Miss-Delectable

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssen...g/13368310.htm

Six-year-old Taylor Zinderski slid down a plastic slide and slipped into silence.

It was October at a church playground. Taylor, deaf for almost two years, ran to her father. She told him her cochlear implant - an electronic device that lets her hear - had suddenly fizzled.

It had been zapped by a static electric shock. Chris Zinderski hadn't switched off his daughter's implant because he didn't believe that static could really be a problem.

"Now I've learned my lesson," he said.

The shock didn't ruin Taylor's implant, but it did require an inconvenient trip to an audiologist. Static electricity is so much of a worry and hassle for the deaf that Washington University electrical engineer Robert Morley has a grant to study one of its main sources: plastic playground slides.

As playground slides evolve from metal to durable, cheap and colorful PVC plastic, deaf children face a sad choice: Don't play, or turn off their implants and play without sound.

Some playgrounds, such as new "all inclusive" ones, have deliberately included metal slides, which don't produce static electricity. But many others don't - including some that are supposed to be accessible to disabled children.

"Every time I look, there's another we can't go to," said Peg Jones, the mainstream coordinator at St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf in Chesterfield, Mo.

IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE

Morley, who helped pioneer digital hearing aids, got a small federal grant to study the issue. His first task: See how much static a slide can make.

He sent his two daughters down St. Louis-area plastic slides hundreds of times, wearing different clothes.

Static electricity occurs when a "positive" material sheds electrons by rubbing a "negative" material that attracts them. Good static-producing combinations include wool and PVC plastic, hair and rubber, and skin and polyester. Cotton, paper and steel are neutral.

The resulting charge on both objects can dissipate slowly in humid air, or cause a shock if it touches something that is grounded, such as a person, a car - or the metal pole that Morley had his daughters touch after each slide.

The type of clothes and length of the slide didn't matter much. But humidity did. In the cold, dry air of winter, Morley's daughters achieved charges of about 10,000 volts. Morley says that in the dry air of Tucson, Ariz., a colleague measured 20,000 volts after a slide.

In coming months, he will apply those voltages to test implants, which are rated to withstand 8,000 volts, according to Doug Miller, an engineer with Cochlear Americas, one of the manufacturers of the devices.

STATIC IN EVERY ROOM

Cochlear implants can cost more than $50,000. They require a delicate surgery to insert a wire into the snail shell-shaped cochlea. A hearing aid outside the ear picks up sound and converts it to an electrical signal that is broadcast through the skin to the internal device, which electrically stimulates the auditory nerve.

Miller and Morley both stress that static electricity is not a threat to the internal part of the implant. It can only zap the external equipment and force a trip to the audiologist for recalibration.

Miller says it will soon be a nonissue, as deaf people move to newer implants that can withstand more static. New rules will require a rating to 15,000 volts and most companies test the devices at even higher levels, he says.

But until then, each room at the Moog Center for Deaf Education in St. Louis County will keep a bottle of diluted fabric softener for spraying down staticky kids and carpets. On a cold November morning, family school director Betsy Brooks watched for signs of static.

At recess out on a wood and metal playground, the children played with their implants turned on. Taylor sailed down the metal slide, her mop of curly blond hair bouncing in the air.

Jones feels sorry for the children who have to turn their implants off.

"It's a completely different experience to go down the slide without the wind and the `whee,'" she said.

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Banjo

Um, I don't think the cochlear implant users will be traumatized by having to turn the processors off in order to play and have fun with their friends.

Being unable to hear the wind and the 'whee' isn't going to make a difference. You still feel it anyway.

(shrugs)

Some people!

Dennis

I disagree. Children with cochlear implants are usually brought up with the idea that they are no different than hearing people. Thus, when they have to choose between going without their implants or not playing, they will probably choose not to play. Now, what child should have to choose between their hearing and being able to play with their peers? Isn't the whole idea behind equal access supposed to mean that you shouldn't have to be forced to choose?

I'm not saying that all children will choose that, but the fact is that they're forced to choose. They shouldn't have to choose based on a device's limitations.

deafdyke

I totally agree with Banjo on this. It's such a little thing. When I ski, I can't hear, as I wear a helmet. I can still feel the wind rushing past my ears.

DeafSCUBA98

same thing when i go atving i take it off and have a helmet .. i just feel the atv roaring, wind breezing on my body.. and all the calm days.

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Banjo

For now, they'll have to turn it off to avoid wiping out the mapping on their processors. It's not that hard. I played with a lot of hearing kids when I was a kid, I didn't need a pair of hearing aids to do that.

You shouldn't really run around at a playground with a processor on anyway because you could end up doing some damages to it even without the static. Children don't bring electronics to playgrounds because they don't belong there.

