On the air since January 2008 · Rochester, New York
Stories of ability, resilience, and possibility — and the many ways health, trauma, environment, service, and human experience intersect with hearing, communication, and quality of life.
Created and hosted by Richard J. McCollough, M.Ed. · Concept developed in 2002.
Programming With Purpose
American Abilities Television Network™ creates programming for people with hearing loss and disabilities while promoting overall health and wellness through a wide variety of programs.
Each broadcast recognizes that hearing health is connected to the whole person — across ages, genders, ethnic communities, military service, health conditions, and lived experiences in Rochester and around the world.
Rochester’s longest-running television program of its kind — informing, educating, entertaining, and enlightening viewers since January 2008.
Hearing Health →
Hearing health touches every age — from newborn screenings to hearing aids in later life. American Abilities Television has covered hearing loss, deafness and tinnitus on the air since January 2008.
Disabilities →
American Abilities Television tells stories of ability and resilience — people with disabilities at school, at work, in service and at home.
Wellness →
Hearing health is connected to the whole person. Conditions like diabetes, heart disease and depression often travel together with hearing loss and disability.
Live estimates · Every second counts
Estimated people worldwide living with hearing loss
—
+— since midnight Eastern · about one more person every 0.9 seconds
WHO: about 1.5 billion in 2021, rising to nearly 2.5 billion by 2050.
Source: World Health Organization, World Report on HearingEstimated people worldwide living with significant disability
—
+— since midnight Eastern · about one more person every 2.7 seconds
WHO: about 1.3 billion people (16% of the world). Growth shown follows world population growth.
Source: World Health Organization, Global Report on Health Equity for Persons with DisabilitiesEstimates projected from World Health Organization figures — not a live count of diagnoses. Many people with hearing loss and disabilities have never been formally diagnosed.
Sundays 10 AM ET
CW-WHAM Spectrum 16/1212
WHAMDT2 (CW) 13.2 On the Air
DirecTV Ch. 14
Sundays at 10 AM ET
AATV Schedule · Sponsored by
Timecyclopedia
This Sunday · Sunday, October 11 · 10 AM ET
Episode 793
Why watch: Explore Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day — the history, differing perspectives, and hearing-health concerns of Indigenous communities.
Before you watch, see Episode 793 in Timecyclopedia →
Sunday, October 18 · 10 AM ET
Episode 765
Why watch: Nine young people share what it means to live with a family history of breast cancer — and why acting early matters.
Before you watch, see Episode 765 in Timecyclopedia →
Sunday, October 25 · 10 AM ET
Episode 760
Why watch: Explore PTSD treatment options and learn how listening with compassion can help veterans and families find a path forward.
Before you watch, see Episode 760 in Timecyclopedia →
Sunday, November 1 · 10 AM ET
Episode 754
Why watch: Discover how everyday noise affects hearing — and simple ways to protect your connection to family, work, and the world.
Before you watch, see Episode 754 in Timecyclopedia →
Hearing Loss · Disabilities · Wellness
American Abilities News Update · Sponsored by
Weatherfield FarmVideo reports and headlines from across the country and around the world on hearing loss, disabilities and wellness, including veterans, research and the Deaf community.
Updated Oct 10, 2026
AI-generated narration. Original graphics and labeled AI illustrations; not footage of the people or studies.
Video report · 60 seconds
· First edition
Hearing aids and cognition, disability rights in Texas schools, and veterans’ wellness research.
Hearing health
Hearing aids and memory: what a new trial found
Why it matters: Treating hearing loss may help everyday thinking and connection — but hearing aids are not a proven dementia prevention, so set realistic expectations.
Disabilities
Court orders disability-rights monitoring in Texas schools
Why it matters: Independent monitoring is one of the ways families can make sure students with disabilities get the services the law requires.
Wellness
Small veterans study reports mental-health relief after ibogaine
Why it matters: Veterans are searching for new options — but this is early research, the drug carries serious heart risks, and it is not a treatment recommendation.
Source: CHOICE trial · JAMA Neurology / Europe PMC
Source: FOX 26 Houston · October 8, 2026
Source: Translational Psychiatry · August 12, 2026
Source: Military.com · October 8, 2026
The hearing trial did not significantly reduce progression to dementia. The veterans study was small and uncontrolled, with other treatments during follow-up; it cannot establish cause and effect. Ibogaine carries serious heart risks. General information, not a treatment recommendation.
This is your American Abilities News Update—hearing loss, disabilities and wellness.
In hearing health, researchers reported improved cognitive scores in some older hearing-aid users. But the study did not show a significant reduction in progression to dementia.
In Texas, a federal court has ordered Klein schools to allow disability-rights monitoring. Advocates plan visits; the district continues to raise student privacy concerns.
And for veterans’ wellness, a small study reported lasting mental-health improvements after ibogaine treatment. The drug carries serious heart risks and remains a controlled substance in the United States. This is research, not a treatment recommendation.
Find these stories and their sources at AmericanAbilitiesTV.com/news.
Top story · Australia · Asia & Pacific
The Australian · Oct 10, 2026
Read at The Australian
Veterans
Green Bay Press-Gazette · Oct 10, 2026 ↗
New York
InformNNY on MSN · Oct 10, 2026 ↗
Hearing Health · India
The Hindu · Oct 9, 2026 ↗
Disability News
note · Oct 9, 2026 ↗
Research
BIOENGINEER · Oct 9, 2026 ↗
Disability News
The Good Men Project · Oct 9, 2026 ↗
Around the world this week
Stories from 3 places outside the United States on hearing loss, disabilities and wellness.
