visual communications and people with hearing loss

Visual Communications technology has the potential to greatly increase communications access for people with hearing loss. The field is not yet well defined, and applications lag the potential. We hope that this technology will fulfill its promise.

For information about specific visual communications products and where to buy them, please visit the Visual Communications portion of our Resource Directory. For general information, check out the stories below.

Ever heard of a Visual Intercom? This is the kind of technology that can overcome problems in airports, amusement parks, schools, or anyplace where an audio intercom is used. All it requires is to duplicate the audio message on the Visual Intercom.

January 2000 - Those of you who sign might be interested in the technology that allows people to communicate in sign over a standard telephone line using home computers. HITEC has just announced their Worldview TCS system and teleASL, which does exactly that.

March 2001 - It looks like personal computers are just on the verge of having enough capability to do a decent job of pretty easily providing visual communications. I expect to see several applications released in the near future. Here's one called SignTel.