tips & apps for a real 360° communication

It sounds almost obvious if we say that we live in the age of technology & communication, & in a liquid world. Yet the use & application of technology in the life & communication with/between the people is not always so obvious. When communication are with or between deaf individuals is all but  obvious.

Technology is making great steps in its continuous evolution, both in term of cochlear implants & digital systems, & in developing apps for both speaking & signing hear-impaired individuals.

From the moment of the diagnosis onwards, with its degree & weight of anguish, parents will continue for a long run to choose for their son / daughter on various issues: to go for a prosthesy choice, a cochlear implant, or sign language.

From this fundamental choice onward, all choices should only depend on the situation and the type of hair-impairment & deafness, since not all deafness are equal & treatable in the same manner. What surely should not intervene in such a delicate moment are the economic size (both upstreaming  industrial interests & in term of familiar economical possibilities); the familiar & cultural determinants (the sense of belonging to the identity of the parents versus the respect for the future possibilities of the children); the identity factors (the children are not the image of the parents).

I will be soon & lately exploring these dimensions on the various levels, such as emotional, identity, cultural ... 

Here I want to spend some space to suggest some technological developments that may be useful to all, regardless of being oralist & verbal, rather than by the use of sign language.

There are many apps that are continually being developed & that can be of great support in communication both between  & with deaf individuals.

The following list is taken from the website soundzoff, which i highly recommend. For more details, click on the names & link directly to what you are interested:

• App Advice: lists of usefull apps for iphone 
• Assistive listening software & turnings of sounds into visual & sensory alerts: Aud-1, Braci, OtoSense, Taptap 
• Transcription of spoken word for immediate reading on screen: Transcense, RogerVoice, Dragon Dictation, Subtitles Viewer, Intelligent Voice, Let me Hear Again,  VoxSciences
• Five: a dedicated app develop sign language communication, developing up to 40 thousands signs out of basic 8. The App is a creation of the polish Mateus Mach who wished originally to develop a communication tool based on rap & hip-hop gestures 
• Instant live video messaging: Oovoo, Google Hangouts, GroupMe, Oviisoft, Skype, WhatsApp
• translator text/voice/sign language: Motionsavvy, Pedius, Sign Instant Message

If you have other tips & apps to suggest, feel free to comment the post, &/or send them to our mail

(photo ref.: soundzoff)