The American Hearing Impaired Hockey Association (AHIHA) was established in 1973 by

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player

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, and a local business man by the name of Irv Tiahnybik, after Irv discovered the difficulties his hard-of-hearing son was having with his hearing teammates. The hockey camp grew quickly, and drew deaf and hard-of-hearing ice hockey players from all over the country. The organization hosts the annual, week-long Stan Mikita Hockey Camp in Woodridge, Illinois, at the Seven Bridges Ice Arena. The camp itself is free, though players do have to supply their own equipment and pay for their hotel room. In addition to sponsoring the camp, AHIHA also helps advocate for its players, provides scholarships, and helps children obtain

hearing aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers su ...

s. The

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team is typically comprised almost solely of AHIHA players, and represented the USA once again in 2007 at Salt Lake City.

References

External links

* Parasports organizations in the United States Deaf sports organizations Ice hockey organizations 1973 establishments in the United States Sports organizations established in 1973 Deafness organizations in the United States {{Parasport-org-stub