Assistive Technology Applications For People With Hearing Impairments

Hearing Impairments

Hearing impairments refer to any type or degree of auditory disorder, from mild hearing loss to complete deafness. They also affect people to varying degrees. Hearing loss refers to an impairment where some ability to hear has been lost, whereas, deafness refers to an extreme inability to discriminate conversational speech through the ear. People who cannot use their ears for communication are considered deaf, while those with some residual hearing are considered hard of hearing (Andrew, 2004). A hearing impairment manifests as a reduction in sensitivity to sounds that may be accompanied by some loss in the ability to correctly interpret auditory stimuli, even when the stimuli are amplified. Hearing impairments vary by degree, locus of pathology, and cause. They may be permanent or transient (Andrew, 2004). Regardless of the degree of hearing impairment, from minimal hearing loss to complete deafness, there are AT strategies and devices that can help overcome hearing loss.

Assistive Technology Solutions

AT solutions for people with hearing impairments can be either devices or strategies that either amplify sound or utilize another sense such as sight to obtain information one typically would process in an auditory form. The following paragraphs are intended to give an overview of AT solutions for people with hearing impairments. The do not provide a comprehensive list of solutions.

Devices

There are many assistive devices that can be used across all environments to help either augment one's hearing or utilize another sense to offset hearing loss and obtain auditory information in another manner. The most common AT device for a person with a hearing impairment is a hearing aid. These have been used since their invention for veterans of World War II who had sustained hearing impairments in battle. There are many different types of hearing aids, behind the ear (BTE), in the ear (ITE) and canal aids. Each type is used by someone with a specific level of hearing loss and is used to amplify sound to a level that the user can hear it. Aside from the general hearing aid, there are two areas where AT devices are specifically used by people with hearing impairments: communication and alerts.

A person with a hearing impairment may have difficulty communicating with others in a traditional sense, ie talking face-to-face or talking on a phone. To alleviate this problem, TTY and TTD phones are used in conjunction with a relay service. A TTY or TTD phone is a typical phone combined with a keyboard and screen used by a person with a hearing impairment to talk to someone on either another TTY phone or a standard phone. To talk via a standard phone, a relay service must be used. The person at the relay service tells the standard phone user what the TTY user has typed and also types what the standard user has said for the TTY user.  Modern technology, although not designed as AT for people with hearing impairments, such as email, instant messaging, and two-way pagers have been very beneficial to people who cannot hear verbal communication. These technologies have eliminated a reliance on verbal communication and made written communication instantaneous. Also, because of its widespread use, these technologies are a cost effective way for people with hearing impairments to communicate.

Aside from communication, one of the chief concerns of people with hearing impairments is alert notifications. How is one with a hearing impairment alerted if most alerts systems such as fire alarms, doorbells, or alarm clocks use a primarily auditory notification? Devices utilizing flashing lights and/or vibration have been developed to help alert people with hearing impairments. It is now code in buildings to have a fire alarm system that provides both auditory and and visual alerts. Doorbell systems can be coupled with similar flashing lights placed throughout the house to provide a visual alert for a ringing doorbell. Vibration is has been incorporated into other technologies such as alarm clocks and cell phones as an effective means of alert or notification for people with hearing impairments as well. There are other devices that provide print, sound amplification, or vibration in place of standard auditory signals. The following are some examples of AT devices used by people with hearing impairments.

• Flashing fire alarms

• Closed Captioning for TV, Videos, and DVDs

• Vibrating alert devices such as alarm clocks

• TTY/ TDD (Speech Relay Systems)

• Amplification systems (e.g. FM classroom system)

• Hearing aids

• Cochlear implants

• Email

• Two way pagers

• Instant Messenger

Strategies

In some cases, AT devices are either not available, or insufficient for people with hearing impairments. When this is the case, especially in a classroom setting where learning is primarily auditory, there are some assistive strategies that can be implemented. There are some strategies a teacher can implement in a classroom setting to help a student with a hearing impairment better access the information being presented to a class. These strategies range from positioning students where the can best see, hear, or read lips to presenting all notes in a written form to using close captioned videos in class.

• Position students with hearing impairments near the front of the classroom where they can better hear the teacher

• Face students who read lips when teaching and speaking

• Provide notes in written form on chalkboard or handouts

• Provide interpreter for sign language

• Use close captioned videos when showing videos

• Provide written directions for tests as alternatives to auditory ones

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