Deaf man hears music and can't stop listening to it

Here's an article of a profoundly deaf man who got a Phonak digital hearing aid which made a world of difference on its ability to give Austin Chapman a greater access to the breadth of sounds in music enabling him to hear Mozart's "Lacrimosa." It was a realization to him that using advanced state of the art hearing aid technology makes a world a difference really hearing the variety of sounds.

The 23-year-old filmmaker, whose life has largely been visual until now, still struggles to adequately explain the rush of new sounds echoing through his head. He compares them at one point to seeing a high-resolution photograph for the first time. Later, he describes the sensation as being exposed to a color you've never seen before. Finally, with a broad smile on his face he offers this analogy: "It's like the first time you kiss a girl. It's like that."

That's the difference when you can use an advanced hearing technology will the world open up like a colorful, inspiring painting suddenly in front of you.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/25/3779010/a-deaf-man-hears-music-and-cant.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/25/3779010/a-deaf-man-hears-music-and-cant.html#storylink=cpy

Drama...drama...drama...

You know, looking back all those years we got to see one drama scene after another take place practically every 3 to 6 months in the deaf culture world, sometimes multiple times in a space of a few months that are manifested in the form of blogs, vlogs or some kind of petition on getting the word out. The latest drama would be this recent petition to get Dr. Karl White to resign from EHDI and leave the "culturally deaf community." This new drama earns the "Stephen Colbert's Drama Scream" animated gif for the continuing pathos evoked time and time again with the hyperbolic outrage as if everybody is on the same boat.

Not really.

It wasn't long ago, two months ago in fact, that there was a petition to get rid of a 19th century statue of two Indians fighting a mother grizzly bear (in her effort to protect her two cubs as it would appear) which was created by Douglas Tilden, a world renowned deaf sculpture, where it stands at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, California, claiming that the statue is racist and it "represents generations of dehumanizing violence towards Native American communities."

Not at all.

Of course, it appears that the majority of those in the Deaf community do not even accept the idea to get rid of the Combat with Grizzly statue that was made by a world renowned deaf sculpture.

Oh, I mustn't forget another recent outrage a few months back about a dirty sign language book penned by a hearing author. 

And, of course, another petition to get a printing company, St. Martin's Press, to not print her book because sign language only belong to culturally deaf people and not to the world.  By the way signing your name in an online petition does not work nor is it really that effective. It is one of the laziest ways to protest. Sorry to bring that horrified fact to you.

So, what are other list of dramas that I failed to mention here?

Hypocrisy when it comes to captioning vs transcript in videos?

This has been an ongoing hypocrisy for quite awhile when it comes to signed videos that do not provide any subtitles or captions but instead provide transcripts for those who do not know sign language. For years culturally deaf people have complained loudly how videos they watched were never captioned such as TV shows and movies over cable and the internet, including YouTube videos. But that has been changing slowly (or quickly depending on your perspective) while captioning and easy to use subtitling technology catches up. But imagine instead of subtitles or captions you have a transcript for each video. Why not just provide a transcript instead?

Well, it's not quite the same thing since it provides an obvious disconnect between the viewers and those in the videos because other visual cues and emotions would be entirely lost.  So, it makes good business sense is to provide captions/subtitles along with the signing in a video. This allows non-signing viewers a certain connect with signers seen in a video. It is just not those who do not know sign language but those who may be weak in sign language and having captions helps. It also makes good common sense to include captions in videos since that will help reach a wider audience regardless of who the viewing audience is.

But the hypocrisy continues. Some bray saying that putting captions in a signing video "pollutes" it. If that is their logic for an excuse then putting captions in a speaking video also "pollutes" it. Laughable on both sides.

So, if you are running a deaf/hh business or an organization and have the means and wherewithal to include captions to your videos then please do it. If you believe in communication access and inclusion your business or organization ought to be including captions/subtitles in their videos otherwise you and your organization or business  just end up as a bunch of hypocritical people with a stupid excuse not to provide captions/subtitles but tosses out a transcript instead. If you do that, then please do not complain again about the lack of captions or subtitles in movies, TV shows, news shows, internet videos, and on YouTube.  In fact, you would have no right to complain because your organization or business refuses to provide captions/subtitles in their own videos. In fact, by refusing to do so you've become just like....them.

Milestones....

