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- From: Ann.Stalnaker@f2120.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Ann Stalnaker)
- Newsgroups: misc.handicap
- Subject: Be In The Know
- Message-ID: <26313@handicap.news>
- Date: 20 Jan 93 17:23:15 GMT
- Sender: news@bunker.shel.isc-br.com
- Reply-To: Ann.Stalnaker@f2120.n124.z1.fidonet.org
- Organization: FidoNet node 1:124/2120 - Fingers Talk, Irving TX
- Lines: 201
- Approved: wtm@hnews.fidonet.org
- X-Fidonet: Silent Talk Conference
- Originator: wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com
-
- Index Number: 26313
-
- [This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
-
- I found the below guide from the latest SHHH Journal to be very
- informative and wanted to share this with those of you who are not
- SHHH members. In addition, if there are any terms that you may think
- of that are not listed, please share them with us.
- =========================================================================
-
- A Complete Guide to Terminology About Hearing
- Loss and Communication Access
-
- * ALERTING DEVICE - Visual or tactile devices to alert a person who
- cannot hear to door knocks, telephone rings, fire alarms, etc.
-
- * AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) - The 'Americans With
- Disabilities Act of 1990' Public Law 101-336 prohibits
- discrimination on the basis of disability by private entities.
-
- * AMPLIFIED PHONE (Also called VOLUME CONTROL TELEPHONE) - Phone
- equipped with volume control on the handset. Public coin-operated
- phones have a volume control button on the wall unit.
-
- * ASSISTIVE LISTENING DEVICE (ALD) - Technical tool to assist deaf/
- hard of hearing people, with or without a hearing aid. It brings
- the speaker's voice directly to the ear. Helps to overcome the
- problems of distance and surrounding noise.
-
- * AUDIO LOOP (INDUCTION LOOP) - Uses electromagnetic waves for
- transmission of sound. The sound from an amplifier is fed into
- the wire loop surrounding the seating area (or worn on the
- listener's neck) which broadcasts to a telecoil that serves as a
- receiver. Hearing aids without a T-switch to activate a telecoil
- can use a special induction receiver to pick up the sound.
-
- * AUXILIARY AIDS and SERVICES - The Department of Justice regulation
- provides a comprehensive list of auxiliary aids and services
- required by the ADA to help overcome communication barriers.
- Examples of auxiliary aids and services are assistive listening
- devices, interpreters, notetakers, captioning, etc.
-
- * CLOSED CAPTION - Text display of spoken dialogue and sounds on TV
- and videos visible only to those using a caption decoder or TV
- with built-in decoder chip.
-
- * COMMUNICATION ACCESS - Accommodations that provide an environment
- where persons with hearing loss can communicate.
-
- * COMPATIBLE TELEPHONE - Generates a magnetic field that can be picked
- up by turning on a T-switch to activate the telecoil in a hearing
- aid. "The Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988" mandates that
- all telephones manufactured in the United States from 1989 on
- should be hearing aid compatible.
-
- * COMPUTER-ASSISTED NOTETAKING - Visual display of the speaker's words.
- A notetaker types on a computer keyboard a summary of what is being
- said. The notes are displayed on a projection screen or monitor.
-
- * CUED SPEECH - A sound-based visual communication system which in
- English uses eight handshapes in four different locations ("cues"),
- in combination with the natural mouth movements of speech, to make
- all the sounds of spoken language look different.
-
- * DECIBEL (dB) - Unit used to express the intensity of a sound wave in
- logarithmic ratios to the base of ten. Sounds of different
- frequencies need to be from 0-20 dB in intensity to be heard by
- normal ears. If more than 20dB is needed, then further hearing
- evaluation would be recommended.
-
- * DEAF - Describes people who usually have no useful residual hearing
- and who generally employ sign language as their primary mode of
- communication. They may also use speechreading, hearing aids and
- other assistive technology to aid in communication. Based on the
- age of the time of loss of hearing, people who are deaf are
- categorized into two groups, congenitally deaf - those who were
- born deaf; and adventitiously deaf - those who were born with
- hearing, but whose sense of hearing became non-functional later
- in life through illness or accident.
-
- * EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION - Term used in the ADA as a standard for
- access for people with hearing loss. A public accommodation must
- provide an auxiliary aid or service where necessary to ensure
- effective communication with individuals with disabilities. The
- Department of Justice strongly encourages staff of public
- accommodations to consult with the individuals before providing them
- with particular auxiliary aids or services.
