Forbes: Changing Technologies For The Deaf

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Forbes: Changing Technologies For The Deaf

Deaf News: Forbes.com - 4 Game-Changing Technologies For The Deaf And Hard Of Hearing.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are more than 360 million people worldwide with a disabling hearing loss, including 32 million children and one-third of people over 65 years of age. Hearing loss may result from genetic causes, complications at birth, certain infectious diseases, chronic ear infections, the use of particular drugs, exposure to excessive noise and aging.



One of the main impacts of hearing loss is on the individual’s ability to communicate with others, since spoken language development is often delayed in children with deafness. Limited access to services and exclusion from communication can have a significant impact on everyday life, causing feelings of loneliness, isolation and frustration, particularly among older people with hearing loss.



Recent advances in technology have the potential to improve the quality of life for those who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. Here’s a look at four products in this space that caught our attention.



MotionSavvy UNI: MotionSavvy, founded by a team of students from Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, announced “the world’s first two-way communication software for the Deaf.” UNI translates American Sign Language (ASL) into speech, and speech into text. It utilizes a special camera to track the location of both hands and all ten fingers. Graphic representations of the hands provide live feedback to make sure gestures are being captured correctly. The software’s dictionary can be expanded with customized signs added by the user. There’s also an option to upload those signs to the Internet, to share with others. The more an individual uses the system, the more accurate and tailored it becomes. To facilitate the Hearing-to-Deaf half of the communication, the package also includes Dragon Nuance Pro, one of the leading pieces of voice recognition software. Interested customers will have to wait for MotionSavvy UNI, but not long.



The company is planning to release it in September 2015. The video below gives a high level overview of the concept... Read Full Story with Videos: forbes.com/sites/robertszczerba/2015/04/21/4-game-changing-technologies-for-the-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing/



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Deaf Baby - The Education Video For New Parents

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Deaf Baby - The Education Video For New Parents

VIDEO [CC] - How do medical professionals talk to new parents ?



The video producer by Ouinn Donover also known as parent advocacy posted on YouTube to educate hearing parents with Deaf babies and toddlers.



If your child has been diagnosed with severe hearing loss, we are sorry. Your baby is Deaf, so you will need to communciate with baby in a visual way, through sign language, simply as that. Baby's deafness will not limit their ability to do whatever the baby wants in life.



Edit: The video describes American Sign Language as a visual language, but that is not to say that ALL people who use ASL access it visually.

Many thanks for a part of this video:

Mollina Stevens

Armando Nunez

Izumi Takizawa

David King

Brian LLanes.



Causes of Deafness:

There are many reasons why a child can be born Deaf or become Deaf early in life. It is not always possible to identify the reason. This section lists many of the common reasons. There is information on possible causes that happen before a child is born and those that happen at birth or afterwards.



Causes before birth (pre-natal causes) - Many children are born Deaf because of a genetic reason. Deafness can be passed down in families even though there appears to be no family history of deafness. Sometimes the gene involved may cause additional disabilities or health problems.



Deafness can also be caused by complications during pregnancy. Illnesses such as rubella, cytomegalovirus (CMV), toxoplasmosis and herpes can cause a child to be born Deaf. There is also a range of medicines, known as ototoxic drugs, which can damage the hearing system of a baby before birth. Read more: http://deafchildworldwide.info/childhood_deafness/causes_of.html



Related Post of Hearing Parents With Deaf Child(ren):

Interview With Hearing Parents Of A Deaf Son

Educate Hearing Parents of Deaf Children

Early Language Acquisition of Deaf Babies

Deaf Awareness: One Deaf Child

American Sign Language For Babies & Toddlers

Cochlear Implants Is NOT A Cure !

Why Is It Important To Learn Sign At Birth For Deaf Child ?

Educating Hearing People About The Deaf World

Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Deaf Community

Monday, January 20, 2014

Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Deaf Community

VIDEO: Super Bowl 2014: Seahawk's Derrick Coleman First Legally Deaf Player.



