European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                To your health Why people go deaf o n average Only one baby in 2,000 is born deaf. However one person in 10 has som degree of hearing loss. As America population Ages that percentage i expected to Rise. Statistically you Start losing your hearing around age 30 to 35," said Mary Maddock an audiologist. You probably won t notice it until you re in your 50s." some degeneration of hearing appears to be inevitable in growing old. For about 10 percent of the population 65 or older that problem is severe enough that they have trouble understanding Ordinary conversation. How much hearing you lose however depends a lot upon your ears environment. For example prolonged exposure to loud noise can cause permanent hearing loss after a certain period of time. Maddock and other audiologists Are seeing hardcore Rock n Roll fans whose hearing is considerably impaired at an Early age. Hunters May suffer hearing loss from close proximity to loud gunfire she said. Many businesses with noisy factories require employees to Wear ear Protection on the Job and screen them annually for possible hearing loss. Another culprit in hearing loss May be infectious disease such As Scarlet fever or meningitis particularly among children. Any uncontrolled fever for a sufficient length of time is dangerous to hearing Maddock  can Lead to nerve  unborn children May be particularly at risk if the Mother suffers from German measles rubella or some other viral infection during  High percentage of such babies Are born with serious hearing problems. Doctors Divide hearing loss into two types conductive loss generally resulting from some obstruction or disease in the external or Middle ear or sensor neural loss. Of the two conductive hearing loss is much easier to treat. The doctor simply removes the obstruction in some cases this can be As simple As cleaning out a Wax blockage in the ear canal or treats the disease. Doctors today can Clear up most Middle ear infections with antibiotics Maddock said. The Hammer Anvil and Stirrup the three sound wave carrying Bones of the Middle ear can be repaired by surgery or replaced by plastic parts. Senson neural problems on the other hand generally arise in the Cochlea the Snail shaped Organ of the inner , hairline nerves inside the Cochlea canals pick up sound vibrations from fluid then convert these vibrations into electrical impulses the brain can understand. When these nerves Are damaged hearing loss is irreversible. A hearing Aid May be the answer. Newer behind the ear aids priced in the $500 to $800 Range Are half the size of older bulkier ones. Canal aids such As the ones president Reagan wears Are even less conspicuous but also More expensive. Newer aids Are also less noisy. High tech circuitry amplifies More selective frequencies so that wearers can hear the sounds they wish without picking up a lot of Static or background hum. However hearing aids will not help All disorders. For some people the nerves in the Cochlea pick up sounds but with a slight skewing. A listener May be Able to hear and comprehend one speaker perfectly Well but will be confused if two or More people Are talking at the same  is virtually impossible for him to differentiate among the voices. An audiologist can detect this condition with a Battery of tests Maddock said. For affected children who face particular problems with the background noise of a classroom the answer May be an auditory Trainer a tiny electronic link in which the teacher carries a microphone and the Pupil wears a receiver. Ben Steelman a three year old boy deaf since birth hears his first sound Baba Baba spoken by an audiologist at the House ear Institute in los Angeles. The sound is picked up by an electronic device held by the audiologist and transmitted to a Coil implanted under the skin behind the child s ear. Being deaf in t a disability. Page 16 the stars and stripes stories by Ben Steelman Wilmington . Morning Start hey have their own social clubs and fraternal organizations their own softball leagues their own Heaters their own worship services. Often isolated from the hearing world deaf people have built a thriving mutually supportive society. It s a whole separate culture said Isabelle Payonk the hearing Mother of a deaf child. Being deaf in t a disability said Roger c. Williams until you run into a hearing  when that happens Williams a Wilmington based regional consultant with the North Carolina Council for the hearing impaired can often help. He spends much of his work week travelling through Southeastern North Carolina. One Day Williams might serve As interpreter in a court Case involving a deaf person. Another Day he might interpret at an appointment Between a deaf patient and a hearing doctor. He might serve As go Between for a counselling session at a mental health Center accompany a deaf consumer to the Bank or a deaf Job applicant to an interview. Employment is handled by another state Agency the division of vocational rehabilitation. Once they get an appointment though then we can help he added. Williams and sign language interpreters Suzanne Glapion and Debbie White make up the staff of the Wilmington Community service Center one of six regional centers across the state operated by the . Council for the hearing impaired. The office offers an array of services for the deaf Community a message relay Between hearing and hearing impaired individuals interpreting services consumer information and advocacy where needed. The Center also tries to serve the hearing population As Well offering information about deafness instruction in sign language and training for those who May work with the deaf. Williams spends much of his time conducting orientation sessions for local police departments Hospital staffs and similar agencies on How to use interpreters and work with the deaf. Tuesday August 30,1988 in those cases people Are often pretty emotional and Don t know what s going on. A lot of times you can t get the information you need by having them write it out on a  in the Wilmington Center s Region about 47,000 people suffer some form of hearing impairment according to figures from the National information Center on deafness. Of these More than 23,000 have hearing problems severe enough to impair understanding of language. Within this group about 6,100 people Are unable to hear speech under virtually any conditions. Most of these Are elderly people who lost their hearing relatively late in life. About 1,300 people however Are what Williams Calls big a deaf those who had no hearing at birth or lost it before entering school. These Are the people who identify themselves As deaf Williams said and they Are the ones most Likely to sign in other words to use sign language. Books to shows and films such As children of a lesser god have raised Public consciousness about deaf concerns. Appliances such As doorbells smoke alarms or monitors that pick up a baby s cries Are available with flashing lights so that deaf people can use them. Through the efforts of the National captioning Institute dozens of to series have been close captioned edited with subtitles that appear on the to screen with the attachment of a decoding device. Deaf callers can even use the Telephone with the help of a telecommunications device for the deaf Addan electronic console about the size of a portable typewriter. Add users can Type messages transmit them Over the phone and receive them As visual displays. A More than 80,000 adds Are in use nationwide. J however some hurdles  employment deaf people Don t face discrimination so much As underemployment Williams said. Many private companies will hire deaf workers at entry level positions but will pass them Over for promotion to management or professional positions in \ which communications skills might be required. There does t seem to be much awareness about How these positions can be adapted to these people Williams said. Often they Don t even get the. Opportunity for an