Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing utilize a variety of assistive technologies that provide them with improved accessibility to information in numerous environments.Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing increasingly benefit from advances in captioning technologies, which provide real-time transcription of spoken language in educational, professional, and entertainment settings.
Automatic speech recognition (ASR) software, a subset of artificial intelligence, is frequently used in developing these captioning tools.
Research highlights the role of captioning in fostering inclusivity and reducing barriers for those with hearing loss.
[1] [2] Most devices either provide amplified sound or alternate ways to access information through vision and/or vibration.
Hearing technology can broadly be defined as any device utilized for improving the level of sound available to a listener.
Assistive listening devices (ALD) can be utilized by individuals or large groups of people and can typically be accessed without the support of specific personnel.
All Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs) consist of a transmitter sending a person's voice or another audio source to a receiver, which subsequently distributes the sound uniformly in environments such as theaters, churches, or even directly to an individual.
Any time an FM system is coupled to a hearing aid, special settings and connections are required from an audiologist.
Occasionally, when multiple FM-based systems are employed within a single building, issues may arise concerning signal interference between different rooms and channels.
The benefit of infrared systems is that they only work in the room where the transmitter and receiver are located resulting in significantly fewer issues with cross-over.
A user either needs to connect with another person that has a TDD or use a relay service that can convert the text into voice for the hearing listener receiving the call.
With the improvements in technology for phones, pagers, text devices and computer services, the use of the TDD has declined.
This connection allows the person with the hearing loss to speak to the other party and read their incoming message on the telephone's display screen.
The relay service companies pick a date that works for the consumer, sets up the telecommunication system, and teaches them how to use it.
The system is successfully being used to provide communication access to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in many programs around the country.