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From: Steve Hood
Date: 10/1/03
Time: 2:58:17 PM
Remote Name: 199.33.133.50
Hello, Ira-- I suspect that there may be a lot of interest in Speech Easy as a result of the marketing that has teken place, and the publicity in People Magazine, and on television. Seeing Opra shed tears of the "miracle cure" was certainly an attention getter, was it not? So, for those intersted, here is a really good source of objective information: http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/TherapyWWW/dafjanus.html.
Unfortunately, the marketing that has been done has been designed to sell the product, and difficulties experienced by people have not been widely circulated: e.g., difficulties in noisy background environments, the fact that persons with primarily silent blocks have difficulties, that some people do not want to wear a conspicuous prosthesis, and as happened with a person I spoke with over the summer -- you cannot wear it when you go swimming at the beach.
Independent long term research is needed for publication in peer-reviewed journals. I suspect that until more information is available, press conferences will not take place.
Let me also say that I found it interesting that the Janus Corporation was highly consipcuous at the 2002 convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Assoication in Atlanta. The Speech Easy folks were conspicuously absent from the recent convention of the National Stuttering Association in Nashville. There were certainly a lot of persons who stutter in Nashville, and this would have been quite an arena for marketing and sales people.
Those reading this reply should also visit the ISAD paper by Dr. Richard Merson.
Steve Hood