Deafness - the bane of my life

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This page is a compilation of what I have discovered on the road to what for me, within a couple of years, seems likely to become profound deafness. I hope I am not expecting miracles when I say that I believe technology will come to my aid in one shape or another. Already access to the internet and e-mail has given me much greater opportunities than my mother or grandfather enjoyed - both of them quite deaf in their later years.  I  have recently been undergoing tests for suitability for a cochlear implant had the operation on 20th March 2008.  See below for details.

Cochlear Implants  See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochlear_implant

As I have now had a cochlear implant I am becoming something of an expert on it!  In the UK the implant CAN be done on the NHS if your Health Authority will pay for it.  So it is one more "Postcode Lottery".  I was therefore very surprised when, after many years of waiting, I was finally told that the Health Authority had approved my assessment (despite me being 76).  The whole operation, plus subsequent adjustments and training, costs at least £30,000 and the assessment alone costs £3,000. It consists of a series of appointments where your level of hearing in both ears is tested; a check is made as to where the problem lies; there is a CT Scan to look at your cranium and the cochlear structure; and tests as to your level of balance. Obviously, you will only be considered suitable if your problem cannot be aleviated by hearing aids. And, as the operation includes carving out a place in the skull to fit part of the electronics (under the scalp behind the ear) and also inserting an electronic probe down through the skull and into the cochlear it self, they have to make sure that this is possible in each case. The surgeon has to avoid your facial nerve and your jugular vein (!).  The one would make you very ugly, the other would......
If they go ahead and fit one you will then have to attend weekly sessions for up to a year to adjust the device and also to help you adjust to the new sounds that you receive. To some extent your brain has to adjust to these. Although you will hear much more, the sounds may not be very natural.  But for someone who has got to the end of the line when it comes to hearing aids, or who was born deaf, it must be a considerable improvement.  Certainly the people I have talked to, who have one, were encouraging. The equipment consists a behind the ear microphone, speech processor and rechargeable battery, similar to a larger hearing aid (there are either four of the larger hearing aid batteries or, recently a single rechargable one). This has to be recharged every night. The electronics section, under the scalp is connected to the microphone via a round magnetised connector and thin cable.

Cochlear Implant      cochlear implant outer

The operation is done under anesthetic and takes up to three hours.  One is warned that you might have some pain from the surgery and the likelihood of balance problems due to the leakage of fluids which are contained in the cochlear and what I call the gyroscopes.  The two are connected. The fluid is what causes you to feel giddy if you play that game where someone turns you round quickly with your head down.

I did not feel too bad when I woke up.  Spent the night in hospital with a dressing over the wound and was allowed to return home the following day after a visit from the surgeon. (Day 1) I felt decidedly 'light headed' and he asked me to walk to the room door and back, which I managed to do quite well.  I was not allowed to drive, however, but returned home feeling that everything had gone very well. (Day 2-3) After a couple of days my balance deteriorated and I found myself needing to hang onto the bannister going downstairs and feeling for a wall here and there, although I could walk without aid if I concentrated. I even found I could ride a bicycle. (Day 3) One night I was woken by dizziness three times in succession and was sick; a VERY unpleasant feeling which I had not experienced since I was quite young. I did not expect this and became very distressed, thinking I would never again be able to sleep without the worry that I would wake up dizzy. I decided to prop myself up in bed for the rest of that night and subsequent nights and the dizziness did not recur.  I continued to get occasional head and ear aches but had been given Ibuprofen and Paracetemal  tablets in case I was uncomfortable. (Day 4) Another surprise was the loss of sensation on the side of the tongue where the operation was and also a loss of taste. This is, apparently, normal. We rang the hospital who indicated that there were various side effects and that it was early days. 25th March 08.  The taste buds revived after a few days I became less unbalanced after about three weeks.  More a question of my brain being accustomed to the new situation than any repair of the balance mechanism. Had a checkup and head x-ray 15th April. Everything appears satisfctory so far.  I found that my driving was not affected, even during the period when my balance was disturbed, so went back to driving about ten days after the operation. 28th April: Have just received a list of appointments and am disappointed to see that my next one is on the 20th May, which means that I have had to wait TWO MONTHS after my operation before the device will be switched on and I can learn whether I have had any hearing restored to that ear.  As I am struggling on with one feeble hearing aid (the hearing having been destroyed in my implanted ear), things have become MORE difficult and I have to ask people to write things down. I find that the grandchildren are more understanding than adults in this respect. I think it is difficult for adults, who have known you as a hearing person, to grasp that just talking louder does not help much. More news later

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OTIS EXTERNA  An article extracted from www. deafnessresearch.org.uk : Otitis externa is a common complaint that affects people of all ages. It is an inflammation and sometimes infection of the skin of the ear canal that can cause symptoms such as itchiness, dulled hearing and pain. Swimming is a common cause of otitis externa, especially in regular swimmers. Sometimes it can causes hearing loss and pain

In one case the treatment followed this course. The patient saw an ENT nurse. His ear was so inflamed that she could not see into it. She washed out the infected debris, dried the ear canal and placed a dressing covered in antibiotics into the ear and was then able to use a camera to show what it looked like. The skin was still very sore and red and there was a build up of dry wax. After two weeks, she was able to further clean his ear, removing remaining debris and renewing the dressing. After several weeks the ear was totally free from infection.