(ABC News) The fullback says he used other people's doubts to motivate himself to succeed.



The most compelling stories today really has to be star player for the Seahawks this gentleman his name is Derrick Coleman he's made it to the pinnacle of his sport. Despite being legally Deaf.



Here's ABC's Neal Karlinsky of the leader today news. Loaded in the NFL's Seattle Seahawks number forty will be the only player who sees the fans.



Fullback Derrick Coleman is the first legally Deaf offensive player in the NFL. And he wouldn't change a thing. Just who I am I'm not gonna let Dan Marino come here and tell me made me who I am today Coleman. Life story making in the unlikely star of this Duracell battery commercial that's gone by.



It couldn't be done. That I was a lost cause. The chilling and inspirational is no story it's Coleman's life.

He gave up until early on his hearing aids were a problem they just didn't fit or work right inside his helmet until his mother had an idea.



So a pair of pantyhose position and I kept them respect the hearing aid. I needed to help him.



Achieve his dream - He taught himself to lip-reading to get something he relies on during games if you weren't wearing your hearing aids and what what I sound like right now. I know you've talked it. But who basically all mobile from me he spends his free time visiting schools spreading the message that no one is perfect and no matter what the challenge.



Source: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/super-bowl-2014-seahawks-derrick-coleman-legally-deaf-21588954



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Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Deaf Community

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Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks

Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks

Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks

VIDEO: Captioned - Exclusive interview with the NFL's Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks.



(CBS News) - A television commercial starring Seattle Seahawk’s fullback Derrick Coleman is the latest Internet sensation. Coleman is the only athlete in NFL history to play offense, despite the fact he is legally Deaf.



Now, he’s getting ready to break one more barrier - the Super Bowl.



When the Seahawks take on the San Francisco 49ers, no one will be paying better attention than Coleman. “I have to be aware,” he told CBS News’ Bill Whitaker. “I have to be focused more than everybody else.”



Diagnosed with profound hearing loss, Coleman relies on lip-reading and his own unique way of communicating with the quarterback.



"He knows to look at me if he makes an audible at the line of scrimmage,” said Coleman. “He knows just tell everybody and just turn back at me one more time and he'll tell me the play." It's the way he's always played the game.

When the world tells you "no", you have two options: You can roll over and quit or you can trust your power. Derrick Coleman, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, trusted the power within.



Although he's Deaf, he never let adversity stand in his way, on his road to the NFL. Share to inspire others to trust their power within and achieve their dreams. #TrustYourPower.



He told Whitaker that he’s “capable of doing what everybody else can do,” despite his hearing loss. “You can't use your problem as an excuse,” he said. “Because you use an excuse, you're not going to get to your dream. “



He was taught that philosophy at an early age. To really know Coleman’s story you have to meet the parents, his mother, May Hamlin and father, Derrick Coleman, Sr. "You feel that uncertainty, that fear as a fear as a parent, you know, that, is my child going to be OK," said Coleman, Sr.. His mother told Whitaker that Coleman was “definitely teased, he was bullied” and kids would call him “four-ears."



“My mom always said people who make fun of you and are trying bring you down - they're already down. They're trying to bring you to their level,” said Coleman.



These days Coleman wears a skullcap to keep his hearing aids in place under his helmet, but as a kid, he had to improvise. ... Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/deaf-nfl-player-derrick-coleman-inspires-on-and-off-the-field/



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Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Deaf Community

Deaf Seahawks Player Inspires Young Hearing Impaired Fans

Deaf NFL Player Derrick Coleman of the Seattle Seahawks

Creating Music Accessible For Deaf Children

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Creating Music Accessible For Deaf Children

VIDEO [BSL/CC] - BBC News - Creating music accessible for Deaf children.



Lying on a sound box: Deaf children listen to music - The National Orchestra of Wales has staged a series of workshops and concerts for Deaf people, many of them children, to explore how it is possible to experience music without being able to hear it fully.



