ALA: Day One

Today was my first day at the conference. When I arrived at the training location, I noticed there were several available seats at the front of the room. Excellent. I also noticed a LOUD fan noise coming from the back righthand side. Eh, not so good. I decided to take the farthest left seat in the front row to minimize the sound of the fan. I rationalized to myself it's always nice to be at the end of a row anyways. No climbing over anyone to get to your seat. But not so convenient for lipreading, though.

Then I spotted an unattended red bag on a seat in the center of the front row and got to wondering if the speaker had saved me a seat as he promised. I asked him and was told that "No, he hadn't as he saw there were seats available." Hmm. I wonder what would have happened if I had run late.... Fortunately the lure of a free breakfast had gotten me there in plenty of time. I also arrived early enough to score a sinfully delicious blueberry muffin. So that part worked out just fine.

Our other speaker was a vivacious lady who decided to begin our program by having all forty of us introduce ourselves. She got her podium microphone down and carried it out to where we were sitting. Well, that worked fine for the front row, but her cord wouldn't stretch any further than that. Which meant I couldn't hear what the people sitting in the four rows behind me had to say. Oh well. At least they looked like nice people.

Before the program began, I had struck up a conversation with the lady sitting next to me. She was very interesting to talk with but she had a very soft voice. She seemed uncomfortable facing me to make conversation so I ended up doing the social bluffing act. I should have just told her my situation up front! I did get out my Pocket Talker which she didn't seem to particularly notice and that helped tremendously. Of course, I'd brought it for the presentation.

As I mentioned yesterday, I was told this program featured Power Point slides. To my surprise when we arrived, we were each given a 3" thick binder with all the Power Point slides. What a lifesaver! Usually I'm unable to take notes during a presentation as I need to give all my attention to listening, but with this notebook, I was able to make a few quick notes as needed. I noticed I was mainly writing out what the various acronyms meant so I had to smile when our male presenter referred to "acronym overload".

Our speakers had clear voices and I managed pretty well with my Pocket Talker although it picked up the fan noise too. I cringed when the first speaker mentioned she'd prefer to stand closer to us and talk without the microphone. Fortunately, she scrapped that idea and stood at the podium like a speaker's supposed to! (tee hee) After our lunch break, I asked the speakers if they would repeat the questions from the audience as I was unable to hear them. For the most part they remembered my request. Sigh.

The absolutely best part of the day came when I approached another attendee at our last break. I had noticed she was using an assistive listening device too. Hers had a part that the speakers clipped to their clothing. I wanted to know more! She was happy to tell me about it. With hers, she does not wear a hearing aid. Instead she uses an earbud attached to a receiver similar to mine. She commented it was too bad that my receiver didn't work off her transmitter the speakers wore. Then she added that the drawback with her system is that she can't sneak out early. She has to remain until the end to get her device back. I got a big laugh out of that.

She said she had never met anyone with a hearing loss at a meeting like this before. We exchanged business cards. She promised to send me information about her ALD. I told her about my blog and got her permission to share the story of our meeting. She got a kick out of my moniker, Speak Up Librarian.

It was great sharing my work related hearing loss experiences with someone who understood. Someone who faced me when she spoke. Someone who wouldn't mind repeating anything that I didn't quite catch. Someone who understood that listening is tiring.

I'm hoping we can talk more tomorrow as we work our way through Day Two of the 3" binder.

Difficulty With My Assistive Listening Device and Other Challenges Today

You might think that as a fan of the Amazing Race, I'm a confident traveler myself. Not so. Although I have traveled far and wide, I always get a case of the nerves just before making the trip. Today was no exception.

My destination was Chicago. The Web Goddess and I are attending a conference there this week. Chicago should be a piece of cake, right. Nah, even though I've been there many times, this was the first time I would be going to this particular location. Yep, right on schedule my anxiety kicked in this morning.

The Web Goddess and I had reviewed our travel plans last Friday. She knew exactly where we were going and I had scribbled down notes and a crude map "just in case" she wouldn't make it. She reassured me that of course she would be right beside me. I didn't give it much thought over the weekend.

Right on time I showed up at our meeting place at the train station. No Web Goddess. No problem, I thought. I would just wait a little bit. After three minutes of waiting I dialed her cell. No answer. I tried again a few minutes later. No answer. I panic texted: where r u? No reply. By this time, the train was ready to leave the station. Should I stay and catch the next train or should I go ahead on my own?

I got on the train, figuring if she caught the next one, it would be more fun to wait in Chicago than here. If something had happened and she wasn't coming at all, I would need the extra time to navigate my way to the conference.

Fifteen minutes into my train ride, I got a call from her. She had forgotten we were going on the earlier train. When I had called her, she had been in the shower. I was so relieved that she hadn't been in an accident or had some kind of emergency. Everything would be okay, now.