Deafness Research UK has produced a leaflet, Trouble with your ears?, that includes advice and information on ear infection, ear discomfort and problems with earwax. For a free copy of the leaflet, or to speak to a member of our Information Service, please call the Deafness Research UK Information Service on 0808 808 2222 or e-mail info@deafnessresearch.org.uk

SKYPE. April 2008 This is another of the messenger services which allow audio chat, text chat and video with people who have the same set up, anywhere in the world, at no additional cost.  Just broadband. Helping someone set up took just one week, from ordering a webcam from Ebuyer to actually seeing and hearing each other.  With my 2Mb broadband there appeared to be no delay in the speech and we haven't been troubled by sound or picture drop outs or feedback even though we are using a webcam with internal microphone and separate speakers. So this really does score highly. There are 3 picture sizes from full screen to tiny.  With full screen there was no way to see and type text. And for me it is essential for me to have this as a back up. But the picture would certainly help deaf people who lip read.

Deafness  Female sex hormone’ protects hearing in males and females.  The development of new treatments for hearing loss may soon be possible after new research on receptors (proteins which receive chemical signals) for the female sex hormone estradiol. One of three types of oestrogen, estradiol normally regulates the menstrual cycle and helps the development of a female body. It is known that changes in levels of the hormone can affect hearing in women throughout their menstrual cycle and after the menopause. Estradiol is also present in men, synthesised from testosterone by the enzyme aromatase. In elderly men, the hormone regulates bone formation and cardiovascular tone. In addition to its gender-specific effects, the hormone also promotes cell survival in both men and women. Now Professor Barbara Canlon and her colleagues at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute have found that estradiol has a protective effect on hearing.  “This is the first study to show that the male auditory system has oestrogen receptors and they seem to function in the same manner as in females” says Professor Canlon, who adds that because products which activate ER-beta are already available on the market, “clinical trials should not be far off”. The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

April 08  Encouraging stories from people who have found work despite their deafness.  See http://www.workingwithouthearing.com/s/stories.htm

Deafness is no joke but is often a cause in mirth in people.  So, I had better join them : Three old guys are out walking.  First one says, "Windy, isn't it?"  Second one says, "No, its Thursday!"   Third one says, "So am I. Let's go  for a beer"  "Right. You know, I just got the latest hearing aid.  I can hear every word you say"  " That's great, what type is it ?"  It is nearly two o'clock we had better hurry up to the pub.

The Assus Minibook fro Research Machines is £169 or £199.  It runs the Linux operating system (free) and has Open Office (free), webcam, microphone, speech recognition, wireless, 3 USB sockets and an SD card slot so the solid hard disk can be increased from 2 Gb to 10gb minimum.  See the very complimentary comments from teachers at http://www.rm.com/primary/products/product.asp?cref=PD1030046  Is this my dream come true at last ?  And at a fraction of the cost of a digital hearing aid.

If you are looking for a good amplified telephone the following has been recommended by a friend :  Geemarc CL100 Amplified Telephone with Volume & Tone Control. Around £30. It is said to be better (adjustable) for people with high frequency hearing impairment (most older people) and has induction loop (T position) to work with hearing aids.

The David Ormerod Hearing Centres in Boots are now advertising digital aids from £495 per pair.  More expensive models (up to £1600 (pair) are claimed to have superior feedback control, auto volume control, background noise reduction, extra speech emphasis, echostop and wind rush managing.  It seems as if hearing aids are getting more sophisticated and cheaper (like computers)

In an article in the Mail Sir Rocco Forte described his early deafness, due in part to discos and pheasant shooting. He reckons his £5,000 aids are great for him. They have multiple microphones, which help with direction and frequency but also have remote control . He also uses a streamer, which is a Bluetooth device, which directs calls from his mobile phone to his hearing aids.  But he finds that rather fiddly.

If you think that you might benefit from some form of hearing aid but would like to try a cheaper alternative here are a couple of suggestions, though I cannot claim to have tried either : (1) The Magniear 9000 Ultra is an in-the-ear aid costing just £14.99 from www.personalchoice.net/pc  (2) The Smart Ear is a receiver which clips to a belt and has two earpieces like an iPod. £19.95 + P & P from 0871 434 4350 90 day trial with money back guarantee

December 07 Identifying ‘Dead regions’ and improving hearing aid tuning - Cambridge  Prof. Brian Moore has been examining the effectiveness of current hearing tests in identifying “dead regions” – areas of the inner ear where there are no hearing cells left. In the lab, the team developed a technique that was able to map the dead regions. They then compared their results to those produced by tests used in audiology clinics and found that the standard tests often missed these areas. Hearing aids are tuned according to the pattern of hearing loss identified by the tests and it is now apparent that people with dead regions are not getting the best out of their aids. Professor Moore, who has been leading this work, is confident that he can develop a test for dead regions that can be run on existing audiological testing equipment. We have therefore launched a project to adapt the lab-based test so that it can be run on equipment that is already available in audiology clinics.

December 07 New hair cell culturing method for hearing loss. In a breakthrough that is likely to accelerate research designed to find cures for hearing loss, tinnitus, and balance problems, scientists have perfected a technique that provides a reliable new source of cells critical to understanding certain inner ear disorders. The cells, known as hair cells, are the essential sound and balance detectors in the inner ear. Damage to these cells is a key factor in loss of hearing and balance and, while birds, fishes, and amphibians can quickly regrow damaged hair cells, humans cannot. Until now, scientists seeking clues to this problem have been hampered by the difficult procedures required to gather these cells for their research. In the September edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), US researchers Zhengqing Hu and Jeffrey Corwin, both of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, describe a new technique for isolating and growing cells from the inner ears of chicken embryos. The scientists achieved these results by inducing avian cells to differentiate into hair cells. They were able to freeze and thaw the cultured cells, then grow new cells from the thawed cultures - a discovery that will make hair cells accessible to more researchers. The study of hair cells is crucial to understanding hearing loss because we are born with a limited number of these sound detectors in each ear, which can be easily damaged by age, certain illnesses, loud noises, and adverse reactions to medications. "Until now, scientists working to understand many inner ear disorders had to resort to difficult micro-dissections to gather even small numbers of these cells, which limited the types of research that could be pursued and slowed the pace of discoveries," says Corwin. The availability of vials of frozen cells that can be induced to form hair cells should remove a significant barrier to progress toward the development of treatments for the many patients who suffer from hearing loss and balance problems.

