The Franklin Senior Center has added a new service to support individuals with hearing loss and held a kick-off meeting on April 10 to introduce the program, open to those age 50 and older from Franklin and surrounding towns.
Maggie Gundersen, one of the center’s social service coordinators, led the event, and Kathy Trefethen and Randy Jay, volunteers at the center, also spoke.
The senior center’s new hearing program provides resources for the deaf, the late deafened (people who experience hearing loss after childhood), and the hard of hearing, as well as for their families and companions.
Chris Plant, a field service advisor with the Massachusetts Equipment Distribution Program, also attended and spoke about the services that his organization makes available to all state residents. These services include assistive telephones and home visits to ensure that any installed equipment is working correctly and meeting residents’ needs. Mass EDP services are financed through a monthly fee included in landline and wireless bills, and the assistive telephones and other equipment that they provide are free for qualified residents.
Ms. Gundersen used a free transcription application called Web Captioner that picks up a speaker’s voice through a computer’s microphone and displays the speech as a live transcription. The application also saves the text of the transcription for later use.
Ms. Gundersen talked about the importance of empowering people with hearing issues to change others’ behavior when needed. “It’s okay for you to ask people to restate something you didn’t hear and to ask that you be included in conversations,” she said, adding that there are lots of technology options that can help.
She demonstrated a smartphone app called Ava, which offers live transcriptions for groups. For example, at a family dinner, someone might have a tough time taking part in the conversation because of their hearing loss. With apps like Ava, everyone speaks into their smartphone, and the app generates and displays a live transcription of the conversation, giving those with hearing loss equal footing in the conversation.
The center’s services include providing information and referrals for groups and agencies that can help people who are experiencing hearing loss for the first time as well as for those who have lived with hearing loss for decades.
The Franklin Senior Center hopes to be a one-stop resource to educate, inform, prepare, and empower those with hearing loss. The Internet is awash in information on every topic imaginable, including hearing loss, but much of the information might be outdated or just plain incorrect, as best practices in hearing loss strategies keep changing.
When someone visits an audiologist, for example, they might not be versed in new terms and concepts that the professional brings up, or they may not know what questions they should ask during the meeting. The senior center can make those visits far less stressful and far more productive by prepping people before they visit specialists. Having one place to go for current and accurate information is crucial. “Whatever the field was 20 years ago, that’s not the field now,” Ms. Trefethen said.
Technology is also important, and it also changes rapidly. The senior center will provide information about smartphone apps, transcription tools, and hearing aids, as well as the Mass EDP offerings and other technology solutions.
The senior center will hold a monthly support group meeting featuring guest speakers from hearing organizations. The center will also have volunteers available by appointment on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to provide one-on-one assistance for individuals and their families.
The Franklin Senior Center is located at 10 Daniel McCahill Street. For more information, call the center at (508) 520-4945 or visit them online at https://www.franklinma.gov/fsc.
Issue Date:
May, 2019
Article Body: