Assistive Technology
Assistive technology refers to rehabilitative devices that improve the functioning capability of disabled individuals. There are three main types of assistive technology that aid the hearing impaired: assistive listening devices, visual technology and alerting devices. Audiologists can help patients choose the assistive technology that will best fit their specific hearing needs and teach patients how to properly use their devices.
Assistive Listening Devices
Assistive listening devices (ALD) aid people with all degrees of hearing loss in everyday communication situations. They can work with or without hearing aids. Many hearing aid users still have problems listening in noisy environments, listening to speakers from across great distances (a speech or a play), or listening in a room with poor acoustics. ALDs can help overcome these deficiencies.
Examples of ALDs
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One-to-one communicators- These devices allow a person to speak into a microphone that sends sound directly to one’s hearing aid. They are especially useful in noisy environments. The speaker also does not have to shout, and the conversation can remain private.
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Personal frequency modulation (FM) systems- These systems are like radio stations that operate on special frequencies. A receiver worn around the neck transmits sound to the hearing aid. The sound comes from a transmitter microphone used by a speaker, though in many public places, the transmitter is built into the general sound system.
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Infrared systems- This system is used with TV sets, and uses infrared light waves to transmit sounds. The infrared system sends a signal to a receiver worn by the hearing impaired listener, who can adjust the volume. This allows other TV watchers to listen at a volume that is not too loud.
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Other examples include telephone amplifying devices and direct-audio-input, which allows people to plug their hearing aids directly into an electronic device, like an ipod.
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Bluetooth adaptors that allow people with hearing loss to hear phone calls more easily, hear sound on T.V.’s at a louder volume than others sitting in the same room, amplify any device that uses Bluetooth technology.
Visual Technology
Visual technology refers to visual systems that aid the hearing impaired. These systems can be used with or without listening devices and hearing aids. The most common visual systems are closed captioning TV, computer speech recognition, which changes spoken messages into a word document and text telephones, which displays phone conversations on a screen and allows messages to be typed.
Alerting Devices
These devices can signal a person when a sound occurs. Alerting devices are set up to alert a person via vibration or visual signals about an environmental or home situation. For example, when the door bell rings or a fire alarm sounds, a device is triggered that flashes a light or vibrates a pager to notify the hearing impaired individual.