November 2007.  Brilliant discovery!  I got NTL/Virgin to install cable TV. In their effort to compete with Sky they are offering Broadband, telephone line and TV for £30 a month. Which is less than I have been paying for BB and telephone.  But the great discovery was that, though not all the programs have sub titles the main ones do AND MY VIDEO RECORDER RECORDS THE SUBTITLES !  I was disappointed at first to find no subtitles but with the help of an on lin contact I was able to turn that facility on.  Thanks Ellen !  I believe that Freeview and SKY offer the same facility

July 2007 A report from Deafnessresearch.org.uk says: A tiny electrode array placed directly in the auditory nerve could overcome the limitations of cochlear implants. Scientists at the University of Michigan Kresge Hearing Research Institute have shown that it's possible to implant a tiny, ultra-thin electrode array that can successfully transmit a wide range of sounds to the brain into the auditory nerve of animals. Apart from the fact that it is likely that it could ADD TO existing hearing (unlike a Cochlear implant) the array uses much less power and would not require the daily charging of batteries need by an implant device. 

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6056526.stm  for the (not very exciting) news from Teltec and RNID about textphones.

For people who wish to use a mobile phone with hearing aids in the T position it is necessary to purchase a T-link device and some phones also require an adapter. Not very expensive. See http://www.deafequipment.co.uk/store/viewCategory.do?id=299.

Another brilliant service can be found at www.jajah.com.  In this case you can use your own telephone but still make a call via you computer line either free or very cheaply.  You can even try it without registering.  Basically you just type in your friends number and click Call.  Because the program has you own number it phones you back and you can then pick up the phone and talk as normally. If you have a corded telephone with T position capability this means that you can use it this way. 

Electronic Note Takers. These are people who sit by the deaf person and interpret what is being said at a meeting/lecture and typing it in large format on a laptop.  They can then let the deaf person have a printed copy of the talk/lecture. Although this is not quite what I was proposing lower down the page this may help, especially if you are hoping to study.  You will probably find that their are funds available to help with the cost.  For such a service in Norfolk see http://www.wordwise-web.co.uk/

A little progress:  A friend runs a film club locally, using a computer, DVDs and a projector. I suggested that on one of the show nights he could turn on the DVD subtitles and he has agreed to do this.

TINNITUS

There are four million people in the UK who suffer from tinnitus (ringing in the ears). And more than 300,000 are so badly affected that they cannot lead a normal life. The origin of these "phantom sounds" is not yet known, which is a major obstacle in the search for a cure. Tinnitus often accompanies hearing loss. Studies in animals have shown that hearing loss due to damage to the inner ear can cause tinnitus around the same time as activity increases in certain parts of the brain involved in processing sound. Scientists are not clear however whether this 'over-activity' is a cause of tinnitus or just a symptom of it.

The RNID has a page on Tinnitus and even a sample of the sound .  Click HERE I have read that there is some equipment that is suppose to mask the tinnitus sound. In my case I do not suffer from such sounds but, on occasion get repeated known tunes, which are impossible to stop.  I am sure I am not alone in this.  But it is probably not as annoying as tinnitus.

Researchers in Berlin have been looking at this by making a computer model of the hearing nerve and some parts of the brain the nerves signal to. One possibility is that the nerve cells try to compensate for the lack of stimulation after hearing loss by becoming easier to activate, even to the extent of generating signals without any sound being present. Using previous research on nerve signalling, they produced a model that shows the same increase in brain activity if nerves compensate for lack of sound as has been seen in laboratory research. This fits with the tinnitus theory that is behind the development of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) and the researchers have even used their model to demonstrate how therapies based on sound generators may be affecting the brain activity seen in tinnitus. They hope that this model could be useful in the future search for better tinnitus treatments.

Tinnitus (Mail 28/08/07) Research in Arkansas and Tuebingen (Germany) Universities, using magnetism applied to the brain has helped a number of people suffering from Tinnitus (ringing or other noises in the ears) The RNID estimates that as many as 7 million people in the UK suffer from this and, up until now, there has been no known cure.

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There are some interesting speeches (in PDF format) from the NATIONAL CONVENTION for DEAFENED PEOPLE held in September 2006 at Imperial College, London.  See www.linkdp.org for the contributions and  program of future events

In 2005 one speaker talked about subtitling in cinemas : "The technology is available today to get over this problem, so I am asking, why is it not there? For example, if any of you have been to Disney World in Florida or Disney Land in California, in the cinemas there, they have a system called reflective captioning. When you go in, you say, "I am deaf." They say, "Fine." They give you this piece of Perspex, which you can see through. You can sit anywhere in the auditorium and slot it into the seat in front of you. At the back of the auditorium is a screen on which the scripted film in subtitle format is projected in a mirror image. When you sit down, you adjust this Perspex and it reflects the subtitles in front of you, so you can watch the film and read the subtitles. No one else in the theatre can see them, so the argument of it spoils the film for other viewers doesn't apply. I am the only one who can see the subtitles. I can sit anywhere in the theatre, go to any performance I want and watch the film."