Like I said, they'll have to deal with it if they want to have some fun. If not, then the kids has some self-esteem issues.

Dennis

Interaction on the playground is more than "Whoosh" and "Whee!" Truth to be told, there is a lot happening on the playground that deaf kids miss out on.

Let's see:

I didn't learn to swear on the playground
I didn't learn how to say polite things on the playground
I didn't learn how to keep secrets whispered on the playground
I didn't learn how to keep hidden quietly when playing hide and seek
Lots more

The point is, it IS hard for these kids who are USED TO HEARING ALL THE TIME to go without. There are days when I don't ever put on my processor, and there are days that I can't go without it.

I can go without it because I know how to communicate with it off. These kids probably don't sign, don't read lips, and don't have friends who understand what it's like to be deaf.

When I ski, when I play football, when I play paintball, when I go bike riding, I can see how these kids would feel naked, vulnerable, and out of place without them. I try not to play paintball deaf anymore -- the advantages I realized my hearing counterparts have made me disgusted. No wonder I could play well but be missing out on most of the game.

Banjo

That's life. They'll have to deal with it. Nobody said life was fair.

deafdyke

I disagree.......There are SOME parents who push the "Gotta assimluate" mentality, (in other words the parents who can't deal with the fact that their kid is DIFFERENT!?!?!?!) but, there are many CId kids who have all the options available.

VamPyroX

I already knew about this risk for years.

That's one big CON for CI users.

They have to avoid rough activities and electric/magnetic spots. Some example would be boxing or football. It also includes certain roller coaster rides that operate on magnets and high electricity.

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Dennis

You ought to revise your stance. Seems like you're saying, "Tough to you kids. I didn't get to enjoy those possible things, so you shouldn't either. Nobody said life was fair."

Mr. Robert Morely will scientifically figure out what it'll take to fix this problem. The kids will be fine. So what's with your attitude?

I get quite the opposite vibe. Sure, some parents will want their child exposed to all options, but oral deaf institutes are not founded to teach all the options -- they're there to integrate the child into a hearing society with hearing values. Cochlear implants are an options towards deeper integration, just like hearing aids are. It doesn't mean that the kid won't be exposed to deaf culture, but unless the parents are open minded, they won't make any effort either.

Rose Immortal

Seems to me that IF one chooses to make a major investment in something like a CI (which I'm assuming is not cheap) then they really ought to be built tough. You'd think even for a simple reason like the pride of the designers...but if you are building something catering to parents who want their kids to have more of the "hearing experience", then you'd think they oughtn't be really fragile devices.

I dunno anything about which way is better for kids, CI or no CI. I'm just saying that IF a parent chooses that, then logically it doesn't flow to have such a major, obvious design flaw.

Banjo

That's not what I'm saying. Don't tell me to revise any of my stances, because if I do then I'll be lying. I said exactly what was on my mind.

People shouldn't be taking everything for granted. Period. If people aren't willing to accept these compromising aspects of their lives, then they are in for a big surprise later.

No need to get huffy with me. I'm not saying that they should do nothing about it. Just that they need to deal with it till they find a way of fixing these problems. Life isn't a smooth road, it never has been and never will be. If it was smooth all the way, then their life skills are weak. Especially when it come to survival skills.

You'll see that children are much more capable of dealing with the downsides than an adult would think. It's a good way of seeing that everything isn't perfect and that nothing should be taken for granted.

Now, on the subject of my attitude. Sometimes, I just have to be blunt because sugarcoating it will only cover up some of the points. Sometimes there's just no way to be Mr. Nice Guy on these subjects. It baffles me that people are crying a river over these such little issues when we have much bigger issues to focus on in this world.

deafdyke

Dennis, not all kids with implants are oral deaf. It says on one of the coachlear sites, that the pediatric users are divided between TCers and oral. Plus attendance at an oral deaf school doesn't mean that the parents are anti-Sign. Some parents are anti-Sign,(yes, even today!) but nowadays many parents are simply oral-FIRST rather then oral-ONLY. A lot of the parents who choose an oral education for their kids opted for it b/c they think that a TC program doesn't concentrate enough on speech and listening.
As for the OP....it's clear that a CI does not promote strict equality. Parents and educators are just now realizing that. We've had "CIs will make deaf kids equal to hearing kids" advocates for ages now...... Yes, it's a good tool, but it does not promote strict equality.
Oh and as for the expert who expresses sadness that the kids can't hear.....she's probaly one of those experts who think that dhh kids need to be wired 24/7 with no downtime. I mean even kids who absolutly positively LOVE hearing, require some downtime from hearing.....and that's just as important as having listening or speech therapy.