Nokia has announced the release of a new mobile phone accessory designed for users with hearing aids.

The Nokia Wireless Loopset works with cochlear implants and slips around the user's neck. The Loopset is compatible with Bluetooth-ready handsets, essentially transforming the user's hearing aid into a headset. The device features adjustable sidetone levels, single button calling and a vibrating alert.

Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby yesterday presented an appeal on behalf of the Cued Speech Association UK, a charity helping deaf children and adults to overcome the difficulties of learning to lipread by teaching them to recognise visual cues within the lip-patterns of everyday speech.

The ten-minute programme can be viewed online here and will be broadcast again at lunchtime on 20 August on (BBC2). The appeal should ensure that more families hear about Cued Speech and that they have the opportunity to benefit from it.

Alison, 26, talks about her cochlear implant experience, in the last of a four-part diary series on the DeafBlog.

Read part three here.

I had my cochlear implant annual review on 16th November 2004. The CI is now part of me – without it, I am lost. I cannot imagine not using the processor. The scores from the CUNY tests were promising this year and for the first time, I was pleased with them.

It took me three years to get to this point – a lot longer than I thought it would. However, I can now say that I am very pleased with the results and the fact that I have got this implant. I could not stop smiling all day that day! There was so much that I’d missed out on, like birds singing (which I never knew with my HAs), running water, hearing speech without lip-reading, and using the phone. Up until recently, I have been too scared to use the phone due to lack of confidence.

The World of Sound, a website sponsored by Cochlear UK, aims to raise awareness of Baha, with a new campaign.

The site contains information about cochlear implants and Baha and how they can literally open up ‘a world of sound’ to children and adults with differing levels of hearing impairment to profound deafness.

David Proops, ENT surgeon at Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre Birmingham and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, is among those explaining why Baha is so successful. He explains that it is a relatively simple procedure where there is no risk to the patient or their existing hearing.

The Graeme Clark Scholarship 2008, a unique award open to Nucleus cochlear implant recipients around the world, is now open for applications.

The award, set up to support implant recipients financially when they continue further education at an accredited institution, is bigger and better for this year. Now with five winners instead of one, the following countries/regions have been grouped together, so that a winner can be selected from each.

London's Science Museum has lots on offer this summer for families to enjoy, and guests at a number of its events will now benefit from a British Sign Language interpreter.

From shows like 'Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles', to 'Space In Your Face', a 35-minute journey through space in an action-packed extravaganza of a show, there's something for everyone to enjoy.

Alison, 26, talks about her cochlear implant experience, in the third of a four-part diary series on the DeafBlog. Read part one here and part two here.

Until the 9th October, which was my switch on day, I spent time recovering from the surgery and had to manage without hearing aids for the first time. I actually tried using them a couple weeks post op – but it was no good. However I did have a lot of tinnitus – which I found annoying as it lasted for some months. I was told not to wash my hair for two weeks, which was horrible, as with the usual grime of unwashed hair, I also had iodine, surgical solutions and dried blood to deal with. My balance was also affected and I felt very tired.

Although I was apprehensive about the switch on, I was also excited and couldn’t wait. I was looking forward to hearing some sounds, as since I’d had the operation, I’d been managing with no hearing, and was surprised that it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I hadn’t realised how heavily I’d relied on lip-reading and visual clues. Also, as I didn’t feel that great, I didn’t worry too much. As for watching TV, I relied a lot on subtitles.

The show, which brings something completely new to the table, is all about opportunity and living your life to the full. Central to the show is a ‘can do’ attitude and not viewing disability as an inability but as a challenge to overcome boundaries.

As some of you may not yet know, we have a Facebook group that we’d love for you to join. We post up pictures, links and news stories, and enable more discussion.

The Facebook accompaniment to the DeafBlog, of the same name, is designed for deaf people and/or those who have an interest in the deaf community. You can contact us with content for this site through there, as well as by emailing hello@thedeafblog.co.uk.

The charity hopes AMs’ support will lead to more services being delivered to older people with sight and hearing problems.

Alison, 26, talks about her cochlear implant experience, in the second of a four-part diary series on the DeafBlog. Read part one here

Over the course of 2001, I had the usual hearing tests, balance tests, CT, and then an MRI scan, psychological, hearing and speech therapy assessments. I also spoke at length with various people within the team and met a cochlear implant user which helped enormously.

In May, when I met with my consultant Mr Robinson again, I was certain that I wanted to get more out of my hearing and decided to go ahead with the implant. At the time I still wasn’t sure what to expect, but from what I’d heard, I knew it would really help me.

The boys probably thought they had grabbed a Bluetooth headset, which are in high demand now that drivers are required to use their mobile phones hands-free. Luckily, the boys ditched the earpiece – the external part of Jose's implanted hearing device, as they fled.

Giron found it in the market carpark, still intact.

Finlay McNamara was so excited to hear the 1990s pop song after undergoing a cochlear implant operation that he wanted to hear it again.

His mother, Louise, said the word out loud to her three-year-old son and he repeated it after listening to Macarena by Los del Rio on the car radio on their way home.

Alison, 26, talks about her cochlear implant experience, in the first of a four-part diary series on the DeafBlog.

I had my Cochlear Implant fitted in 2001, and three and a half years on, felt that it was time to talk about my ‘CI Experience’.

I had been keeping a diary throughout my CI journey, summarising the pre-implant assessments and the ‘final decision’, whether or not to have the implant; then from the surgery right through switch on, plus the ‘rehab’. Since then I kept it going fairly regularly for the first six months, where after that I put in various ‘milestones’ and yearly updates. I was encouraged to do this by Dawn, my audiologist; and I’m glad I did. It helps me as I can see how far I have come, looking back now…