When I got into Chicago, I used the time to explore the Randolph St. station. It had been completely remodeled and upgraded since the last time I had been there. It looked like the stations I had seen in Washington DC last April. I got to eat lunch and walk around a bit and then I met up with my technology deity, the Web Goddess.

Our day at the conference was interesting. The opening session was about teaching 21st century learners. The speaker has an idea that a "virtual backpack" should be implemented in the United States. Basically any educational opportunity a child had from birth would be digitally recorded and available to all subsequent teachers. She turned me off when she talked about issuing ATM like cards in the delivery room. Too extreme.

Next we learned about a university that merged its library and IT (information technology) departments. When you visit their library, there is a desk near the front where you go no matter what type of service you need. The books were moved out and stored in an annex and the space converted to a group study area with furniture that can be arranged to suit the students' needs. Sounds interesting.

Our final session covered the leadership skills required to merge library and IT departments. The experiences of 3 CIOs (chief information officers) were discussed.

All this listening was quite challenging for me. The first speaker had a strong voice and used a microphone. I sat in the front where I could hear her well. Unfortunately, she had no visuals for her hour and a half long presentation.

In the next session, the two speakers would not use microphones. They said to alert them if anyone couldn't hear them. I got out my PocketTalker. Bzzzzz. My assistive listening device was picking up a buzzing sound, I couldn't hear when I had my hearing aids' T-switch off. I fiddled with it and decided to listen with it as long as I could stand it and then take a break and listen with my aids only. Fortunately these speakers had power point slides that helped me follow along.

My last session was in the same room. I tried moving to another location to see if it helped. It didn't. I found that if I cocked my head to the side and looked at the slide show rather than the speaker, the buzzing noise stopped. It reminded me of the adjustments you used to have to make when you moved a rabbit ear antenna on a TV top to adjust the picture. LOL. I coped the best I could and then eventually switched my PocketTalker off and just listened with hearing aids.

Have you ever encountered a similar problem with an assistive listening device? Any suggestions?

Now that I've finished this blog post, I'm going to get to bed early. Extra listening requires extra rest.

Accepting Accomodations: Day Two

October 30
Day Two went much better! It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do! This time I knew right where to obtain my morning coffee and muffin. I understood the layout of the conference center and could navigate to the various room locations without wandering around in a daze like the day before. Off to a good start.

This time when I attended the general session in the large auditorium I arrived early enough to find my way to the assigned seating. When I got there another woman was sitting in the section. I struck up a conversation with her and found out she was an ASL interpreter. For this presentation two interpreters took turns signing what the speaker said. I was so pleased to get this opportunity to improve my ASL reading skills. Especially since the talk was very IT (information technology) heavy and much less interesting than the previous day's speech on brain research. Now I know the signs for "embedded computer" and "internet". How about that!

The next presentation was on "Confessions of a Digital Immigrant". That topic sounded fascinating to me. A digital immigrant is someone born before 1982 who has had to learn all the technology that digital natives (those born 1982 and later) take for granted. I found my assigned seat in the front row and was all excited to hear the speaker's wisdom. Unfortunately, this speaker took the liberty of changing his presentation to a talk on what it's like to be a CIO (chief information officer). I could not relate to that at all. Grrr. However, the speaker had been honored with an award at this conference so out of respect and politeness not to mention my conspicuous seat practically under his nose I stayed to hear his talk. But I didn't tire myself out listening too closely.

A much more interesting talk on social media was given by a young woman with a prominent pink streak in her hair. For this session, I ended up at the back of the room but I used my Pocket Talker and heard everything. I also used my assistive listening device for a talk on how one university has implemented mobile devices (ipods and iphones in this case) into their curriculum. That's something I've been asked to get involved in looking at for my own school.

In the afternoon I explored the vendors exhibit area. I heard a great presentation by Camtasia. I am very interested in their Camtasia6 product which would enable me to add captions to the podcasts I'm creating of my library's technology workshops. Their sales reps were really helpful in answering my questions about captioning and even gave a step-by-step demonstration of how it's done. A man from Duke University happened to sit next to me during the demo and while chatting with him, he gave me a great idea for assessing these podcasts. Brilliant! The Educause conference emphasizes the importance of networking with others in your field to share ideas and this is where that happened for me.


It wasn't all business. There were lots of free giveaways and drawings in the exhibit area. I got three t-shirts (one for me, one for hubby, and one for my son) from different vendors and loaded up with cool pens. I "won" a set of golf balls at one booth for taking a swing at a mini golf hole. I "raced" a toy car around a track. I picked up assorted gizmos and some nice cloth tote bags at other booths. Best of all was my enthusiastic greeting from the Wimba owl! I didn't even have to be at Disney World to get my picture taken with a friendly costumed character.