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The result of a survey done by Specsavers (admittedly not unbiased) Sunday Express 4th June 06 : The survey first points out that Amplivox also trade as Ultratone, Hearing Health, National Campaign for Better Hearing and Active Life.  Scrivens also trade as The Hearing Company.  What is remarkable is that the same aids sold by these companies from different outlets can vary so much in price. The comparisons are for a pair of digital aids in each case : The same pair of Siemens Phoenix aids from Hidden Hearing can vary from £900 to £2,398. (Wow!) Specsavers will charge you a standard £595 for the same product.  So someone is trousering £1803 in this instance or as much as £2205 if you go to Sietech Hearing.  It is scandalous !  What is all this rubbish about Consumer Protection ? Who cares ?  It is only the old and deaf who are being ripped off.

In yet another visit to the audiologist (Sept 06) they discovered that my high frequency hearing is almost nil.  The one good thing about this that she was able to retune my hearing aids to eliminate the high frequency range and boost the low.  The result was that the amplification was much greater - and with no feedback whistle.  In fact it is quite difficult to make the aids whistle - which is a relief for my wife as well as everyone else.  But the extra power has meant that I have to rapidly switch my aids off in noisy (low frequency) situations  - e.g. traffic - as it is so uncomfortable.  I really believe that this is damaging my remaining hearing but have no real alternative. On that subject the RNID are warning youngsters not to have their iPods up too high.  In a recent survey 8 out of 10 had them at over 80dB.  Damage starts at around 85dB.

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June 06.Just been in hospital for a gallstone op and had to tell at least 50 doctors and nurses that I couldn't understand a word they said and would they please write it down (despite a big notice daughter stuck over my head).  If only I had had that speech to text PDA. See next para.  See the Assus MiniBook at the top of the page

March 06 I am looking for a device that will translate speech to text on a portable device such as a PDA, iPod or telephone. I SIMPLY DO NOT ACCEPT what the RNID say about speech recognition software. i.e that the software and the technology is still incapable of being used in an 'untrained' way (Most PC software can only be used after it has been trained to recognise a voice). The problem is that speech recognition software is designed to help bosses who can't type, to produce a word processed document with at least 95% accuracy. But subtitling on TV appears 'on the fly' even when strangers are being interviewed.  And  I SIMPLY DO NOT ACCEPT that someone is typing away furiously as they speak (although they DO make occasional corrections). The story is that there is a lady who has the ability to listen to what is said and speaks into a microphone and the text is produced by the software.  I now have "Dragon Naturally Speaking" speech recognition software and can say it is very accurate. The mistakes or 'funnies' that appear are as a result of misinterpretation by the software but also because of the inferiority of microphones.  One MUST have a USB or Webcam type microphone, rather than a plug-in type. But subtitles (funnies included) are essential to my TV watching. Who cares if what appears is not absolutely correct? I can fill in the details from the context.  No problem ! So, what we need is a programmer or company which has the courage to develop software that interprets sound as text regardless of their spelling and then 'ports' it to a hand-held device such as an iPod or mobile phone. See more on this lower down the page under "The Future".  If the handheld computer is still considered too feeble they how about the processing being done elsewhere.  After all, a road tracking device reacts to where a car is almost instantaneously.  So, how about speech recognition via satellite ? The data about the roads is input to the car's software via a memory device (a DVD) or is input to a TomTom.  So why not a speech recognition program or dictionary ? All that is needed is a program that will translate speech phonetically. It doesn't matter how it is spelt or even if the words join up.  "dyoomeentosaythatyoocanotreedthis ?"  But the it is essential that the speech recognition software is capable of interpreting voices without training, so anyone can be understood.  The following sentence is being a dictator (x) using the Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. It took only about 30 minutes to train the software and it is expected to become more accurate it (x) I use it frequently.          (x) denotes errors

What was it that Barnes Wallis used to say: "Why not?  Why not?".  I will keep on saying it until it happens.

I do get the most facetious arguments against this idea.  One audiologist in South Africa I had emails from said " Ah ! But what if you go blind ?!" Really!

Averatec.com were to sell (late '06) a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) for around $800 - £350. It would contain XP Home edition, a small keyboard, a ULU Celeron M processor, 512Mb memory, 30gb hard disk, 56k modem, Bluetooth and WIFI. Sounded good and there is even a picture on the site but I think it was more of a dream than reality - a sort of 'Concept Car' of the computer world.  Wonder if it will do Speech to Text for me.....Well,  with Windows XP, Speech recognition software should/MUST work. But it never came about... and certainly not at that price.

The Averatec UMPC

Ok, we even had some preliminary specs here! Look out for a 1GHz Celeron M, 30 or 40GB drive, up to 1GB RAM, 1.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, WAN optional, 4-in-1 card reader, external VGA and audio outs, and a 5-inch 800 x 480 display and still talking $800

April 2006.  We are getting there ! Microsoft has unveiled an Ultra-Mobile Computer, which is a little larger than a PDA, uses Intel chips, has up to 60Gb hard disk and runs Windows XP for tablet PCs.  This is much more adaptable than the software that most PDAs use. As was suggested by me in 1980 it will not have a keyboard, though a USB one could be added. So, I presume it will accept standard Speech recognition software and my wife will not have to write things down for me.

