Bobby Miller
Writer Website
The Evolution of Deaf Technology
1,200 words
One of the most common disabilities worldwide is being deaf, which the Free Dictionary’s medical section defines as “partially or completely lacking in the sense of hearing.” When burdened with this condition, people tend to rely on visual cues instead of auditory ones. For instance, sign language involves watching a person’s hands rather than listening to their voice.
Assistive technology for deaf individuals has been in development for decades. For example, the deaf Dr. James Marsters and two of his colleagues developed the first Teletype machine capable of sending text messages through a telephone line, according to The New York Times. In the mid-1990s, nearly 30,000 people across the United States were using Teletypes. Of course, this technology has since evolved into cell phones capable of sending text messages. While some luddites accuse texting of breaking down human-to-human interaction, it is an essential communication tool for deaf people who cannot simply call a person to talk.
A Teletype allows a person to send and receive text messages through a telephone line. (Credit: DickWhitney.net)
One technology that has also been essential to deaf people is the hearing aid. As eHow.com explains, “hearing aids help amplify sounds for those who are not completely deaf.” Although hearing aids have been around for decades, they are evolving thanks to digital technology. According to John Hopkins Medicine, hearing aids can now be customized to fit an individual’s type of hearing loss. Digital hearing aids also come with multiple settings, allowing the individual to adapt to “situations where there is a lot of background noise” or “situations where there is little to no background noise.” For example, a digital hearing aid could filter out other conversations when a person is speaking with someone else at a crowded restaurant.
However, About.com and its users warn that digital hearing aids are not entirely superior to the older technology of analog hearing aids. Analogs are sometimes criticized for amplifying all sounds, including background noise, but they are far less expensive. One reader claimed that “there is a little more clearness to the digital, but I don’t think it is enough to justify the initial cost and later repair cost.” Another user claimed that their digital hearing aids often had to be reset due to static shock. Others, however, defended digital hearing aids, claiming that analogs make background noises too loud and are prone to whistling.
A variety of hearing aid styles is available. (Credit: AthensHearingAidCenter.com)
The price of hearing aids has long been a difficult obstacle for some individuals to overcome. John Hopkins Medicine explains that they are expensive because significant time and money is spent on research and development. They are also produced in low volume, “approximately 1.7 million hearing aids for some 30 million people with hearing loss” in the US. Plus, the warranty adds to their cost.
There are alternatives to hearing aids, however. One technology known simply as the Baha connects to a person’s skin right behind the ear. An implant on this device bonds directly to underlying bone, using bone conduction to transmit electrical energy to the cochlea, a part of the inner ear. As John Hopkins Medicine explains, the Baha is a feasible option for those who have a functioning inner ear but malformation of the ear canal or middle ear, since it bypasses those earlier stages.
The Baha is implanted directly behind a person’s ear. (Credit: HopkinsMedicine.org)
A similar technology is the cochlear implant. These implants “allow those who have severe hearing loss to hear sounds . . . [by] bypassing the ear and sending sounds straight to the auditory nerve,” as eHow.com explains. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) says that the device consists of a microphone to pick up sounds from the environment, a speech processor to select and arrange picked up noises, a transmitter to convert auditory signals into electric impulses, and an electrode array to send impulses to different parts of the auditory nerve. The US Food and Drug Administration approximates that, as of December 2010, 219,000 people have received cochlear implants.
A diagram of the cochlear implant’s features.
(Credit: NIH Medical Arts)
The NIDCD recommends that children receive cochlear implants early in life, preferably between the age of two and six years. This allows early exposure to sound, which “can be helpful during the critical period when children learn speech and language skills.”
Although useful, cochlear implants are not easy to adapt to. The NIDCD acknowledges that their use “requires both a surgical procedure and significant therapy to learn or relearn the sense of hearing.” In one article of The Economist, deaf filmmaker William Mager claims that his first experience using the implant was, in his own words, “probably the worst day of my life.” There is also the risk of infection looming over the surgical procedure.
Thanks to hearing aids, the Baha, and cochlear implants, the use of sign language is declining in the deaf community. The Economist reports that “the share of deaf children taught by sign language has fallen from 55 percent to 40 percent in the past decade” within the US. “Other countries show similar patterns,” the magazine explains. Ironically, the number of hearing college students learning sign language has risen eightfold since 2000; 90,000 students are currently studying it.
There are many other technologies out there to assist the deaf in a variety of ways. For instance, one device simply known as Music for Deaf People rests on the individual’s collar. As TechCrunch.com explains, it picks up on a song’s use of bass, midtones and treble and converts them into vibrations. According to FastCompany.com, this triggers “the same sound-processing brain regions in those with full hearing. So instead of listening through your ears, you effectively listen through your skin.” This device, first conceived by German designer Frederik Podzuweit, could allow both hearing and deaf people to experience music in new ways.
This device rests on a person’s shoulders and converts music into vibrations. (Credit: TechCrunch.com)
The company Harris Communications sells many other practical devices to aid deaf people in their daily living. For example, it sells alarm clocks, smoke alarms, and baby cry signalers that vibrate or light up rather than produce noise. The Door Knock Sensor, when hung on the front door, can pick up the vibration of someone knocking and send the message to a receiver so that a deaf person can know someone is outside.
It’s also important to note that many technologies we use every day have been incredibly helpful for deaf people. In particular, our increased reliance on the Internet and e-mail have helped “level the playing field in direct communication,” as Start-American-Sign-Language.com explains. Developing technologies such as speech-to-text capabilities could also help deaf people by providing them real-time access to text similar to those of closed captioning on television.
As technology marches forward, we can expect many innovations in assistive devices for the deaf and other disabled individuals. The Economist reports that the University of Miami recently concluded that we will soon indentify the genes linked to deafness, which could allow for easier treatment. Additionally, some scientists have begun testing implants that wire directly to a deaf person’s brainstem. Such advancements will allow deaf people to enjoy music and spoken communication much like hearing individuals do.
Bobby Miller originally wrote this article for the digital magazine Nvate in September of 2013. Due to its age, some of the information or links in the article may be outdated.