pay phones with amplification and pay TTYs may be available in places where conventional public telephones are provided (the number required varies with the type of facility). Signs indicating where amplified phones and TTYs can be found are required in public places (see Appendix C).

AUXILIARY AIDS AND SERVICES

The communication aids and services in this category include anything and everything that can make the spoken word accessible to persons with hearing loss. This includes some technologies that are used by people with normal hearing, such as Internet search engines, blogs, chat rooms, email, instant messaging, text messaging, and two-way paging, all of which make it possible to communicate and gather information without relying on hearing.

Captioning

Captions look like subtitles printed across the bottom of a television or movie screen. The first captioned television program was Julia Child’s The French Chef in 1972. The popularity and demand for captions has been on the rise ever since. In the late 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) developed a timetable that required the number of captioned television programs to increase over time. Today, virtually everything shown on television is captioned. DVDs for home viewing are captioned as well.

Captions primarily convey the speakers’ words; however, they may also provide information about which speaker is talking and other sounds important for understanding the program, event, or news story. Most captions are prepared before a scripted program is broadcast and then synchronized with the audio and visual aspects of the program.

Unscripted events (live coverage of news events, for example) require real-time captioning. Real-time captioning requires special equipment, special software, and a real-time captioner (or trained court reporter) who can transcribe the speaker’s message in virtual real time (with occasional errors). The reporter types phonetic codes on a special keyboard, and the software translates the codes into text. The need for special software and a skilled captioner makes real-time captioning considerably more expensive.

Closed captions cannot be seen without a decoder (as opposed to open captions which are visible at all times). The Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 required that all televisions manufactured for sale in the United States after July 1993 contain built-in decoders (those with screens smaller than 13 inches diagonally were exempt). Captions can be viewed on older

televisions using a separate decoder box. If you don’t know how to access the built-in decoder function on your television, ask your television service provider or television retailer to show you.

In February 2009, television stations will begin broadcasting only digital signals. If you have a digital TV manufactured after 2002 (with a screen larger than 13 inches diagonally), you’ll be able to see digital programming and digital captions without a converter box. Digital captions allow the viewer to control the caption display, including the font, text size, text color, and background. If you have an older, analog TV that uses rabbit ears or a roof top antenna, you’ll need a digital-to-analog converter box to receive digital signals. The digital-to-analog converter box will enable you to see captions as well as digital programming. Some converter boxes can generate and display digital captions, so if you’re buying a converter box, ask the retailer to show you one that’s equipped to deliver digital captions. Newer technologies such as high-definition TV, TiVo, digital video recorders (DVRs), and direct satellite TV can sometimes make it difficult to use captions.10 Questions about closed captioning problems can be sent by email to the Federal Communications Commission (see the Resources section for contact information).

Movie theaters are not required to provide captioned films. Although several formats for captioning currently exist, captioned films are almost never shown in movie theaters. This is unlikely to change in the near future, because motion picture screens are gradually being converted from analog to digital technology. Once the transition is complete, the challenge will be to develop technologies that allow captions to be viewed by moviegoers who are deaf or hard of hearing but that cannot be seen by other moviegoers.

Computer-assisted Real-time Transcription

Computer-assisted real-time transcription (CART) is like having a personal real-time captioner. A CART reporter instantly converts spoken words into text—verbatim. Similar to real-time captioning, it requires a trained court reporter, a special keyboard, a laptop computer, and special software to produce the text. The reporter listens to the speaker(s) and types what’s being said on the keyboard using special codes. Software translates the codes into text. The text is displayed on the laptop computer or projected onto a screen for a larger audience. The text is saved and available for later review, and hard copies can be printed.

CART is particularly helpful in information-intensive situations like court proceedings or important meetings in which the user needs to receive every word, including complicated and unfamiliar terms. College students who are deaf or hard of hearing find CART especially helpful. The transcript appears on a computer screen in front of them so that they can follow a

lecture (as well as the comments and questions of fellow students) in real time, and the saved transcript eliminates the need to take notes.

Because of the time, equipment, and skills required, CART services are expensive. Remote CART services, in which the reporter listens from another location and sends the transcript back to the user’s computer (or other Internet-enabled device) in real time, are less expensive and becoming increasingly popular.

Computer-assisted Note-taking

Computer-assisted note-taking (CAN) is much less expensive than CART. It’s useful when key words, an outline, or notes are enough to enable a person to follow a lecture or discussion. A typist with good notetaking skills types on a regular computer keyboard. The goal is to convey meaning rather than to type everything that’s said verbatim. Some CAN typists use special abbreviation software to increase the amount of information they can provide. The typed notes can be read from a laptop computer or projected onto a screen for a larger audience. Like CART, CAN services can be provided from remote locations, which helps to defray the cost. The transcript is sent to the user’s computer or Internet-enabled device. Special software allows the user to control the display and to interrupt the note-taker when clarification is needed.

Written Materials

Using written materials to supplement information that’s presented orally is a simple, effective, low-cost way to assist people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Providing written materials minimizes the need to take notes, something that makes speechreading difficult, if not impossible. It also reduces the stress listeners experience when they fear that they’ll miss something or hear it incorrectly. When you feel that having information in writing would be helpful, ask for it. Be assertive. Other accommodations are far more expensive and difficult to provide. And of course, using a pad and pencil (or word processor) to communicate is a tried-and-true tool.

Sign Language Translation and Sign Language Interpretation

American Sign Language (ASL) is a distinct language with its own syntax and grammar. In other words, ASL is not English that’s signed. For listeners who have learned ASL, a sign language translator (more often called a sign language interpreter) can translate English into ASL and ASL into English. Most people who lose their hearing as adults do not learn ASL, however. Some of them might learn a form of manually coded English in which ASL signs are used in English word order. When this is the case, a sign

language interpreter can provide a simultaneous, visual supplement to spoken communication.

Oral Interpretation

An oral interpreter sits close to the listener and speaks or mouths the words of a speaker who’s too far away to be seen clearly. The user must have good speechreading skills to benefit.

ALERTING DEVICES

Alerting devices allow people with hearing loss to be independent and feel safe. They’re particularly important for people who live alone. In general, they use flashing lights, strobes, vibration, fans, or very loud noises to substitute for conventional sound signals. The resources included at the end of this book can help you to find products that will address most alerting needs.

The simplest units include a sensor that monitors a single sound source (like a doorbell) and transmits a signal to a receiver that alerts the user. The user can choose how he wants to be alerted. Vibrating receivers can be worn close to the body (for example, around the neck, in a pocket, clipped to a belt, or as a wristwatch), placed under a pillow, or tucked between a mattress and box spring. Other types of receivers activate strobe lights or cause lamps to flash on and off. These receivers can be placed on a table, plugged into an outlet, or mounted on a wall or ceiling.

Larger, integrated systems allow several sounds around the house to be monitored by the same unit. The user chooses what she wishes to monitor (front door, back door, telephone, smoke detector, baby’s room, etc.) and the type of alert she wishes to receive. Each sensor has its own code so that the user knows whether someone is ringing the front doorbell or knocking at the back door. This information can be conveyed in a number of different ways, from variations in the pattern of light flashes to message screens and coded light panels.

Dozens of alerting devices are available. The following are examples of the types of sounds that can be monitored and conveyed through light, vibration, or very loud noises.

Smoke alarm

Carbon monoxide alarm

Home intruder

Doorbell

Intercom/door buzzer

Telephone ringer

Knock at the door (and sometimes a touch on the door knob)