Hearing Informed

From the point of view of a hearing impaired person, the iPhone sucks. The features that would make the phone more accessible to the hearing impaired are within the internal chip’s capabilities but they have been purposely crippled by the software that runs the phone.

Paula Rosenthal at Hearing Exchange has this to say,

Apple’s new iPhone is not hearing aid compatible on microphone or telecoil settings. Complaints have been filed with the FCC because HLAA believes that Apple, when designing the phone, could have tested it for hearing aid compatibility implemented standards to make it accessible to hearing aid and cochlear implant users.

A hearing aid like Oticon’s Epoq is Bluetooth enabled: it’ll take sound from an MP3 player or phone (or both) and route the sound wirelessly right into the ears. No headphones, no interference, and because they are tailored to fit, they sound great too. However, Steve Jobs has decided to cripple the iphones nascent features so that the iPhone supports mono, call only Bluetooth. i am not part of the “i” in iPhone.

Thanks to David at Hearing Mojo for bringing this to my attention. Check out this forum discussion at MacRumors and go to the iPhone discussion area and tell them what you think. Also see this locked up thread at Apple’s iPhone discussion area.You can also call Apple’s PR Department at (408) 974-2042 or write Steve Jobs.

For the more technically inclined check out Live Journals “Hearing Aid Hacking”.

Paul Davies, a reporter from the Wall Street Journal, wrote an article in which he argues that cochlear implants are transforming deaf eduction.

He points out that cochlear implants have been around for two decades. However, it was only seven years ago (and five from when the article was written) that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the devices for use in children as young as 12 months. A child who receives cochlear implants at such a young age has an exponentially larger potential to take on spoken language. Davies goes on to say that “now a new generation of children is entering deaf schools with the hope that they may someday hear and speak almost as naturally as those without hearing problems.” I would add the important delineation that these are really the “hopes” of the parents.

He goes on to say that supporters of the venerable culture of the Deaf believe that deaf children should get a strong grounding in American Sign Language so that they can participate fully in that culture when they grow up. But others- including some deaf kid’s parents who can hear- want more emphasis on hearing and speaking English to prepare the children for life in the “mainstream world”. There is a contentious debate that is ongoing in deaf culture around these issues.

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