Skype, (www.skype.com) - the free telephone via Internet system, keeps on developing, though some of the facilities to land lines are charged.  It is now possible to use Skype with a webcam. With SkypeOut you can call ordinary landline phones and with SkypeIn it is possible for people to call your special Skype number from a landline phone.  Providing you have a handheld computer with Windows Mobile 5.0 or 2003 for Pocket PC .a 312MHz processor and a high speed wireless Internet connection it will be possible for people to call you (or you call them) anywhere there is a Wi-Fi facility. Using Skype it is even possible to have a conference call with up to nine people !!

Don't underestimate the use of the internet for phone calls. There are two advantages for hard of hearing people.  First you will be able to hear calls via your speakers at a level of amplification set by yourself, SO you can hear with BOTH ears and with hearing aids in place.  Secondly Skype reckons their calls are better than via a standard telephones, which have a very narrow frequency range.  This means that high frequency sounds, such as S and F at the beginning of words, are lost to the hard of hearing.  Skype technology gives a much wider range of frequency, which is why I was able to hear a conversation from folks in Australia better than I could a phone call from next door. And, if you have speech but little hearing why not try and get all you contacts on Skype, MSN or Yahoo.  That way they can text you and you can talk back to them. For more details click Here.  

The RNID sends this message "Want to Hear More? If you're not hearing as well as you used to, or feel someone near you may be missing out, call 0845 600 55 55 now and take our five-minute telephone hearing check. For more information visit www.breakingthesoundbarrier.org.uk"  But bear in mind that you are getting the call via the poor phone system... see above. But you CAN take the test on the RNID.org site

I thought it might be interesting to join a discussion group at Deaf-UK and inadvertently added my email address.  I subsequently had my mailbox inundated with email discussions which were quite irrelevant to me.  Even though I am quite skilled at such things I had a dickens of a job to stop receiving the plethora of arguments that were apparently raging on this site.  In the end, after unsubscribing several times, I redirected the discussions to an e-mail address I invented !  I trust no-one else uses that address.  Most unlikely !

I have been saying it for years : there ought to be automatic conversion of telephone conversations to text.  The people who have done this are at www.spinvox.com.  For a fee of 25p per message they will convert Voicemail (messages left on your mobile phone number) to text (to your mobile or your e-mail). And the RNID still say this was not possible with today's technology.

Jan 06 Is it finally happening?  Computer Active reports (Issue 127) that the RNID is calling on mobile phone companies to use new software that makes it easier for deaf people to communicate by mobile phone.  To quote : "The interactive texting service developed by the charity uses the Internet for character-by-character text communications for real-time conversations. Does this mean that anyone with a modern mobile phone (see below) could have text conversations of unlimited duration just by talking ? Which is the sort of thing that I have been rattling on about for years.  Unfortunately, no.  Well, I tried to find out from the Techie at RNID but am still mystified.  I mean, anyone can text.  Does it mean folk have to spell out " H E L L O " and it will send it as text.  If so, that is a no-no.

Nokia Communicator 9210 mobile phone

Texting is cumbersome compared with typing (easier on a phone like the Nokia above) Most ISP's allow the creation of SMS on a computer and there is usually a charge but the possibility of automatic speech to text conversion would give new hope to many deaf people. The RNID still reckons that is miles away due to people's accents, the lack of power in handheld computers and mobile phones, the poor quality of microphones and the trouble with ambient sound levels. But texting does not have to be grammatically correct.  In fact, most texting is reduced to simple things like R U OK, C U L8R !

Another gadget ! 

Textphone

A Magic Messenger textphone costs around £20  (www.thegadgetstore.com)

This phone will enable you send or receive text messages. It works best with a caller display service. There’s no cost for receiving incoming text messages and you’ll be billed for the messages that you send on your home phone bill (your service provider will advise you of the cost of your messages). If, after 3 months, you decide to cancel the Caller Display service, you’ll be able to continue to send text messages but all incoming texts will be converted to digitised speech. Similarly, if you send texts to people who do not have a Magic Messenger, these messages will automatically be converted to speech. The phone will ring and the text message will be replayed in a synthesised voice.

A major site is the National Association for Deafened People is www.nadp.org.uk This is an association for people who become deaf in later life. It is for people who are more than just 'hard of hearing.
Amongst other things they sell  related publications : Cochlea Implants 3rd Edition NADP £5.00 Disability Living Allowance (Working age Deafened people can claim it) Appeals and the Law Obtainable from The Link Centre, price £4  NADP Information Booklet NADP £2.50  Working without Hearing Mark Weston £3.00  Communication Tips NADP Free  The NADP Information Leaflet & Membership Information NADP Free
NADP details : PO Box 50, Amersham, Buckinghamshire HP6 6XB, Telephone: 01227 379538 (answer phone), Textphone: 01227 762879, Fax: 01227 379538

See below for many more links to sites concerned with deafness

Did you know that BT offers a free (normally £1.75 a month) Caller Display if you sign up to BT Privacy ? This enables you to see who is calling before you pick up the phone. This is an attempt to reduce the nuisance of  unwanted calls.  These can also be reduced by opting into the Telephone Preference scheme.  See www.btplc.com/age_disability

Disability Living Allowance

Did you know that deafened people are entitled to claim the DLA?

