September 1, 2010
Deaf, HoH Students Perform First Test of Sign Language by Cell Phone
University of Washington engineers are developing the first device able to transmit American Sign Language over U.S. cellular networks. The tool is just completing its initial field test by participants in a UW summer program for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
"This is the first study of how deaf people in the United States use mobile video phones," said project leader Eve Riskin, a UW professor of electrical engineering.
The MobileASL team has been working to optimize compressed video signals for sign language. By increasing image quality around the face and hands, researchers have brought the data rate down to 30 kilobytes per second while still delivering intelligible sign language. MobileASL also uses motion detection to identify whether a person is signing or not, in order to extend the phones' battery life during video use.
Posted @ 12:16 AM
New Norwegian Earplug Solution to a Deafening Problem
Some 600 cases of noise-induced hearing impairment are reported by the Norwegian petroleum industry every year. A new, intelligent earplug is now set to alleviate the problem.
Norway's largest company, Statoil ASA, is taking the problems associated with noise exposure seriously. Over the course of four years the international energy company has led efforts to further develop an existing combined hearing protection and communication product for use on offshore platforms.
Posted @ 12:13 AM
Dog credited with saving deaf man from burning home
A dog is credited with alerting a man to escape from his burning home in Gaston County early Tuesday morning.
The fire occurred around 12:30 a.m. along the 100 block of Spratt Drive.
In the 911 call to Gaston County EMS, Gordon Darel Arnold says, "My dog woke me up, she must've smelled it or something, I don't know."
"God, the blazes is shootin' everywhere!" he told the 911 operator.
Arnold said he had a working smoke detector, but wouldn't have heard it going off early Tuesday morning because he had taken his hearing aids out before going to bed.
Posted @ 12:04 AM
Police look to begin text-messaging service
The ASU Police Department is looking to change the way students contact authorities for help.
Instead of calling police or reporting crimes in person, students may soon have the option of texting emergencies.
ASU Police spokesman Cmdr. Jim Hardina said the department notices how students use technology and is always looking at ways to leverage technology to their advantage.
“Eventually the police department is going to have to use text messaging,” Hardina said. “It’s just our culture.”
Posted @ 12:01 AM
August 31, 2010
Deaf and Mute 16-yr Old Nepali Girl Beaten and Raped As 'Punishment'
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding rape and abuse of a 16 year-old domestic worker in Kathmandu on 18 July 2010 by her employers. Instead of rescuing the victim, police officers from Budha police station have reportedly kept her in detention twice for 24 hours without providing her with adequate medical treatment. In spite of the initial reluctance of the police, a rape case was eventually filed on 21 August and the two alleged perpetrators have been arrested. Nevertheless, strong doubts remain regarding the police's diligence in investigating the case. It is to be noted that police negligence and the lack of accountability of the police system often act as strong obstacles for rape victims seeking justice.
Posted @ 11:57 PM
RIT alum killed in Alaska shooting
One of the two police officers fatally shot in a tiny Native village in southeast Alaska was a 2003 graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf and a former campus security officer.
Tony Wallace, 32, left RIT in 2006. He has been an officer in Hoonah, Alaska, since 2008. He was on duty late Saturday when he was shot. Wallace died during surgery in Juneau, 40 miles to the east. Officer Matt Tokuoka, who was off-duty at the time, was also shot. He died early Sunday.
Posted @ 11:55 PM
National flu website highlights local videos using American Sign Language
Two videos from the Deaf Wellness Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center are on the Seasonal Flu page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website today.
“Flu Guidance for Parents” and “Flu Guidance for Adults” are in American Sign Language with captions and voiceovers. They were produced under the direction of Robert Pollard, director of the Deaf Wellness Center, and feature members of the local deaf community.
Posted @ 11:55 PM
Rogue Valley deaf community says technology can help them communicate
The Rogue Valley's deaf community hopes to persuade businesses and public agencies to take advantage of new technology that can help them communicate more effectively.
Called video remote interpreting, the technology helps deaf and partially deaf people and those with speech impediments to talk with others without waiting for an interpreter to come in person.
Nine people belonging to Deaf Services of Southern Oregon have formed a committee to spread the word about the new technology to businesses, health professionals, hospitals and police departments.
Posted @ 11:53 PM
Deaf woman struck by train in Roslyn
A woman who was hit by a SEPTA train at the Roslyn train station Wednesday afternoon was taken to Abington Memorial Hospital with a head injury.
At about 4 p.m., the woman, who is deaf, was struck by the train on the south side of Susquehanna Avenue at the train crossing at the intersection with Easton Road, according to police.
“She is deaf, so they couldn’t talk to her that much,” said Abington Deputy Chief John Livingood. “We’re assuming that she did not hear the train whistle blowing. Obviously, they’ll be interviewing everybody to see if the train horn was blowing or not.”
Posted @ 11:52 PM
Mother finds deaf son in prison 6 days after he went missing
A hearing impaired youth accused of stealing a mobile phone from a bus passenger was beaten up by the police and remanded in the Negombo prison for six days before his family finally located him.