I recently looked at my site counter and saw that it is nearing the 1 millionth hit mark. It'll be a few more months until that happens. I figured that this is an opportunity to pause and reflect back on my blogging history going back 8 years beginning in October of 2004. I've become, I believe, the longest running and most posted deaf/hh blogger with probably having the most cumulative blog hits as well.

I covered many subjects on American politics, deaf politics, deafness issues, technologies, medical science, the environment, Earth science, the nonsense global-warming-as-caused-by-human-beings-which-will-cause-sea-levels-to-rise-20-feet, interviews with Matt Hamill over the years who is now making a comeback, the "deafhoodism" cultural mindset that people would swear it is a cult following, the failed walked outs against DeafTV and Deafread, and many more topics. Some blogs I wrote were funny ones like the ever so famous Monopoly money debacle to covering serious issues like the rapes at Gallaudet University which continues to get worse are enough to keep pace with my varied interests on what to blog. Enough so for readers and fans to keep coming back. I thank you for that. With 1,978 blog posts so far and another milestone coming up as reach closer to my 2000th blog post I never imagined my blog would come this far 8 years later with so many twists and turns along the way. I met a lot of haters along the way but they were by far outweighed by the many fans and readers who like to read my blogs and contribute their opinions and thoughts.

Milestones.

They can only be reached if you take your first step and keep moving forward.

Apps for your Android phone on voice recognition

Here's an app, Closed Capp, that you can download to your Android phone where you can ask a person to speak into your phone and two seconds later have their words transcribed across your phone screen. This is a great app for those who have trouble hearing or are unable to hear.  Not exactly real time captioning nor real time conversation which last only 5 to 10 seconds long for a limited conversation to be transcribed each time.  But it's the next best thing for those who would want to opt for that piece of technology with the help of Google. Voice recognition technology is getting better and better as more people use it, and Google is constantly updating the service and accuracy they offer.  To understand how it works check out the Closed Capp video demo page.

It's only a matter of time that technology will improve to a point where voice recognition technology with the aid of powerful and fast computers will see accurate transcription, in real time, of at least at the 95 percentile range that will enable real time conversation without pressing the button every 5 to 10 seconds to transcribe what was spoken.

A captioning question.....

How come at a live political rally there is a sign language interpreter next to a person giving a speech who is running for office in front of thousands of people but no real time captioning nearby?

That's something to think about.

You have about 600,000 culturally deaf people (adults) who use sign language as their main mode of communication but you also have some 38 million people with hearing loss ranging from mild to profound who do not know a lick of sign language. You have about 6 million people who have difficulty hearing in the 18 to 74 age group, a rough estimate. But if you include those over 74 years old the estimate jumps to about 10 million as a total for those 18 and older.  There are about 200 million people in the United States in the 18 to 74 year old age category, an age group of those who are most likely to attend a political rally.  So that means 1 out 33 people in a large crowd listening to what a person is saying on stage at a political rally will have difficulty hearing what's being said vs 1 out 333 people who may be culturally deaf attending the event.

For example, in a crowd of 10,000 people attending a political rally you may have 300 people in the audience who will have trouble hearing or understanding what's being said versus perhaps 30 culturally deaf people who may be in attendance. I think it is a disservice to those who attend a rally but have trouble hearing what's being said with no access to real time captioning. Some have requested CART services at rallies (see page 5) yet this should be done automatically, within reason if it's not cost prohibitive, without the need to ask just as sign language interpreters are sometimes automatically provided.

The real hidden and silent majority of those with hearing loss are not the culturally deaf people but those who don't sign and have trouble hearing while relying on their hearing aids. In time this will change for the better on providing better communication to all those who need it.

Vice president Biden mocks sign language!!

Um, no, he didn't do it to mock or make fun of sign language but did it as part of his joke about how his sign language interpreter may soon suffer from tendonitis with his excessive babbling. Even the interpreter laughed at his joke. He imitated a signing movement to go with his joke. Mocked sign language itself? Not really.
This is what Biden said:

"I have more to say, but I am saying too much already because these guys get me going... and you're gonna have trouble translating all this! The poor lady, she's gonna have tendonitis by the time she finishes this."

NAD, NAACP or any other organizations won't even bother with this one so don't expect any chastising from them towards Biden.  Some people simply need to calm down over this one. Nothing worth getting your panties in a bunch or have your blood pressure burst an vein in your forehead with more of. this faux outrage. 