-
- * FM - A transmitter which broadcasts the signal by radio waves from the
- sound source to a receiver worn by the listener. Useful in large
- indoor or outdoor locations, since it can cover several hundred feet
- and pass through physical obstructions.
-
- * HARD OF HEARING - Describes people with any degree of hearing loss
- ranging from mild to profound. They can understand some speech
- sounds, with or without a hearing aid. Most people who are hard of
- hearing are oralists, although a small number learn sign language.
- Generally, they are committed to participating in society by using
- their residual hearing plus hearing aids, speechreading, and
- assistive technology to aid communication.
-
- * HEAD-END-DECODING - Hotels with in-house television cable systems can
- provide closed captioning services by head-end decoding. The TV
- signal at the master antenna (head-end) is split and one of the two
- signals is run through a closed caption decoder. The decoded signal
- is outputted to an unused TV channel of the in-house cable
- distribution system. Viewers can have a choice of the same program
- on a channel with captions or on another channel without captions.
-
- * HEARING AID - An amplification device to assist persons with hearing
- loss. There are different kinds of aids distinguished by how they
- are worn. They may be in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC),
- behind-the-ear (BTE), or on the body. The technology is still
- imperfect and hearing aids do not correct hearing loss. Newest
- developments include programmable aids.
-
- * HEARING IMPAIRED - Generic term used to describe all persons with
- hearing loss, includes two million deaf people and 22 million hard
- of hearing people in the United States.
-
- * INFRARED - Similar to FM except that it uses invisible light waves to
- transmit sound. Frequently used in theaters.
-
- * INTERNATIONAL SYMBOL OF ACCESS FOR HEARING LOSS - Symbol used to
- denote communication access. Represents hearing loss in a general
- way.
-
- ////
-
- ////
- ////
- ********
- * ****** *
- * * * *
- * (Sorry about my sloppy
- * drawing skills on the
- * ear!)
- //// * *
- //// ***
- ////
-
- * INTERPRETER - ORAL - the interpreter silently mouths the words of the
- speaker so they are visible on the lips. Used when the person uses
- speechreading to understand the conversation.
-
- * INTERPRETER - SIGN LANGUAGE - the visible movements of hands, body and
- face replace the vocal elements of a spoken language. Depending on
- the communication situation and personal preferences, deaf and hard
- of hearing persons in the United States who use sign language may
- communicate using the unique grammar of American Sign Language (ASL)
- or some variety of signing that uses features taken from both ASL
- and English.
-
- * LIPREADING (Also SPEECHREADING) - A skill used by a person with
- hearing loss to try to understand speech by watching the lips. The
- term "speechreading" is now recognized as being more descriptive
- since it includes watching the facial expressions and body language
- as well as the lips of the speaker.
-
- * NOTETAKER - A person who takes notes on a blackboard, overhead
- projector, notebook, etc. Key words and phrases are written to
- enhance the understanding of the person with a hearing loss.
-
- * RELAY SERVICE - Sometimes called dual-party telephone relay service.
- Enables text telephone users to communicate with a non-text
- telephone user by way of a relay service communications assistant.
- The ADA mandates a nationwide relay service by 1993.
-
- * T-SWITCH - A setting on a hearing aid that can be used with a
- hearing-aid-compatible telephone, assistive listening device, and
- audio loop system. When the hearing aid is switched to "T", it
- activates the induction telecoil (the technical name for the "T"
- switch), causing the hearing aid to pick up the magnetic field
- generated by the "hearing-aid-compatible" telephone assistive
- device, or a audio loop system being used.
-
- * TEXT TELEPHONE (TT) - Formerly TDD or TTY - a text telephone is a
- telecommunications device used by those who cannot understand on the
- phone. A typewriter-like unit shows the conversation on a screen so
- that it can be read. A text telephone must "talk" with another text
- telephone or a computer. The transmission is with a special coding
- called Baudot or ASCII.
-
- * VIDEOTEXT DISPLAY - A real-time speech-to-text system. The words of
- the speaker are typed on a keyboard similar to that used by court
- reporters. The text is then projected onto a screen to be read by
- the audience. Specially trained personnel are required to operate
- this system.
-
- * VISUAL ALARM SIGNAL - A visual signal (flashing light) giving notice
- that an audible event has taken place. For example, doorbell, fire
- alarm, ringing telephone. Some systems monitor a single event,
- others can monitor several events and indicate which event has
- occurred.
-
- =============================
- Source: SHHH Journal, January/February 1993
-
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