the hearing assistive technology landscape for hearing loops and telecoils dana mulvany, msw...
TRANSCRIPT
The Hearing Assistive Technology Landscape for Hearing Loops
and Telecoils
Dana Mulvany, MSW (U.S.A.)
Differing Abilities
Personal Background
Consumer with pre-lingual, ski slope hearing loss
Advocate for people with disabilities
Technological social worker
Consultant (Differing Abilities)
Program planner for this conference
Scope
Other types of hearing assistive technology (HAT) that are legally needed for effective communication access can have an impact on loop systems,
and vice versa…
Effective Communication Access (ECA)
The Americans with Disabilities Act
Requires ECA in public facilities (not religious organizations)
Recent court cases requiring captioning in stadiums
Functionally Equivalent Communication Access
Equivalent (not equal) access to important aspects of communication
Meaning
Sensorially (optimize our senses)
Cognitively
Psychologically
Same ease of access as TABs?
Hearing Loops: Functional Analysis
Audio loops excel at providing functionally equivalent access to communication for telecoil usersEasy to useVirtually immediateNon-obtrusiveIf compliant with IEC standards,
provides high-quality experienceEqual access (if all seats are looped)
Limitations of Hearing Loops
Visual access still needed for deaf or severely HOH people
Other technologies may cause interference
Can cause unintended interference with other telecoil uses
Other current limitations (monoaural sound, frequency response)
Other types of HAT needed for effective communication access can have an impact on loop systems…
1. Speech to text: Open captioning or CART
(Communication Access Realtime Transcription)
Closed captioned solutions
2. Speechreading support
1. Video devices showing faces
3. Other assistive listening technology
Compete or Complement?
Goal: Provide effective communication access for people with various disabilitiesLegal requirement in some
countriesDHAC (Directly Hearing Aid
Compatible) listening still desirable in conjunction with other technology
Open Captioning or CART
Photo courtesy of www.c2ccaptioning.com
Open captioning (live)
Photo courtesy of www.c2ccaptioning.com
Open captioning (pre-recorded)
Closed captioned solutions
Closed captioned solutions
Closed captioned solutions
Portable computers
Smart phones, hand-held devices
1. Captioning
2. Access to text and images
3. Sign language
4. Video for speechreading
5. Song recognition
6. Future: speech recognition?
Portable WiFi-enabled devices
Portable video devices
Videoconferencing Mobile Devices
Other Wide–Area Assistive Listening Technology:
Current functional advantages
1. Stereo (directionality)
2. Broader frequency response---Good for lower frequencies (music)
3. Confidentiality
4. Portability
5. Individual Control
6. (non-HAT) video description
7. (non-HAT) multiple languages
Competing or complementary?
Can hearing loops complement or accommodate?
Check for non-interference
Synchronization of audio & video
Can people with hearing aids use the technology comfortably?
Other HAT that competes for the telecoil
1.Telephones
2.Devices with or connected to Telecoil couplers (neckloops, silhouettes, HAC headphones)
3.Other loops (rare)
Telephones
Landline
Mobile
VoIP (soon)
High Definition
Telecoil Couplers
Neckloops, silhouette inductors (aka ear loops)
Personal assistive listening technology
Computers, netbooks, iPads, etc.
Video devices (DVD players, etc.)
Videophones or Webcam conversations
Music players
The Need for Personal HAT
Hand-held amplifier
Personal ALS
Personal ALS and alerting system
ALS with multiple sender units
Recommendations:Competing Telecoil Uses
Minimize spillover that could affect other telecoil uses
Minimize unnecessary signals through hearing loops
Make it easy to turn audio on or off
Create areas for telephone use/other telecoil use
Recommendations:Other wide area HAT
Analyze functional advantages and disadvantages
Consider working with the other HAT:SynchronizationNon-interferenceComfort
Other Ideas?
