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Auditory Disability Support Tools

People with auditory disabilities have a number of tools available to help them adjust and live normal lives. Like their hearing counterparts, the hearing impaired enjoy watching television programs, communicating with friends and attending classes. Hearing aids, interpreters and surgery can improve the quality of life or provide a cure for those who have incurred such loss.

  1. Hearing Aids

    • Hearing aids work to carry sound from the environment to your ear. Their function is to amplify sound and they come in different sizes, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some of these devices are so compact that they can fit into your ear canal, escaping notice by other people. As of 2011, disadvantages still exist with this kind of hearing aid. First, the smaller, almost invisible type doesn't perform as strongly as its larger, more traditional counterpart. Also, it may not fit well if your ears happen to be small. Also, its batteries may be diminutive in size, and therefore may not live as long as those of the larger hearing aids.

      Regardless of size, hearing aids may also be expensive. For this reason, the Mayo Clinic website suggests that you visit an audiologist and a doctor for a full hearing and ear checkup before buying one. Surgery, for example, may suffice to correct a tumor in the ear. A cleaning in a doctor's office can be sufficient to remove excess ear wax.

    Implants

    • Cochlear implants are for more advanced cases of hearing loss. According to the Holoprocencephaly website, they are far from a cure for hearing impairment. The implant is a small, electronic device that provides sound to a person with severely compromised hearing. It has an external part that rests behind the ear, and a second part that is beneath the skin. Although it does not completely restore hearing, it does help its wearer better recognize speech sounds.

    Sign Languages

    • American Sign Language is a complex language that has its own grammar rules and sentence structures. It has variants that differ in structure, such as British or French Sign Language. It uses the hands, as well as movements by other parts of the body, to form words. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCC), it employs head motions as well as raised eyebrows as cues that the speaker is asking a question.

    Television: Closed Captioning

    • Closed captioning allows deaf people, or those with severe hearing loss, to access television programming by showing the text of the audio portion. According to the Federal Communications Commission, all United States-produced or manufactured analog screens 13 inches or larger are required to contain a built-in circuiting device that converts the spoken word to visible text. Since 1996, the law has required cable distributors to closed caption their shows. As of Jan. 1, 2006, stations must closed-caption all English Language programming that they have produced on or after New Year's Day 1998. This rule does have exceptions, however. Public service announcements do not apply according to this law--and neither do programs that a station may broadcast between the hours of 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., such as information commercials.

    Interpreters

    • Church services, court trials and sessions of Congress use human interpreters for hearing-impaired viewers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, two types of interpreters exist: simultaneous and consecutive. The former type must listen and sign at the same time that the speaker is talking, while the latter interprets after the speaker has spoken a group of words.

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