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Oh Joy! Oh Wondrous Joy! Today my hand-free speech amplifier was delivered and lo and behold, j just like magic, I CAN BE HEARD *NORMALLY once again!! (Mopping up tears by the bucket with a BIG smile on face...) Personal PD-voice History: After approximately 22 years (now over 25 years) living with Parkinson's and a successful unilateral pallidotomy in Oct. of '94, three year ago began to notice that everyone around me was getting hard of hearing. (Ok... ok.... be honest , now, Barbie) Well let's say about 3 year ago I noticed wherever I went and whoever I was with at the time had a terrible time HEARING me. And it wasn't THEM that had the problem - it was ME. Whenever I spoke, folks were saying "What? WHAT??? I can't HEAR you." What was even worse, SOME people, in an effort not to embarrass me, just sat there without a CLUE as to what I was talking about, and never ever commented that they couldn't hear me, until _ I _ happened to notice the blank look on their respective and collective faces. Lack of ability to COMMUNICATE, when I had SO much to say, began to frustrate me, and I became desperate. In an effort to be heard, I had speech therapy at Kaiser Permanente, my HMO, and realized by the second lesson, the therapist knew little about PD and PD-related speech problems. Next I went to UCLA's famed Throat and Neck Clinic, headed by Dr. Gerald Berke, who injected collagen into both vocal cords and successfully restored my speaking voice for about 5 months, and $500 (which IS picked up by Medicare, unless you, like me had assigned your Medicare to an HMO, in which case you're out of pocket is you want this procedure performed on your vocal cords immediately. FYI.... Even if I was willing to pop more money in five hundred dollar chunks every 3 to 6 months indefinitely, which I'm not economically able to do (I'd prolly have to cut out FOOD from my daily regimen!), that would make no difference because my body began to absorb injected collagen within hours of getting the injections. Sooooo.... NEXT I tried the Lee Silverman Voice Therapy, and found myself totally HOARSE within minutes if shouting into voice decipal counter, while being coached by a friend who'd completed the Silverman course. While she can and did instruct me, HER voice could barely be heard because like so many who've paid $1600 for a Silverman-method therapist she eventually stopped the mandatory daily exercises with the voice decipal counter, and her voice returned to it's whispery self. In desperation (and I was becoming VERY desperate!), I began searching for companies who either made or sold VOICE AMPLIFIERS. Eventually, I found three companies, two of whom produced two different types of voice amplifiers in that they each had a "cheapie" unit selling around $159.95, and a more expensive unit, at about $650. The only difference in the two was clarity, and a bit of a size difference, The third company made a unit that is absolutely crystal clear and filters out ALL noise extraneous but the voice of the person wearing the unit. This l'il wonder is about the size of a cigarette box, and the OTHERS are a bit more "chunky" looking - more boxy. And IT'S a cool $6000 (that's right, six THOUSAND dollars!) I figured, that tho the units SHOULD be covered by Medicare, since my Medicare-paid HMO, Kaiser, would first put me thru a round of in-house referrals - to assorted voice therapists, throat specialists, and goodess only-know-what, I began to accept the idea that I'd somehow personally absorb the cost of the cheapest unit ($159), and not go thru Medicare, after months of dancing around the sacred halls of Kaiser till I FINALLY, if ever, received a prescription for a voice amplifier. Last week I ordered the "BRUCE Hands Free Voice Amplifier," which arrived today. And it WORKS!!!!! Initially there was a "shriek," which I soon learned meant the little machine didn't like me holding it in my HAND (which might be why the unit is called the "Hands Free Speech Amplifier, huh?" DUH!) <giggle> while I was speaking into it. No biggee.... I hooked it over my belt like a pager or cell-phone, since it comes with a somewhat ungainly hook for that purpose. Again, o biggee... I can make a variety of cute and/or colorful holders to house the unit. FYI.... I got the feeling from reading the super-thin operating instructions (Reading something like "Plug-in and talk') <grin>, that it was a really big "battery eater," so plan to stock up with a 50 year supply of 9-volt batteries (the unit uses one at a time, and I have no idea how long a single battery will last. Be advised tho, that I *DO* like to talk, and have a LOT of talkin' to make up for! <smile> You can order a flyer for general information on the Hands Free Speech Amplifier or order the unit itself by contacting the following: BRUCE Medical Supply 411 Waverly Oaks Road, Suite 154 Waltham, Massachusetts 02454 (800) 225-8446 (Barb grabs Scooter-cat and begins to happily dance 'round her wee 8x8 foot office singing in NORMAl voice for a change! (uhhhhhh..... Scooter has a VERY startled look on her cute little cat face at her "mom's" shenanigans! <giggle> I've put everything I can think of about the speech amplifier and assorted speech/vocal cord treatments and/or therapies I've tried in the last few years, but if someone has any questions 'bout what I've said here, please feel free to email me at [log in to unmask] I *WILL* respond, but please keep in mind that I'm moving this coming Thursday, so my replies might be on the brief side, 'cause there's still lotsa packing to do. Barb (YIPPEE! I can TALK!!) Mallut [log in to unmask]