Over the years tremendous progress has been made in the development of hearing devices for deaf and hearing impaired people. Unfortunately there are also many barriers in the way of getting the hearing aids to the people who need them. The main obstacle… money.
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key.
How Deaf People Think. Photo- Today I found out.
Excerpt: Helping the deaf to ‘see’ and ‘feel’ sound by Jonathan Kalan, BBC Future
“Earlier this summer in a packed and freezing-cold auditorium in Doha, the all-female team of students from Qatar University burst into cheers and tears as they were pronounced winners of the country’s INJAZ Young Enterprise of the Year Competition. As the crowd gave them a standing ovation, tiny LED lights flashed and faint vibrations could be seen and felt on the wrists of a few people in the audience – the reason for the team’s success. In just a few months, the young entrepreneurs designed, prototyped and even sold their idea called VibroHear – a sleek, colourful, and elegantly designed bracelet meant to give “a sense of security” and the “feeling” of sound to those with hearing disabilities… The hope is that this little bracelet will help alert deaf people to potential dangers – for example, a fire alarm or a honking car- while also enabling them to “feel” sound.To do so, however, it will have to overcome some substantial barriers that have thwarted other efforts in the past.
Diagram of early cochlear implant a device that allows severely deaf people to hear sounds. Photo- KPBS.
The major barrier [for deaf people] is trying to communicate like everyone else does, especially when dealing with strangers, or people who don’t know how to deal with individuals with hearing loss, says Thomas Fiddian, a technology specialist for UK-based charity Action on Hearing Loss, and former industrial designer…deaf people tend to rely more on technologies (like subtitles, captioning and hearing aids) on a day-to-day basis more than people with other disabilities…
There are many terrific concepts that exist, but the cost of going through R&D and actually bringing a product to market is more expensive than the return that a specialized product can offer. The biggest obstacle to developing niche technologies for deaf people, he says, is simply a case of supply and demand.
For example,in 2010 German designer Frederik Podzuweit came up with a collar concept called the “Music For Deaf People”, which converts sound input into vibrations which supposedly stimulate the exact sound-processing regions of the brain associated with full hearing. Instead of hearing sound, wearers can in effect “feel” it through their skin.
Collar concept called the Music For Deaf People by German designer Frederik Podzuweit . Photo- Magnetic.
Simpler services, such as iPhone apps like ClearCaptions (which is free for those with hearing loss, according to the company), adds instant captions to phone calls made on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
But the most promising innovation may soon be on the horizon: Google Glass. The camera and display built into spectacle frames, which projects a colour-image display with a live stream of information may only be in the hands of early adopters now.
Google’s Project Glass for deaf. Photo- change.org
But if this was coupled with Google’s existing real-time speech recognition and captioning software used on YouTube, for instance, Google Glass could actually enable live subtitling of real-time conversations, allowing deaf people to have a near fluid conversation while maintaining eye contact.”
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post
Level: Intermediate -Advanced
Language Skills: Reading, writing, speaking and listening. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.
Time: Approximately 2 hours.
Materials: Student handouts (from this lesson) access to news article, and video.
Objective: Students will read the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and learning new vocabulary. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through discussions, and writing.
I. Pre-Reading Activities
Stimulating background knowledge
Brainstorming
Directions: Place students in groups, ask students to think about what they already know about the topic. Next, have students look at the picture(s) in the text and generate ideas or words that may be connected to the article. Debrief as a class and list these ideas on the board. Students can use the UIE brainstorming chart (sample) for brainstorming the meanings. 
II. While Reading Activities
Vocabulary
Word Inference
Directions: Students are to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. They may use a dictionary or thesaurus for assistance. Have students use this vocabulary chart by Freeology as a guide. 
- In just a few months, the young entrepreneurs designed, and sold their idea.
- The VibroHear bracelet is a remarkably simple device.
- It will have to overcome some substantial barriers.
- These barriers have thwarted other efforts in the past.
