Programs that pay for or provide assistive devices which alert people who have hearing impairments to environmental signals such as smoke alarms, doorbells, security alarms or crying babies. Included are vibrotactile aids which utilize transmitters which are placed near the sound source(s) to be monitored and small receivers which are worn by the individual who has the hearing impairment; and visual alerts which utilize ordinary household lamps (or other similar pieces of equipment) in conjunction with transmitters and receivers. Transmitters are connected to the sound source and transmit to one or more receivers which flash when receiving signals.

Programs that pay for or provide devices other than hearing aids, such as voice amplifiers, personal FM systems, inductive loop systems or infrared theater or television head sets which enable people who have hearing impairments to make use of their residual hearing.

Programs that pay for or provide magnifiers, magnification equipment, light intensification equipment, night vision equipment, closed circuit television devices and other products which help people who have visual impairments use their remaining vision to greater advantage.

Programs that sell new, used and/or reconditioned assistive technology products on a retail or discount basis.

Language, articulation, voice and/or fluency disorders which are outside the range of acceptable variation in a given environment and which are inconsistent with the person's chronological and/or developmental age.

A disruption in the normal hearing process that may occur in the outer, middle, or inner ear, which prevents sound waves from being converted to electrical signals and nerve impulses from being transmitted to the brain to be interpreted. Included are conductive hearing loss that results from abnormalities of the external ear and/or the ossicles of the middle ear; sensorineural hearing loss that results from malfunction of inner ear structures (i.e., cochlea); and central auditory dysfunction that results from damage or dysfunction at the level of the eighth cranial nerve, auditory brain stem, or cerebral cortex. Hearing loss may be present at birth (congenital) or become evident later in life (acquired); and may or may not preclude the normal development of language. The severity of hearing loss is measured in decibles (dB). The threshold or 0 dB mark for each frequency refers to the level at which typical young adults perceive a tone burst 50% of the time. Hearing is considered normal if an individual's thresholds are within 15 dB of normal thresholds. Severity of hearing loss is graded as mild (26-40 dB), moderate (41-55 dB), moderately severe (56-70 dB), severe (71-90 dB) and profound (90 dB).