Australia · Asia & Pacific
The Australian ↗
India · Asia & Pacific
The Hindu ↗
United Kingdom · Europe & UK
The Mirror ↗
India · Asia & Pacific
The Print on MSN ↗
United Kingdom · Europe & UK
Daily Record on MSN ↗
Headlines shared from Timecyclopedia link to the original publishers; AATV does not republish articles. Stories are gathered automatically and may include promotional material. They are not medical advice or an endorsement.
Free weekly newsletter
Every week: the week’s American Abilities News Updates, the research and hospital stories worth knowing, this Sunday’s show, a Sound Tip, a Personal Profile and awareness dates — hearing loss, disabilities and wellness, every story sourced.
October · Health & awareness
October brings a focus on breast cancer awareness and hearing health — two conversations that connect personal stories with lifelong wellness.
Breast cancer touches families across the country. October is the month to talk about risk, screening, and support — and to listen to the people who have lived it.
Related program
Episode 765
Bring Your Brave: Nine Stories of Family History
Hearing connects us to family, work, and the world. October is a month to look at hearing health across the lifespan, everyday noise, and practical ways to protect your hearing.
Related program
Episode 754
Hearing Health for a Lifetime
In Timecyclopedia
Voices and researchers who brought breast cancer out of silence and into prevention.
Betty Ford
Spoke publicly about her breast cancer in 1974, spurring screenings nationwide
Audre Lorde
Wrote The Cancer Journals (1980) on living with breast cancer
Worta McCaskill-Stevens
Led National Cancer Institute breast cancer prevention research
Cokie Roberts
Journalist whose breast cancer battle raised public awareness
In Timecyclopedia
Hearing, communication, and Deaf achievement — the heart of American Abilities Television.
Alexander Graham Bell
Teacher of the deaf whose sound research shaped hearing science
Gallaudet University
The world's leading university for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students
Andrew Foster
Founded dozens of schools for Deaf children across Africa
Derrick Coleman
First legally deaf offensive player in the NFL
In every broadcast
Sound Tips™ · Sponsored by
Lifetime FinancialSound Tips™ — the on-screen ticker created and named by founder Richard J. McCollough — runs along the bottom of every broadcast, bringing viewers information about types of hearing loss, prevention, and how each program topic is related to hearing health.
Topics include PTSD, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancers, injuries sustained by military veterans, and the experiences of ethnic communities, people worldwide, all genders, children, and babies.
American Abilities Television is about the many ways people experience hearing loss and challenges to communication and wellness — the list is endless.
Season 18 · Fall/Winter 2026
Episode 793
Why watch: Explore Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day — the history, differing perspectives, and hearing-health concerns of Indigenous communities.
Episode 789
Why watch: Episode 789 closes Season 18 with a single documentary from the U.S.
Episode 788
Why watch: Episode 788 is about health equity: making good health possible in the communities that have had the hardest road to it.
Episode 787
Why watch: Episode 787 is about making the healthy choice the easier choice.
Episode 786
Why watch: Episode 786 is about the first days of life and the answers that come from checking early.
Episode 785
Why watch: Episode 785 goes inside the U.S.
American Abilities Deep Dive · TodayHow hearing connects to ptsd
Veterans often live with both PTSD and tinnitus or hearing loss. The VA treats them together because each can make the other harder to manage.
A new condition every day. Shared for education — not medical advice. Talk with your doctor or audiologist about your hearing.
Personal Profiles · Wellness
Physician · 1821–1910
The first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S., in 1849, she later opened an infirmary for women and children.
Read more in TimecyclopediaPeople with hearing loss and disabilities, and champions of wellness, who shaped history — a new profile every day.
Hearing Loss Across America
Most people with hearing loss
The largest numbers live in the most populous states — California, Texas, Florida, and New York — simply because more people live there.
Highest rates
Rates run higher in rural communities and in places with older populations, such as Maine, West Virginia, Vermont, and Florida.
Noise-exposed work
Mining, construction, manufacturing, and farming have the highest noise exposure, raising risk in regions built on those jobs.
Latest Research
2024
Early trials for a rare inherited deafness (OTOF gene) let children born deaf hear for the first time.
2024
FDA authorized the first over-the-counter hearing aid software feature for consumer earbuds.
2023
The ACHIEVE trial found hearing care slowed cognitive decline by about 48% in older adults at higher risk.
2022
Adults with mild to moderate hearing loss can now buy hearing aids without a prescription.
Today in The Long Story
Hearing loss, disabilities and the quest for wellness through the ages — one milestone a day, every one sourced.
1817
Hearing & Deaf historyLaurent Clerc, a Deaf teacher from France, and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet opened the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Its classrooms helped give rise to American Sign Language.
Read more in Timecyclopedia →Source: American School for the Deaf
Around the World
Sign languages, disability rights and wellness in fifteen countries — from Germany, Italy and Sweden to Nigeria, India and Japan. Every fact sourced.
Explore AATV International →We welcome any questions and comments about American Abilities Television Network™ and our programming.