Hearing

• Hardware and software companies
• iCommunicator

http://www.icommunicator.com/

iCommunicator's uses computer software and hardware to interface with the user's hearing aids, cochlear implant speech processor, or FM system positions the product squarely within the guidelines of the federal regulations mandating the delivery of assistive or accessible technology by our public school systems, as well as every other federal or state government agency nationwide. iCommunicator is a breakthrough technology solution to the issues surrounding education of persons with special communication needs as well as their accessibility into the today's competitive business world.

Today, the iCommunicator is being used in K-12 education, post-secondary institutions, government, healthcare, and corporate settings across the United States and Canada.

• Solutions:
• TTY

http://www.captions.com/tty.html

This device 'rings' via flashing light or the more recent vibrating wrist band that resembles a watch. The TTY consists of a keyboard, which hold somewhere from 20 to 30 character keys, a display screen, and a modem. The letters that the TTY usre types into the machine are turned into electrical signals that can travel over regular telephone lines. When the signals reach their destination (in this case another TTY) they are converted back into letters which appear on a display screen, are printed out on paper or both. Some of the newer TTYs are even equipped with answering machines.

• Alerting devises

http://www.tcnj.edu/~technj/2003/dodds.htm

For a person who cannot hear, common household gadgets that rely on sound are useless. People who are deaf need an alternative method for being awakened in the morning, realizing someone is at the door, being alerted to the possibility of a fire, knowing the phone (or TTY) needs to be answered, and being alerted to their baby’s crying.

The term "alerting devices" is used to describe gadgets that can signal your attention and/or indicate the presence of sounds in the environment through one of three ways: providing a louder sound (for people who are hard of hearing), providing a light flash, or causing a tactile vibration. I experimented with the following alerting devices on my visit to the Assistive Device Demonstration Center: