Aides for Hearing and Visual Impairments

Types of hearing loss

• conductive

• sensorineural

• central

• functional deafness

conductive

• pathology of the middle ear

central loss

• damage to the auditory cortex of the brain

sensorineural

• defects to the cochlea or auditory nerve

functional deafness

• perceptual deficits

Augmenting the existing pathway…

• amplify sound

  • hearing aides

    • cochlear implants

  • assistive listening devices

Using an alternate pathway…

• substitute for sound

  • sign language

  • lip reading

  • vibration

Air Conduction

• in ear, sound directed into ear

• behind ear, in, ear, in canal, and completely in the canal

Bone Conduction

• BAHA

  • bone anchored hearing aid

• caused from: chronic ear infections, tiny or malformed ear canals

• sounds converted into vibrations into the skull and bypasses the middle ear

Cochelar implants

• Auditory prosthesis

• External microphone and internal probes and processor

Types of hearing aids

• Behind the ear (BTE)

• In the ear (ITE)

• In the canal (INC)

• Completely in the Canal (CIC)

Sound can communicate things faster and over a larger area, but tactile systems

• require spatial and temporal input and thus takes the brain longer to process

Visual substitutions

• Visual display of auditory information

  • Flashing lights

  • Text labels (computer programs)

  • Speech to text devices for communication

  • Lip reading

Things that can help

• Assistive listening devices and FM systems

• TTD/TTY (shows what your typing)

  • TTD tele communication for deaf

• Alerting devices

• Captioning (edited and real time)

• Screen flash

• Simplified language

• Reduce background noises

• Sign language

• DVD - digital video disc

• VCR - video cassette recorder

Low vision

• uncorrectable reduced vision

  • standard size, contrast, or spacing is inadequate, even with glasses

Blind

• very significant vision loss

  • visual system does not provide useful input, so alternative pathways must be used

Vision conditions

• macular degeneration

• cataracts

• glaucoma

• diabetic retinopathy

• congential

• trauma

• medication

• congenital

Augmenting visual pathway by

• adjusting the size

• spacing

• contrast

• placement in the visual field

Use an alternate pathway by

• tactile

• auditory

Mobility aides

• canes

• electronic travel aides

• obstacle detection devices

• navigation aides