Asanka Weerasuriya, a 20-year-old resident of Wariyapola, told his mother that he was unable to explain himself to the police and was not allowed to contact his family. The youth maintains that he is innocent of the charge brought against him.
Posted @ 11:52 PM
Deaf And Mute Man Charged With Wife's Murder
Prosecutors in Chicago say a deaf and mute man stabbed his wife to death on their 10th wedding anniversary and still had blood on his hands when he confessed to a police sign language interpreter.
At a court appearance Friday, a Circuit Court judge denied bond for 40-year-old South Side resident Charles Hughes.
Police say Hughes was holding a bloody knife when they arrived at the his apartment early Wednesday morning. They say he dropped the knife and held out his hands in a "cuff-me" motion.
Posted @ 11:51 PM
Parkite Stockton wins World Deaf Golf Championship
As play backed up around the turn, Melissa Stockton sat on the 10th hole tee box and began to contemplate her situation.
With just nine holes left in the fourth and final round at the World Deaf Golf Championships in St. Andrews, Scotland, Stockton held the lead. If you think a hearing-impaired person can't hear voices, you've never played competitive golf before.
"I started to feel the pressure," Stockton said in an e-mail to The Record. "My stomach was just twisted in knots."
Nonetheless, the Park City resident fought through the mental cacophony to card a solid back nine, and media and onlookers watched as she sank her final putt on the 18th hole to become the women's world champion. Only after she won was she told the result, and what followed was pure relief.
Posted @ 11:49 PM
UPS must face deaf worker's discrimination claim
A United Parcel Service of America Inc. unit may have unlawfully discriminated against a deaf worker by failing to provide American Sign Language interpreters, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. According to the ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Mauricio Centeno worked as junior clerk in the accounts payable division of the UPS facility in Gardena Calif. Mr. Centeno has been deaf since birth, and American Sign Language was his first and primary language, while his English reading and writing skills were at a fourth- or fifth-grade level, according to the opinion.
Posted @ 11:48 PM
Partially deaf male Madonna impersonator sues Simon Cowell over 'hard of hearing' jib
Britain's Got Talent is being sued for£250,000 by a Madonna impersonator claiming Simon Cowell's jibes have ruined his life.
Philip Grimmer, who reached the semi-finals this year, accuses the show of discrimination over a disability and the fact that he was introduced as a drag queen.
The 57-year-old gyrated to Madonna's dance track Hung Up in a purple leotard, knee-high boots and blonde wig.
Cowell called him a 'hard of hearing and short-sighted Madonna'. Mr Grimmer is partially deaf and short sighted. Cowell also said the act was 'monstrous' and ' horrendous' , adding: 'Madonna at 95 would look better and dance better than you.'
Posted @ 11:47 PM
Govs' Gilbreath doesn't let disability slow him down
Most people probably think it would be hard to be a hearing-impaired football player. But it’s never been for Austin Peay's Preston Gilbreath, a 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman defensive end, who was named the 2008 Tennessee Mr. Football Class A Lineman his senior year at Mt. Pleasant High.
Gilbreath is deaf in his left ear, but can hear in his right ear and uses a hearing aid to amplify the sound. He can hear the crowds, band and all the loud sounds at a football game, all very low rumbling noises.
Posted @ 11:46 PM
Sign of the Times: Deaf Find Their Voices via Mobile Video and Apps
Wireless gadgets have changed the way nearly everyone communicates, but one group has benefited more than others: the deaf. For those who cannot make a voice call, texting and video, in particular, have not only opened them up to the hearing world and to each other, but also allowed them to use American Sign Language (ASL), often their native language.
About 17 percent (36 million) of U.S. adults report some degree of hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Md. Thanks to increases in bandwidth and technologies that use it, the deaf and hard of hearing can now communicate via texting, Blackberry messaging, video multimedia messaging service (MMS), and video chats over Google's video chat service (to name a few). New video-friendly mobile devices, including Apple's iPhone 4 and HTC's EVO, have likewise helped.
Posted @ 11:46 PM
Markey touts Web bill for deaf, blind
While the Internet and smartphones have brought an almost endless amount of information to the fingertips of many Americans, there are still millions who cannot take full advantage of myriad forms of new technology.
U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, author of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, touted its merits during a meeting yesterday with Daily News editors.
Markey said the bill, which passed the House of Representatives on July 26, the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, will "create an online ramp to the Internet for deaf and blind people."
Posted @ 11:45 PM
Deaf, Non-Verbal Teen Stabbed: Neighbor
State police say they are interviewing two possible suspects related to the stabbing of a 16-year-old disabled boy Tuesday morning.
"He couldn’t scream. He can’t say, 'Help Mommy,' nothing. He can’t talk or hear nothing," said neighbor Barbara Oquendo of Mansfield.
State police said the teen was stabbed multiple times in his own bed inside his apartment at 132 Foster Drive around 9:45 a.m.
"I have no words to explain how I feel. It hurts because I’m a mother. So I know how she must be feeling right now," said Daphne Torres of Mansfield.
Posted @ 11:43 PM