- Deafness is ultimately an invisible disability.
- These tools are essential for regular communication and interactions, some.
- The glasses have seven tiny microphones fixed to the frame, which detect the location of a sound.
- The current prototype requires the user to carry a small laptop to process the signals.
- The idea was originally conceived for people who listen to music with earphones.
- The impact of such instant, wearable technology would be enormous for the deaf community.
Grammar Focus
Sentence Scramble
Directions: The following sentences from the article are scrambled. Have students unscramble each sentence. Students can find the original sentences in the reading to check their work.
- could gave As the crowd and faint them a standing ovation, vibrations be seen and felt tiny LED lights flashed
- disabilities designed this bracelet We with hearing to help have specially people get independent.
- you can’t see it in disability – Deafness is ultimately an invisible someone who has lost the way you can
- that see an arm or a leg.
- dealing with strangers The major barrier like everyone else [for deaf people] especially when is trying to communicate does
- resting The answer innovations cheaper to may actually be in our pockets.
Reading Comprehension
True /False/NA-Statements
Directions: Review the statements with students before the watching the video. As students listen to the video if a statement is true they mark it T. If the statement is not applicable, they mark it NA. If the statement is false they mark it F and provide the correct answer.
- The winners of the country’s INJAZ Young Enterprise of the Year Competition were from Harvard University.
- The young entrepreneurs designed, prototyped and even sold their idea called VibroHear.
- The VibroHear is a little device placed in the ear that will help alert deaf people to potential dangers.
- Some of the students who helped invent the VibroHear were deaf.
- The VibroHear will be available in two months.
- Deafness is ultimately an invisible disability.
- People in the deaf community are anxious about the new devices.
- Deaf people tend to rely more on assistance from hearing people.
- Researchers from the Korea designed a pair of glasses that can help deaf people “see sound”.
- The biggest obstacle to developing niche technologies for deaf people, is a case of supply and demand.
III. Post Reading Tasks
WH-How Questions
Directions: Have students use the WH-question format to discuss or to write the main points from the article.
- Who or What is the article about?
- Where does the action/event take place?
- When does the action/event take place?
- Why did the action/event occur?
- How did the action/event occur?
Discussion/Writing Exercise
Directions: Place students in groups and have them answer the following questions. After, have the groups share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the discussion topics.
Review ESL Voices Modes of Essay Writing.
- According to the article, what is the major obstacle for developing technologies for deaf people?
- Put the following statement into your own words, “While accurate numbers are hard to find, in the US and UK unemployment or underemployment rates for deaf people is at least double, if not far greater, than the general population.”
- Why might the VibroHear succeed where other haring devices have so far failed?
- With your group members create a list of jobs suitable for deaf people.
IV. Listening Activity
Video Clip: Hearing Device For Single Sided Deafness
The follwoing video clip discusses a new hearing device.
While Listening Activities
True /False/NA-Statements
Directions: Review the statements with students before the watching the video. As students listen to the video if a statement is true they mark it T. If the statement is not applicable, they mark it NA. If the statement is false they mark it F and provide the correct answer.
- The email was sent by a woman in Los Angeles, whose mother had an injury that resulted in partial hearing loss.
- Single sided deafness means the person has hearing in one ear only.
- Dr. Dereberry specializes in the treatment of speech loss.
- Dr. Dereberry is from Mobile, Alabama.
- There are two parts to this device, one part is a microphone that fits behind the ear, the other part fits over the tooth.
- The device helps a person hear through the good ear.
- The sound is transmitted through the bone.
- The device is very expensive.
- Good candidates for this device are teens 18 years and younger who have normal hearing in one ear.
- People can eat and drink with this device.
Post-Listening Activities
Questions for Discussion
Directions:Place students in groups and have them discuss the following questions.
1. After listening to this video what is your opinion about this hearing device?
2. With your group members, make up questions that you would like to ask the speakers.
3. What was the main idea in the video?
ANSWER KEY: Devices for the deaf.
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