The National Orchestra of Wales has been staging unique workshops and concerts for Deaf people. Radio 4 reporter Andrew Bomford discovers children listening to music in a very physical way and speaks to those behind it. Here he blogs about his emotional day.

I'll admit that I am a bit weepy sometimes. I cried at the end of Les Miserables, so the moment that the Welsh National Orchestra string section got started, and Katherine Mount stood there, signing and singing to her profoundly deaf - but clearly enraptured - ten year old son Ethan, I wasn't surprised to feel myself choking up again. Watch Katherine Mount singing Ethan's Song on YouTube



It was towards the end of a long, joyful, but emotionally draining day with the orchestra and children from The Ysgol Maes Dyfan special school in Barry near Cardiff. Some of them are almost completely deaf and others have serious hearing problems, but the joy and enthusiasm shown by the children in their appreciation of the music they were experiencing was wonderful to see. ... Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ouch/2013/02/lying_on_a_sound_box_deaf_chil.html

Medical Research: Rise in Abortions of Deaf Babies

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Medical Research: Rise in Abortions of Deaf Babies

Prenatal testing prompts rise in abortions of Deaf babies. Hearing loss can be a curse if it's linked to a revelation as heart-breaking as this.

LONDON - According to a survey conducted by Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram hospital, a majority of would-be parents would opt for an abortion if knew they are going to have a hearing-impaired child.



The study was published in a recent issue of American Journal of Medical Genetics.



The research-based study was conducted for four years - 2005 to 2009 - on at least 51 families with a history of congenital hearing loss.



"Around 93 per cent of the couples expressed high interest in prenatal diagnosis, while 73 per cent considered termination if the foetus was affected," Dr Ishwar C Verma, chairman, department of genetics, Sir Ganga Ram hospital, said.



The result in cases of hearing couples, in whom genetic anomalies were identified, was even more disheartening.



"All of them opted for prenatal diagnosis. On testing, all the foetuses were found to be affected and the hearing parents elected to terminate the pregnancies," Dr Verma said.



In developing countries such as India, there is an increasing awareness and interest in prenatal testing because genetic disorders of all types, including hereditary deafness, which lead to significant social and economic burden on families due to poor support structure. During the study, doctors found that around 68 per cent would be parents opted for genetic testing. ... Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2280183/Prenatal-testing-prompts-rise-abortions-deaf-babies.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Not Hearing Loss, Deaf Gain

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Not Hearing Loss, Deaf Gain

VIDEO [CC] - Switch at Birth Episodes: Marlee Matlin - Not Hearing Loss, Deaf Gain.



‘Switched at Birth’: ABC Family’s The teen soap Switched at Birth explores self-expression and the communication gulf between the hearing and Deaf communities.



Melody gives an impassioned lecture about how it’s not about hearing loss, it’s about Deaf gain, of a language, a community, and a culture.

When Marlee Matlin walked away with an Academy Award for her heart-wrenching turn as a Deaf custodian in 1986’s romantic drama Children of a Lesser God, it seemed as though film had finally encountered a definitive depiction of a Deaf individual and the often tenuous relationship between the hearing and the Deaf worlds. Television has lagged behind; nearly 30 years later, most TV shows still typically shove Deaf characters into the background or use them as props as part of a hearing person’s story.



A deft and intelligent take on the way in which we form our identities through self-expression, whether that be street art, spoken/signed communication, texting, or open dialogue among family members and individuals, as well as the communication gulf between the hearing and deaf/hard-of-hearing communities. It’s also a show that doesn’t pander to its presumed audience. Semantics “Deaf” and “hard-of-hearing” are OK; “hearing-impaired” is not and ethical implications, as well as morality and choice, are discussed frankly and without preaching. ... visit: https://www.facebook.com/SwitchedatBirth



List of Switched at Birth characters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Switched_at_Birth_characters



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