The fun continued that evening with a Halloween party at Universal Studios City Walk.
There was a generous buffet laid out and music and performers all around. I met a Chicago icon (John Belushi as one of the Blues Brothers) and had my photo taken once more. Of course, this outdoors party (designed for hearing people) was very loud so I didn't stay the whole evening. A pair of foam earplugs would have come in handy. I got back to the hotel and found out my husband and son had a wonderful day of their own exploring more of the Universal Studios theme park. Day Two was fun.

Accepting Accomodations: Day One

October 29
Hello from Orlando. I'm starting this post on a computer available at the conference center. At the airport my family got our first surprise when we had to pay $15 to check our bags. What? Since when did this fee come into effect? Thanks, American Airlines.

My first day here has been so overwhelming. Looking back, it probably wasn't a good idea to fly in late the evening before, get up early, and try to face a new and challenging situation... My second surprise of the trip is that the Orange County Convention Center is huge. It just goes on and on. Note to self: next time pack rollerskates! After I located some coffee, I was ready for the opening session. Following the email instructions I had received, I approached a staffer with a radio and asked for directions to seating for the hearing impaired. Unfortunately, there were a lot of people entering at the same time and we were all sort of herded along and I didn't find the assigned seating section. Fortunately, though, there was seating available in the front where the volume was good. Even better the speaker was displayed on enormous video screens making lipreading a breeze. So far so good.

For the second session in a much smaller room, I found the sign for my reserved seat located right in front of the speaker podium. Funnily though, the lady who made the introduction of the three panelists was short. All I could see of her face over the open laptop on the podium was her eyes. tee hee. Fortunately the male panelists were taller and I could see their faces with no problem. But...the second speaker had a very soft voice! I was just reaching for my Pocket Talker when another audience member asked him to please speak into the microphone. Ahh, much better.

Session three had my assigned seat not in the front row but about row four. Strangely it was located right next to the slide projector. Grrr, now I had to deal with that noise competing with the female speaker's voice. I used my Pocket Talker to boost her volume but I could still hear that projector. This session was one that I thought would best relate to my new job but it turned out to be completely unrelated. Drat.

After lunch, I went to a session held in a computer lab setting. I made a switch to attend this one so I knew there would be no reserved seat for me. When I entered the room, I asked the speaker where would be a good seat to sit to hear well. He told me he would be moving around the room, so I decided to sit on the aisle halfway back. As it turned out, he did not move but stayed in the front. Fortunately he had a good strong speaking voice and I was able to hear him alright. His female colleague, who said very little during the presentation, had a very soft voice so I just ignored her contributions. This session was also challenging because we were seated in front of laptops and expected to be logging in to websites and posting contributions to a group discussion all the while listening to the speaker. Yikes. I struggled with typing on an unfamiliar keyboard let alone thinking of something worthwhile to contribute. I did my best to multitask but I'm sure I missed some of this speaker's presentation.

Back at the hotel that evening, I rejoined my family and heard about their exciting day at Universal Studios. We went out to dinner at the hotel restaurant which featured Caribbean food. My salmon dinner came with a flower! How lovely. There was one funny moment at dinner when my son talked about "barrels flying in" through the open door when he and my husband ate breakfast there that morning. What? Oh my bad, not barrels but sparrows. Day One is over.

My Assistive Listening Device

This is my assistive listening device, a Pockettalker Pro by Williams Sound. If you are new to hearing loss, you may wonder why a hearing aid wearer would want an assistive listening device (ALD). Aren't hearing aids alone enough? Well, yes and no. I bought my ALD to help me out at the reference desk. I still struggle with people who whisper or speak in low tones. The Pockettalker works with my hearing aids and boosts sound with its own microphone. What I like best is that it has a dial on it so I can adjust the volume up and down, something I'm unable to do with my hearing aids. This model has a clip so I can attach it to my clothing when I need to walk from the reference desk to a computer terminal to help a library patron. You'll also notice that I bought mine with a neckloop which I can hide discreetly under my clothing.
Last month I brought my Pockettalker along when I went to a library training meeting at a hotel conference room. I was glad I did when the group of people I went with decided to sit in the middle of the room rather than the front which would have been my first choice. The ALD worked well with the sound system in the room and I had no trouble hearing the speakers. Unfortunately, whenever someone at the table opened the top on a soft drink bottle I also heard that noise too at a startlingly loud volume. Well, nothing's perfect, right?
Those are the only uses I've found for my Pockettalker. For me it hasn't been helpful at movie theatres or at home watching TV. I'm planning to take it to Florida with me as a backup in case the accomodations I requested don't work out.
Do you have an assistive listening device that works well for you?