Sounds in nature: count those "dees!"

Read about it here: Chickadees warn each other and, coincidentally, other critters, of danger using their calls. More "dees" in the Chickadee means bigger danger. And a quiet, high-pitched "sweeet" means....a flying predator! Keep your ears open!

Noise and you: it's not just decibels and barking dogs

Read about it here:

An ice storm, or a nice storm? We can hear it both ways....

Story about oronyms and our brains....Beacon Reader.

Sound matters!

The U.S. Green Building Council has added acoustics credits to its LEED certification program.  The Hearing Health Foundation has posted an article about the credits and the rationales behind them, which include speech privacy, background noise reduction and better speech intelligibility.
Hearing Health Foundation

"He is trampling out the vintage where the great giraffes are stored...."

Random Acts of Nonsense: This is your brain on....the ropes
https://www.beaconreader.com/kathi-mestayer/random-acts-of-nonsense-this-is-your-brain-on-the-ropes

Fugeddaboudit....it's okay

 Forgetting is okay!  Read about neurogenesis, exercise and forgetting here:

https://www.beaconreader.com/kathi-mestayer/forgetting-is-normal

Finger-Wag of the Week

Oprah's channel, OWN, broadcast and interview by her of Pema Chodron on Sunday.
The captions were pretty accurate.
But they were so out-of-phase with the speech that they were basically useless for someone who is listening and reading at the same time.  Major-channel captions are almost always in synch for this reason.  And the FCC rules say they have to be.

"Start Making Sense" -- lead article on Be Hear Now, Beacon Reader.

How our brains and ears collaborate to help us hear, and conspire to pull the rug out from under us when pretty much anything goes wrong.  Central and peripheral auditory processing, Your Brain on Noise, bit-rot in your auditory software.
https://www.beaconreader.com/kathi-mestayer/sound-and-hearing-start-making-sense

"Be Hear Now" on Beacon Reader

The Be Hear Now project on Beacon Reader is a "go!"  Stay tuned for news and views on sound, hearing, culture, science, you name it....
Be Hear Now

Be Hear Now Deadline for Support Approaching!

The deadline for supporting Be Hear Now on Beacon Reader is Friday, October 3!
You can sign on for as little as $5/month for 6 months.
Think about it....and take a look:
Be Hear Now

Hospitals and Hearing Loss

Blog post on Hearing Health Foundation's website....
http://www.hearinghealthfoundation.org/blog?blogid=93

BE HEAR NOW -- on Beacon Reader

 I've just started this new project on Beacon Reader, a platform for independent journalists to share discoveries and experiences.  Mine, below, is about hearing, from all angles....not just what happens when it "breaks."

 BE HEAR NOW on Beacon Reader

Breaking News: iPhone 6 has a headphone/audio jack

That's right!  You read right!

The newly-unveiled iPhone 6 (still) has a 3.5 mm headphone jack!
Rumors were rampant that Apple was going to toss the jack under the bus in order to make it thinner/smaller, but they didn't.
Maybe we should start a rumor about why they kept it.....

Emergency or Volume Boost? Hotel phone system says they are the same thing....

From my brother-in-law:

"The Hyatt in San Diego that I just checked into brilliantly decided that
they'd use the same button for "Hand Volume" and "Emergency".  I.e., you pick
up the phone and want to boost the handset volume, and instead you get
their emergency number.  The guy there said Oh You Have To Push It After
You've Dialed, d'oh .... except I tried that just now and it didn't work
*then* either.

Harumph.  Where's the local ADA pitbull lawyer?"

(answers gratefully accepted at kwren@widomaker.com)

New Hearing Aid Diary, week......14

Well, it's looking like the receiver-in-the-canal aids are not going to work for me.  The right aid has, more than once, stopped delivering sound altogether (despite filter and battery change) or gotten so staticky that it sounded like someone was frying bacon in my ear.

My theory-in-use is that the right aid is malfunctioning because my right ear canal is a tight fit.  And that I sweat like a 'tit cochon in the summer here in Williamsburg, VA.  I'm on my third attempt at getting a good fit for the receiver in that ear, and that's the one that I had a mastoidectomy in when I was 3.  I think maybe they put the pieces back together in a way that makes it tough to cram a receiver in there. 

Worth mentioning, though.  As we struggled with the fit question (including whether it was indeed a fit question), I used up my state-mandated 3-month no-fault trial period.  My audiologist negotiated and extra month with the manufacturer, on the basis that we had all (them included) been going back and forth so many times, when we hit the 90-day mark, I had just gotten the third set of receivers, so I still needed more "trial" period.