Auditory disabilities
Assistive technology for hearing disabilities makes sounds louder, adds extra help or takes the place of audio information using devices that make sounds louder, visual signals and written forms of spoken communication.
Physical environment
In the real world, assistive technology for hearing problems includes hearing loops, visual alert systems and live captioning services.
Example
A theatre with an audio induction loop sends sound straight to a hearing aid or cochlear implant set to the T-coil mode. This cuts out background noise and helps the person hear the performance clearly.
Key point
Hearing loops only help people who wear hearing devices that work with them. They do not help people who are deaf and do not use hearing aids. Those people need visual or touch-based solutions instead.
ICT environment
In the ICT environment, assistive technology for hearing disabilities includes captions, transcripts, sign language in videos and visual or touch-based alert systems.
Example
A deaf person watching a video call uses live captions made by automatic speech recognition or a live captioner. Without captions, they cannot understand any spoken words no matter how good the video is.
Key point
Automatic captions often make many mistakes, especially with accents, technical words, and bad audio quality. They can help as a first step but are not as reliable as captions checked by a person.