that, I wear them. For me they are comfortable. I hardly notice that they are in. It’s pretty much life as normal except that now I hear a little bit better.
WADE WINGLER: That’s great. Has this had an impact on your professional role as an AT specialists?
JIM RINEHEART: Yeah. It was getting difficult to hear my clients when I would meet with them. I was doing those compensating strategies, like when I was working a training, I would always have them on my left so I could stand the best chance of hearing them. If they would ask me questions, sometimes I would hear them well and sometimes not so much, depending upon their voice and tenor and tone and volume. Now it’s much better than that. It’s much easier for me to conduct an assessment because I can hear them better, I don’t have to repeat myself, repeat questions. I tell them, if I am asking my question that sound like something I just asked, it’s not because I’m not listening or can’t hear you, it’s just clarifying for me. They seem to understand that pretty well. It’s made a real difference in how I’m able to conduct my work here at Crossroads.
WADE WINGLER: That’s great. One last question, then we have to wrap up. Is there anything you would’ve done differently throughout this journey, or do you have any advice for someone who might be in a similar situation?
JIM RINEHEART: It’s hard to tell. Maybe like many males, we are in denial, don’t think anything is wrong. Start looking for cues from people around you. Or if you start noticing things like turning the TV up louder. It may be a sign that it’s worthy of getting checked. Some of the things were you just didn’t know. I think the other thing is don’t be afraid to express what you are when you do get working with somebody. That’s where I met right now with my audiologist. I go in and I say, it’s really much better; however, I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining, but these are things I’m still working with that we still need to tweak. With the digital technology with hearing aids, he’s able to tweak within the settings what I can hear and adjust volume and tenor and stuff and can make a difference that way. I was just in this week, and the adjustments he made this week have been a real improvement so far.
WADE WINGLER: If people wanted to reach out to you and continue the conversation, is there any contact information you’d like to provide?
JIM RINEHEART: They can email me. My email address is jrineheart@eastersealscrossroads.org. That my work email. Maybe in the subject line put something about it, because if it gets caught in my spam filter I’ll need to know it’s somebody that wants to talk to me about that. That’ll probably be the best way to get in touch with me.
WADE WINGLER: I would also let folks know that if you head onto the web at www.eastersealstech.com/staff, we have staff bios there and you can read a little bit more about Jim. Jim Rineheart is an assistive technology specialist here at Easter Seals crossroads and a good friend of mine. Thanks for sharing information today about your journey with hearing loss.
JIM RINEHEART: No problem.
WADE WINGLER: Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? Call our listener line at 317-721-7124, shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or check us out on Facebook. Looking for a transcript or show notes from today’s show? Head on over to www.EasterSealsTech.com. Assistive Technology Update is a proud member of the Accessibility Channel. Find more shows like this plus much more over at AccessibilityChannel.com. That was your Assistance Technology Update. I’m Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana.
***Transcript provided by TJ Cortopassi. For transcription requests and inquiries, contact tjcortopassi@gmail.com***