New tactile devices to help the deaf

Massachusetts, March 3: There is a new ray of hope for deaf people, as scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S. are on their way to develop a new device which can convert sound waves into vibrations able to be felt by the skin.

This new technology will be of great help to deaf people who presently depend on imperfect lip reading as their mode of communication.

The new device is being developed by the scientists for those people, who cannot afford cochlear implants.

Ted Moallem, a graduate student, who is a part of the project, was quoted as saying, “Most deaf people will not have access to that technology in our lifetime.”

He further added, “Tactile devices can be several orders of magnitude cheaper than cochlear implants.”

As per Moallem and Charlotte Reed, senior research scientist in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics and leader of the project, the perceptible software that are being worked upon could be compatible with the present smart phones. This would enable such devices to be made into unobtrusive hearing aids for the deaf.

Moallem explained, “Anyone who has a smart phone already has much of what they would need to run the program.” This includes a microphone, digital signal-processing capability and a basic vibration system.

Previously too, many tactile devices have been developed, but the research team is expecting to improvise on these further. They are working on the device, which can give tactile signals that can improve lip-reading performance.

The current project is inspired by the Tadoma technique. In this technique, the deaf person places his hand on the speaker’s face so as to feel the vibrations of what is being spoken.

Reed said, “We were inspired by seeing what deaf-blind people could accomplish just using the sense of touch alone.”