Hearing Loss Association of America Clearwater Florida Chapter Home Page

Our Meetings

First Monday, May 6, 2013

Our next meeting is May the 6th at Safety Harbor Library, our usual place but on the first Monday of the month instead of the first Wednesday.

Meetings are at 12:30pm, Safety Harbor Library, meeting room B. See our Join Us page for map. We have a social meeting in June each year. We do not meeting in July or August (enjoy your summer.)

Come to one or come to all, you'll meet other people living with hearing loss, you can share information and make friends.
If you don't have a hearing loss, but your spouse, parent, child or friend does, you too are welcome.

But I CAN'T HEAR! That's okay, no hearing required, our meetings are captioned.
Come and experience communication access with our Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) generously provided by Communication Access, Inc. (CAI).

Learn more about CAI »

Next Event

Monday, June 3, 2013, 12:30 p.m.

June Social at Perkins Family Restaurant in Clearwater.

We have the private dining room reserved for better communication from noon to 2:00 PM since there will be no realtime. You might want to bring your ALDs, pens and paper (whatever helps you communicate better one on one.)

Perkins is located at 2626 Gulf to Bay Boulevard, Clearwater, FL. Gulf to Bay is Highway 60 and Perkins is right across from Clearwater Mall on the north side of the street, just east of Highway 19. If you want to look at the menu ahead of time, it can be found here on the Perkins website: http://www.perkinsrestaurants.com/menu

Summer will be upon us after our June meeting and we will not meet in July or August so everyone can have an uninterrupted summer vacation. We will resume regular meetings and hope to see you back again in September.

Mission Statement

Information, Education, Support, Advocacy

The Mission of HLAA is to open the world of communication to people with hearing loss by providing information, education, support and advocacy.

Learn more about our mission »

Our Meeting Room Has a Hearing Loop

The Safety Harbor Library has installed a hearing loop in the meeting room that we use. We used it for the first time at our December meeting and it is awesome! Thanks to Mary Ann DeMeo for her advocacy with the library, not only will our chapter members benefit from this but many other groups that use the meeting room at the library.

All you need to do is switch your hearing aid to T-coil setting and you will hear the speaker as if she/he is standing right in front of you. For more information on hearing loops, read below "Get in the Hearing Loop" or come to a meeting, pick up a handout on it and experience it yourself.

National Convention

waterfront in Portland, Oregon
HLAA Convention 2013 will be June 27 – 30 in Portland, Oregon.

Learn more about the convention »

CART? What's that?

CART stands for Communication Access Realtime Translation, sometimes just called Realtime. It is a system that people use to convert speech to text. A trained operator uses a phonetic keyboard (like court stenographers use) hooked up to a computer (usually a laptop) to type in spoken words. The computer immediately translates the phonetic input into written text and displays it.

The text displayed from CART can be viewed on the laptop screen, an external monitor, or projected onto a screen. These options enable CART to be read by an individual, several people, or even a whole room of people.

More about CART »

ALDs, HATS, and Loops, Oh My!

An ALD is an assistive listening device, HATS are hearing assistive technology systems, two different names for the same set of devices. These devices make hearing easier.

Some types of devices are FM Systems, Infrared Systems, Induction Loops, Personal Amplifiers and Telephone Amplifiers. Most can be used with hearing aids or without (using headsets, earbuds, etc.)

More about ALDs »

Get in the Hearing Loop

Hearing Loss Association of America has a public education campaign in partnership with the American Academy of Audiology. An explanation of hearing loops, guidance and resources to help you advocate for hearing loops in your area is available.

Get in the Hearing Loop »

Board of Members

President - Debbe Hagner
Vice President - Tess Crowder
Secretary/Treasurer - Paul Morris
Member at Large/Past President - Marjie Anderson

Links

Our Parent Organization

Our State Organization

Walk4Hearing™

Our Email Group