ADDENDUM: One more time, folks, people need to stop with the faux outrage about Biden's signing. The sign language interpreter was obviously enjoying Biden's humor and no embarrassment at all on her part. Really, the whole thing is a non-issue except for the most limp-wristed, sensitive folks out there.

Matt Hamill comes out of retirement to fight again

Matt Hamill stated last week that he has come out of retirement after a year long break to fight in the upcoming UFC 152 fight on September 22 against Roger Hollett. The Hamill vs Hollet fight can be seen on Pay Per View TV.

Apparently Hamill's hunger to fight has not entirely disappeared after allowing his body, mind and spirit enough time to recover. The question now becomes can he make it at age 35 years old? Can he succeed in winning more UFC fights? We'll have to wait, watch and see what happens after September 22.

Welcome back, Matt!

The Hammer returns!

(Check out my past interviews with Matt Hamill here, here, here, and here).

Missing Deafread Link

Not sure what his problem is about an old Deafread's link to my old blog piece that I did 5 years ago saying the link is missing from the Deafread aggregator list on a particular page number. In this case on page 1809 as he stated in his blog piece.

Egbert is unable to find Deafread's old link to my blog piece on page 1809 in Deafread because it is now has moved to page 1816. Tomorrow or the next day it should move to page 1817 and so on. Egbert need to go back again to Deafread because the link in Deafread's aggregator list that link to my old blog piece is still there where it is currently on page 1816, not on page 1809 which was the case a few days ago.

Egbert needs to remember that every new blog link that gets added to the Deafread's aggregator current list on page 1 pushes all older archived links further back a page or two. So if you linked to an older archived link in Deafread, say, on page 1815 (http://www.deafread.com/page/1815/t/) on the aggregator list to find Hair Cell Regeneration, for example, and click on the page 1815 link again a week later you won't find it on that page since the Hair Cell Regeneration location will be found on page 1816 or 1817 or further depending on how many new blog links that got added to Deafread aggregator's current list on page 1. Deafread captured my old blog piece on July 20, 2006 and that is the date you should be looking for rather than the exact page number of the aggregator list if you happened to save the link to that particular page number. If you can't find it on that page number simply go back a page or two until you can find it.

This is all real simple stuff that really need no explanation here. Just try and keep up with the growing list of pages on the Deafread aggregator archived list. Nothing sneaky on what Deafread has been doing all these years. Pretty straight forward stuff here. Instead Egbert jumped to conclusion without checking out why a particular link wasn't on page 1809 and if had taken the time he would have found it a few pages further. The link to a particular blog you were looking for, Egbert, never disappeared from Deafread's aggregator archived list.

Historical role of a deaf Indian on the massacre at Wounded Knee

Here's an interesting but sobering history about the massacre at Wounded Knee where a deaf Indian possibly played a role in a key event that may have helped accidentally trigger a massacre resulting in the death of at least150 Indians with 50 of them wounded. Based on various accounts it appears that a lack of communication and understanding by a deaf Miniconjou Indian warrior named Black Coyote who may not have gotten the message on a deal requiring Indians to give up their arms.

The consensus among them seems to be that, whatever the catalyst, it was accidental; a gun that went off somewhere in the assembled ranks provided the spark for the subsequent mayhem. Dewy Beard describes how a deaf Indian named Black Coyote refused to give up his rifle; he was having difficulty understanding why the Miniconjous were being asked to give up their weapons in the first place. It was winter. Food was scarce. Each warrior needed a weapon to help feed his family. A few Indians close to Black Coyote agreed  that they would take it upon themselves to explain to the deaf man through sign language why the soldiers wanted his weapon. The Indians were confident that once they explained the situation, Black Coyote would hand over the rifle. But before they could try, several soldiers came up behind the deaf man and tried to wrest the gun away. There was a struggle. Black Coyote refused to yield. "Look out! Look out!" cried a soldier, who stepped back and leveled his gun. The rifle, held rigidly by Black Coyote in an upright position with the barrel pointed harmlessly in the air, accidentally discharged. A single shot splintered the gloomy air. The sound was like a clarion. The strain of the morning hours suddenly dissoled in a paroxysm of violence. Several Indians threw off their blankets and brought their weapons into play. The eruption of gunfire on both sides in some instances was simultaneous. With no audible order from their officers, soldiers of Troops K and B started blasting.

The massacre resulted in the death of "at least 150 Indian men, women and children, Spotted Elk  being among one of the killed, as well as 25 officers dead and 40 wounded." Although accounts of that event differed.