Communicating With Hearing Issues

By: Gavin Liu

Hearing issues greatly impact the way individuals communicate on a daily basis. From day-to-day communication to important meetings, hearing issues act as an obstacle that we have to address. However, there are many ways that individuals can conquer this obstacle.


Sign Language(ASL):

American Sign Language (ASL), is one of the most prominent ways of communication. Sign language is a visual language that uses hand signs to gesture words and letters while also incorporating body and facial expressions to convey meaning. Deaf individuals and those proficient in sign language can communicate fluently using this method. 

Lip Reading: 

Although it sounds like a not-so-effective idea, lip reading can be incredibly useful in many situations. Lip reading means observing a speaker's lip and facial movements to understand what is being said. When individuals are not fluent in sign language, many turn to lip reading instead.

Assistive Listening Devices (ALDs):

ALDs include devices like hearing aids and cochlear implants and can improve the quality of hearing and accessibility for many individuals. These devices can be purchased at local hearing aid centers and can greatly assist an individual's hearing. Learn more about hearing aids here.

Writing and Texting:

Although not as complex as hearing aids and other ALDs, writing and texting still prove to be effective methods. This method includes using written messages like notes and texts to convey information. 

Captioning:

This method uses text-based representations of spoken words often displayed in videos or at different live events like concerts. For videos, these captions can be turned on with a button labeled "closed captions", and when activated, there will be a string of text at the bottom that follows what is actually said in the video. For live events. there will often be sign language interpreters who translate the spoken words into sign language.

Communication Apps:

There are many applications that can convert spoken language to text or provide text-based communication for the deaf and individuals with hearing issues. Here are some applications that you can download: 

This can be useful for people who are deaf and attend conferences or classes. Essentially, this is a speech-to-text app that takes spoken words and translates them into a text shown on the phone in live time. This technology works in 70 different languages.

Communication can get hard for those with hearing issues especially when in a group and this is the exact reason why AVA was created. If a person who is deaf or has other hearing issues is with a group of friends, they can ask these friends to log into the app - then the deaf person(s)  will see a live recording of the group chat. The speech is captured by the device's microphone, and on the screen, the speaker's name appears before what they say, almost like a transcript of a play.

This app serves as a method for deaf individuals and those with hearing loss to contact and communicate with emergency services. This app relies on visual communication using buttons and taps to select the options needed. Although this app was designed for those with hearing issues, it has also been proven useful to those who have trouble breathing and talking.