The DLA is a benefit to help people with disabilities and includes people who have become deafened. It is a non- means tested benefit and is tax free. It is available for anyone between the ages of 16 and 65 years.(foiled again!)  Many deafened people do not claim the DLA. This is partly because they are not aware they are entitled to it, and partly because the DLA form can be complicated to fill in - many questions may initially not appear relevant to people with a hearing loss. However, help is at hand. The LINK Centre has joined forces with the National Association for Deafened People and Enfield Disability Action to publish a booklet called 'Disability Living Allowance - deafened people can claim it'. It gives step by step, question by question guidance with filling in the DLA form with specific reference to deafness and communication. There is also a secondary leaflet giving help in the event that your first application is turned down, and you have to appeal. The cost is £2.40 (plus 60p p&p) for the main booklet and £1.00 (plus 60p p&p) for the appeals leaflet. Alternatively order both for a total of £4.00. To order contact the LINK Centre. To get hold of the DLA form, contact your local Benefits agency (www.disabilitybenefits.co.uk or www.dss.gov.uk).  

There are a number of sites which help with finger signing such as http://www.deafsign.com/ds/fingerspell/fs_b2h_key.cfm and http://www.deafsign.com/ds/fingerspell/fs_b2h_trans.cfm

Health briefings January 14, 2005 Gene that may no longer turn a deaf ear to old age By Mark Henderson, Times Science Correspondent
Age-related deafness, which affects one in three people by the age of 70, is generally caused by the loss of many of the 50,000 hair cells that line the cochlea of the inner ear. The cells form a ribbon of vibration sensors which pick up sound waves and trigger nerve impulses that travel to the auditory cortex of the brain, but they are easily damaged by noise, infection or toxins. As mammals are born with all the hair cells they will ever have, and they do not regenerate when the cells die, the steady cell loss that accompanies aging causes irreversible deafness.

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, however, have shown that knocking out a gene in mice can kick-start the regeneration of hair cells in the inner ear, raising the prospect of regrowing replacements that could reverse deafness. The results, which were published in the journal Science, indicate that similar genetic triggers could be used to regenerate other types of cell that do not normally regrow after injury, particularly neurons for treating degenerative brain conditions or paralysis. Unfortunately, the mice that had the gene turned off also started getting disoriented.


 So, how do you like it, eh ?


So, although there is hope for the future, for now it seems likely that if they turn off this gene your hearing may return but you may finish up going round in circles. What's new ? Don't hold your breath.

The principle behind high frequency deafness is a biological reality that hearing experts refer to as presbycusis, or aging ear. Most adults over 40 or 50 seem to have some symptoms. This fact has been exploited by a security company, which invented a high frequency sound called the Mosquito.  Played in area where young undesirables gather they disperse, unable to stand the noise, whilst most adults are unaffected.  But youth has hit back by downloading a similar sound and using it as a ring tone on their mobile phones.  This enables them to hear their phone ring in class, whilst the teacher is blithely unaware ! So, if you are deaf and find it difficult to hear your mobile ring, select the lowest frequency ring tone you can find.

My own experience :

I have found that deafness is that it is extremely disabling and particularly embarrassing.  When people look at me as some sort of idiot I feel like shouting "I am DEAF NOT DAFT". I often just give up when making an enquiry at a shop as it is just too embarrassing to try and get the answer I am seeking.  You can't expect a cashier in a busy, noisy checkout to write it down when you have just requested cashback and the girl has asked some unintelligible question, which you have asked her to repeat three times. Probably something simple like "Would you like tens or twenties ?"

Surrounding noise is a nuisance.  Chatting in a pub is impossible, never mind a disco, where normal people have a problem.
Some sounds are easier to understand than others. My deafness started (as with many people) in the high frequency range. This doesn't necessarily mean high pitch but men's voices are easier to understand than women's.  But the beginnings of words tend to be high frequency so one misses that important part. Numbers are particularly difficult.  They don't relate to other parts of the sentence so you can't hazard a guess.  In fact the context in which something is said is important and a completely new conversational direction can throw me completely.  Also one does not realise how much one gets from facial expression and lip reading.  I think everyone does it but it is more important for the deaf person.

I find that the main difficulty with hearing aids is "feedback" or the whistle that is produced when the aid is turned up.  This occurs especially if the ear mould is not fitting correctly. What hearing people don't realise is that people with a high frequency deafness do not even hear that whistle which is annoying them. Recently I have been given a soft mould, which is somewhat better at staying in contact and limiting feedback. It is a bit like pushing chewing gum in your ear but it is an improvement. Tiny (expensive) aids are no use to me because the work their way out as I talk or eat!  Many people give up on hearing aids because they are uncomfortable.  They also encourage infection in the ear because of the lack of ventilation. I use a small bottle of stuff from the doc and squirt that in occasionally. Otherwise I get an infuriating and unscratchable itch. Fairly recently my tests showed that I have NO high frequency hearing. So the audiologist was able to tune the aid to ignore high frequencies and concentrate on the low. At least this has almost eliminated the feedback whistle.

One problem is that my threshold of aural pain is the same as it ever was, so there is a limit to which one can increase the volume of hearing aids.  I dislike the frequent assessment tests I get because I am unable to hear some loud test sounds but they send my head in a spin.  It is a serious form of torture.  I do wonder, too, whether just getting more amplified aids uses up what residual hearing I have more quickly.  So, from the point of view of the effectiveness of hearing aids I have probably reached the end of the road.  What is now being considered is the possibility of a Cochlear Implant.  This is a an operation which inserts electrodes in the inner ear, by-passing the damaged or atrophied hairs which act as sensors. It is quite a serious operation with some risks and the results I am told are not really normal hearing and the electrodes sometimes have to be replaced.  For more information on Cochlear Implants please click on.www.nciua.demon.co.uk/citech1.htm

