I've posted in various discussions about ideas for a device that would help us deaf to communicate more easily. A friend of mine is an iPhone App developer and he's still trying to get all the information he needs to try and make an app that makes use of the voice recognition. Most likely the system that google voice uses since it's already on line.
Anyway, here are my ideas for the perfect device. Now keep in mind that my idea is mainly intended for those who cannot hear at all "deaf" (CI or HA won't help them or they choose not to use them). But this device would help HOH and other languages as well.
Obviously it would have to use voice recognition to turn speech into text. But as the technology improves it can be used for even more then that. In other words someday it'll improve to the point where it'll likely be called "Sound recognition". It not only interprets speech but also sounds. For example it might hear the tires of a car squealing and the text will read "Tires squeal" a lot like we see in TV Closed Captioning. I know the technology has a long way to go to reach that point but I'm confident that it will get there.
Ok, so we have a mobile device about the size of a mobile phone that has this technology. It can pick up speech and turn it into text. It will be nice to be able to see and read this text on the screen of the device but why stop there?
How about Micro displays. This is where you have the display in front of your eye and creates the illusion of a large screen in front of you. If you think this would mean you'd have to walk around with a huge device over your eyes looking like a cyborg then think again. They are getting smaller and smaller. Soon, a microdisplay will even be able to be embedded in the eye (Already being researched). but for now it could be a tiny device on a pair of eye glasses. So you can read the text while looking at the person you are talking to.
But wait, we also have portable braille displays.
If you learn to read braille then you'd be able to read the "Captioning" without having to look at anything. I think this solution could be great if a device could be made so that you can read the braille with some other body part besides your finger. Maybe something on your arm or something. I'm sure some testing would have to be done to find another location on the body that's sensitive enough to read the braille. But I like the idea and think it has a lot of potential.
Of course it would be great if this voice recognition will work better. Especially with digital sound such as a phone. So in the near future relay operators will no longer be necessary. I'm not suggesting that this is going to happen right away but the technology is improving and I'm sure it won't be too long. I'm guessing in the next 10 years or so.
I'll also add that I think it's great that the biggest internet organization (Google) is putting some effort into this issue. That's a big partner we've got in our corner.
So anyway. Just thought I'd share my ideas for a dream device for us.
Ron Jaxon
Anyway, here are my ideas for the perfect device. Now keep in mind that my idea is mainly intended for those who cannot hear at all "deaf" (CI or HA won't help them or they choose not to use them). But this device would help HOH and other languages as well.
Obviously it would have to use voice recognition to turn speech into text. But as the technology improves it can be used for even more then that. In other words someday it'll improve to the point where it'll likely be called "Sound recognition". It not only interprets speech but also sounds. For example it might hear the tires of a car squealing and the text will read "Tires squeal" a lot like we see in TV Closed Captioning. I know the technology has a long way to go to reach that point but I'm confident that it will get there.
Ok, so we have a mobile device about the size of a mobile phone that has this technology. It can pick up speech and turn it into text. It will be nice to be able to see and read this text on the screen of the device but why stop there?
How about Micro displays. This is where you have the display in front of your eye and creates the illusion of a large screen in front of you. If you think this would mean you'd have to walk around with a huge device over your eyes looking like a cyborg then think again. They are getting smaller and smaller. Soon, a microdisplay will even be able to be embedded in the eye (Already being researched). but for now it could be a tiny device on a pair of eye glasses. So you can read the text while looking at the person you are talking to.
But wait, we also have portable braille displays.
If you learn to read braille then you'd be able to read the "Captioning" without having to look at anything. I think this solution could be great if a device could be made so that you can read the braille with some other body part besides your finger. Maybe something on your arm or something. I'm sure some testing would have to be done to find another location on the body that's sensitive enough to read the braille. But I like the idea and think it has a lot of potential.
Of course it would be great if this voice recognition will work better. Especially with digital sound such as a phone. So in the near future relay operators will no longer be necessary. I'm not suggesting that this is going to happen right away but the technology is improving and I'm sure it won't be too long. I'm guessing in the next 10 years or so.
I'll also add that I think it's great that the biggest internet organization (Google) is putting some effort into this issue. That's a big partner we've got in our corner.
So anyway. Just thought I'd share my ideas for a dream device for us.
Ron Jaxon
