As so much of modern life relies on sound for communications and alerts, deaf individuals can find themselves at a disadvantage in coping with day-to-day activities. A number of devices have been produced to help the deaf overcome their limitations and live normal lives.
Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants
Hearing aids help amplify sounds for those who are not completely deaf, allowing them to make out words and sounds. Cochlear implants allow those who have severe hearing loss to hear sounds as well, bypassing the ear and sending sounds straight to the auditory nerve.
Telecommunication Devices
Telecommunications devices for the deaf, better known as TDDs, allow deaf individuals to communicate over the phone by using a small keyboard to send messages and an LCD screen to display messages that are received. Relay systems are also available, which allow TDDs to communicate with standard telephones.
Flashing and Vibrating Alarm Clocks
Alarm clocks for the deaf and hard of hearing feature flashing and vibrating features to help individuals wake up without an audible alarm. Some clocks feature one or the other, though alarm clocks are available that feature both lights and vibrations.
Visual Alert Signalers
Much like alarm clocks for the deaf, visual alert signalers provide flashing lights or vibrations to let a hard-of-hearing individual know that the doorbell is ringing or that certain sounds are being made.
Assistive Learning Devices
Assistive learning devices, or ALDs, are used by those who have limited hearing so that they can better make out the words of a speaker over background noise. The speaker will speak into a microphone which sends their words via FM signal to the ALD, which filters out noise and makes the speaker's words clearer.
Closed Captioning
Closed captioning is a feature of televisions and video players that enables a transcript of sounds and dialogue to appear on the screen when video is playing. The video must be encoded with closed captioning for the feature to work, however.
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