So far my technology includes

Cordless flashing door chime (Social Services) Plus another Friedland upstairs.
A Uniphone (Minicom) typetalk telephone ( Social Services) See Typetalk below.
A Teletext-enabled TV for subtitles on 888 - probably the most useful of all. *
My PC with e-mail. Many friends are also on SKYPE, MSN or AOL Buddy lists so Instant text chat is possible
Two digital hearing aids (NHS) The latest is a Danavox 283D. It is powerful and has a number of (pretty useless) features but the idiots forgot to add a switch.  The only way to switch it off is to open the battery compartment.  So the battery falls out often. And a quick switch off (when a bus goes by or the grandchildren are squabbling) is not easy  I have cured this problem with some very low-tech stuff called Blu-tak!  No, not in my ears.  Just a small spot to keep the battery in place.
Two BT amplified/speaker telephones, one with headset + handset (one for each ear)
I see the RNID are now selling a variable amplifier you can add to any phone and also a text phone

Graphic of BT phone amplifier. Product L274


I have a Sony infra-red plug-in for the TV with cordless double earphones
Also a microphone, amplifier and neck loop, which is used with the hearing aid T position.(Social Services) My version uses wires but another type does not require a direct connection (see below).  The speaker and listener both wear neck loops

Conversor wireless loop aid £325

The Conversor cordless neck loop system, used with a hearing aid.  Not funded by the NHS or Social Services in the UK. It enables you to hear the other person in another room if they are wearing a microphone, hear TV, or even find someone in a hypermarket !

Saving TV Subtitles ?  To some extent this has been overcome by the provision of subtitles as an option on many DVDs

Caption Save cartoon shows video recorder wanting subtitles

TV subtitles Nov 07 Re this subject I have found that Virgin TV allows the recording of subtitles. : One of the greatest helps  for deaf people is subtitling on TV. I understand that some Video Recorders used to record the subtitles of programs but I was dismayed to read  : "VCRs with subtitling recording facilities are now no longer available " One solution was explained by Colin Foxton, the managing director of Sarabec. Colin says "With the advent of digital terrestrial TV through the BBC, there is now a much cheaper solution. Purchase a FreeView digital TV set top decoder, about £30 from Dixons/Comet etc This will enable you to record subtitles to any VCR". Well, I got a set top box and it didn't work without an ugly outside aerial.

However, if you are willing to fit the aerial yourself and are assured that you are in the Postcode area for terrestrial digital reception you could economise a little.......

Picture of a DIY digital aerial. £40

The RNID magazine "One in Seven" had an article on this subject.  Their verdict was (in order to record subtitles) to get a Sky.  Like Virgin they are doing a special offer. 

Most professional DVDs have subtitles in numerous languages and these are playable on most DVD players (from around £17.99)  In fact, a friend who runs a cinema club, is promising to have a subtitled evening.  With a laptop and a projector this is simple these days.  And projectors are way down in price.  I saw a 2000 lumens one is now under £400.

Cinemas with captions on screen.
Currently there are only 22 cinemas in England with Captioning equipment.  And the Lottery Fund is providing this equipment for a further 78 cinemas.

If you are in a theatre or cinema, especially in London, do ask about their facilities. Some provide special earphones that pick up the sound. Some small theatres have loop systems that enable your hearing aid to pick up sound when it is put into the T position but you need to be sitting in the right place and, with the older type of aid you need to turn it up to maximum. And if you belong to a film club which projects DVDs you could ask them to turn on the subtitles.

Typetalk. BT provides a service which can be used in connection with a Minicom textphone.

Photo of Teltec Minicom phone

This involves a third party who types out what your caller says and this appears as text on a small screen on the phone. When someone calls you or you call them a special number has to entered before the main number. People who also have difficulty talking, as well as hearing, can type what they have to say but for the hard of hearing they can talk in the normal way. Because such conversations take a little longer than usual BT gives up to 60% discount on the call charges.  So a 20p call would only cost 8p. I do have one of these devices but must admit I have not used it often and will probably give it back.  It obviously needs awareness on the part of callers how to use the system and you yourself have to get used to the operation of the machine. The Nokia Communicator 9210 mobile phone (along with Vodaphone) is one of the only ones so far capable of connecting to the Typetalk system and it can also receive answers as text on its screen. It must also be used in connection with the Vodaphone service. Hopefully this will become more commonplace with mobile phones and providers See also www.spinvox.com which will automatically translate voicemail (left on mobiles) to text.

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Lipreading. I have attended lipreading classes, though it is not a simple skill.  Some sounds look very much like others.  For instance the tutor carefully considered the words Fashionable and Vegetable and declared that they were nearly identical to the lip reader.  One has to take the context into account. So, watch out when you tell a lip reader she is fashionable. Also, the dialect that a person uses can confuse. The words Bath /'Barth' or Laugh/'Larf' look different if said by a Southerner or a Northerner (UK). And it is surprising how much one can glean from facial expressions and body language.  I have also used a lipreading video, which helps as you can go over it again and again. In the words of a well know supermarket "Every Little Helps!"

Hearing Dogs :  You can apply to www.hearing-dogs.co.uk Tel 01844 348 100 (voice & minicom) Fax 01844 348 101 E-mail info@hearing-dogs.co.uk  if you are severely hard of hearing or profoundly deaf ; need assistance to be made aware of sounds like the alarm clock, doorbell, telephone, smoke alarm etc.;  want to feel independent from your family or colleagues, or if you spend a lot of time alone,  can provide a dog with proper exercise, grooming, food and medical care (help may be given if this is difficult for you), would enjoy the close company of a dog, and want to build a working partnership with one, don't have other dogs at home (except perhaps for an elderly pet dog), are over 18 years of age There is quite a long waiting list and the procedure is very carefully controlled.

Shopping/Banking.  Supermarkets are easy unless they start asking you questions at the till.  But you can have great problems in many places. I have got to the stage of asking people to write things down. I often find that tills do not show the cash required and I finish up offering a note and getting a load of change. I find that banks are impossible because they usually have a glass screen and their loop system are rarely much use. Far better to put your accounts on the net and use ATMs. Switching money around on line is a joy compared with trying to deal over a counter.  

The Future ? My own wish list includes a device which would interpret people's speech as text.  This is already possible, of course, with a PC. All you have to do is get hold of some software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking or IBM Via Voice and give your PC a short training course in your speech.  But that is not very helpful when you are out and about.  The same software would work on a  laptop or, better still, a tablet PC, which are about 10 inches square and less than an inch thick and do not necessarily need a keyboard.  But the real answer would be porting the software to a PDA (personal digital assistant) such as an O2 , Ipod or even a telephone.  Up until now such devices do not use Windows XP etc but  use a slimmed down version such as Windows CE or a totally different Operating System such as Palm. However, with the miniaturisation of memory and solid hard disks there is no technical reason why such a device should not be capable of holding a speech recognition program including its dictionary of words. Preferably the program should be held in 'flash' memory so it would be readily available and fast.  Having programs and a dictionary ' burnt in' is not a new technique.  The sinclair ZX80  (1980) held programs such as Basic, as did early BBC micros. All that would then be required would be an updateable dictionary and a two line display.  Providing it was clear it would not matter if it was a mono display, which would be cheaper and would take less power.  Microphones are often a weak link in the recording chain - witness anyone talking on TV has a mike pinned to them and probably a chunk of electronics in the small of their back.  But technology is advancing in the field of wireless transmission and my preferred device would have WiFi capability so that a WiFi microphone could be used by the person talking, whether they were two feet away or in the next room (or at the front of a lecture theatre).  Of course, this would mean that I would be looking down at my palmtop device all the time.  So, with WiFi (or Bluetooth), why not transmit the text from the device to a pair of glasses? It is surprisingly easy to see something an inch in front of your eyes.  So, I would prefer that the text is streamed in front of me so I can look at someone at the same time as I am 'seeing what they say'.  I see that this idea is coming to fruition...............Good for Siemens.  Gosh they make hearing aids, too !

Article and photo of Siemens glasses with mini projector

All an amateur inventor's dream ?  I don't think so. The main problem is that most speech recognition development is being aimed at applications which can reduce staffing by automating call centres even further. For my purposes the speech recognition does not have to be 100% accurate.  Though instant subtitles on TV News sometimes make some funnies they are a great help to the hard of hearing.  That is all I am expecting on my future PDA.

Video glasses

This is another variation on the theme.  This £150 set is from www.Firebox.com. Whilst it is designed to view and hear videos stored on your iPod I see no reason why they should not be adapted to view text translated from speech.  But, of course, they would need to be either semi transparent of have a clear lens on one side.  I have written to the company.

The dream came a step closer with the invention of of new video technology called TOLED. Transparent, Organic, Light Emitting Diodes. These super efficient devices brighten like the back end of a firefly and, being semi transparent would be very suitable for the lenses.  Already Kodak has a digital camera which uses an OLED screen. Also, Toshiba has invented a 4 Gb hard disk which is 3mm thick ! So, it would fit into a PDA or phone even. And I understand that Intel has developed software which may help speech recognition software by reading a person's lips.

NEW ? : IBM engineers are developing a system for mobile phones that will enable you to switch seamlessly from sound to Speech-recognised text.  The idea behind this is to enable you to receive confidential calls. (New Scientist 07/02/04) I am, naturally, writing to them to point out the advantages of such a system to the one in seven people who are hard of hearing (over 30 million in the USA, 9 million in the UK) Also there is a development whereby software will lipread a person on TV  (or on a 3G phone?) and thus improve speech recognition software.

But do you think I can work up any enthusiasm for this brilliant idea.  Not on your nelly !  The standard response is that the technology is not that advanced . Rubbish !  These people must still be living in a cave !  But, if it sold more ring tones, or MP3 tunes or games they would be queuing up to get on the bandwagon. Don't they realise that the demography of the developed world will soon result in more elderly people than young ?!

However, having looked at the stab at Speech Recognition made by Vista (Feb 07) it is no wonder people are sceptical.  See this video of a poor guy trying to use it for programming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLqUf4cdwc&eurl=

There are numerous links to Internet sites which may prove useful

Suppliers of equipment

http://www.easylinkuk.co.uk.  Vibrating pagers for doorbells, smoke alarms etc..
http://www.connevans.com/   Full catalogue
http://www.sarabec.com  Get the catalogue
http://www.21stcenturyhearing.com/
http://www.rnid.org.uk/
http://www.teletec.co.uk  Captioned telephone service

Technical sites for speech recognition software
http://www.voicesignal.com/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cmusphinx/
www.intel.com /software (Lipreading software)
http://fife.speech.cs.cmu.edu/sphinx

The e-Sign Project' A downloadable Powerpoint presentation is available regarding the project, which is being developed in Hamburg, Holland and the University of East Anglia (UEA) and which aims to make information on websites more accessible to deaf people. Website pages would have a signing avatar (a computerised human figure). See HERE  

This will mean that when you see this symbol you can click on it and a person (an Avatar) will pop up and give you the information on that page in British sign language. The aim would be to make the software available to the deaf community so signing Avatars could be displayed on websites.

Editor :  To some degree this project has been overtaken by the use of video of signers as in the Deafconnections website above

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