Bionic Ear

Netflix and Captions
Bionic Ear I heard the news on Twitter from an unexpected source: @marleematlin. I happened to browse Twitter and caught her tweet. It’s great to have someone with her name speaking out about Netflix’s lack of captions on streamed movies. Like it...
Media Language Tech Culture Sat, Jun 13 2009

Fishing for Movies with Captionfish
Bionic Ear You may have seen Fomdi, a web site that helps you locate captioned movies (either open caption or rear window) by zip code and how far the theaters are from your home. Fomdi has a Google search-like interface. It provides...
Wed, May 27 2009

Defensive Situations
Bionic Ear Amazing Race’s Luke responded to a question that confirmed that some deaf people (me included) tend to be more defensive than the average person. Here’s the interview response I’m talking about: The deaf community has responded very positively. They were...
Media Audism Culture Thu, May 14 2009

Defensive Situations
Bionic Ear Amazing Race’s Luke responded to a question that confirmed that some deaf people (me included) tend to be more defensive than the average person. Here’s the interview response I’m talking about: The deaf community has responded very positively. They were...
Media Art and Storytelling Culture Wed, May 13 2009

Designing for Accessibility Links
Bionic Ear Laura Carlson provides loads of links to great articles on accessibility in web design. Want to share them with you. Create Your Own Accessibility Statement: “An accessibility statement has two basic functions. Firstly, it presents clear information about the target...
Tech Fri, May 08 2009

Minsinterpreting: Is It Just Me?
Bionic Ear OK, sometimes I feel like I should learn how to create a neutral look on my face and talk as little as possible. Or else someone misinterprets a perfectly friendly or innocent comment or look for something negative. My famous...
Language Tue, May 05 2009

I'm Deaf, I'm Not Ignoring You
Bionic Ear I remember in the ’80s when pins were popular and full of Valley Girl talk. One popular pin was “I’m not deaf, I’m ignoring you.” I had one as it made for a good laugh. Paul (hubby) was talking to...
Art and Storytelling Culture Thu, Apr 30 2009

CaptionTube: YouTube Captioning
Bionic Ear Mashable has a post on CaptionTube, a service that makes it easier for users to add captions to their YouTube videos. CaptionTube requires a Google account (I think many of us have this by now). I tried out the service...
Tech Mon, Apr 20 2009

CaptionTube: YouTube Captioning
Bionic Ear Mashable has a post on CaptionTube, a service that makes it easier for users to add captions to their YouTube videos. CaptionTube requires a Google account (I think many of us have this by now). I tried out the service...
Language Tech Sun, Apr 19 2009

Jonah Syndrome
Bionic Ear Jamie Berke has an excellent article introducing Jonah Syndrome. I remember the movie, And your name is Jonah. It was broadcast in 1979 — still a few years before captions hit. Berke explains that the people behind the movie promoted...
Media Language Art and Storytelling Tech Culture Fri, Apr 17 2009

Fire Alarm Safety
Bionic Ear Recent research by Dorothy Bruck and Ian Thomas on behalf of the Fire Protection Research Foundation shows that almost 44 percent of many people — including people with hearing loss, seniors, children, and heavy sleepers do not wake to the...
Tech Culture Mon, Apr 13 2009

Fire Alarm Safety
Bionic Ear Recent research by Dorothy Bruck and Ian Thomas on behalf of the Fire Protection Research Foundation shows that almost 44 percent of many people — including people with hearing loss, seniors, children, and heavy sleepers do not wake to the...
Tech Sun, Apr 12 2009

March 2009 Accessibility Updates
Bionic Ear Laura Carlson reports many exciting accessibility updates. Why should businesses bother captioning? National Association of the Deaf (NAD) reports that 32 million Americans have some type of hearing loss and another 32 million Americans were born in another country (learning...
Media Language Tech Legal Culture Tue, Apr 07 2009

March 2009 Accessibility Updates
Bionic Ear Laura Carlson reports many exciting accessibility updates. Why should businesses bother captioning? National Association of the Deaf (NAD) reports that 32 million Americans have some type of hearing loss and another 32 million Americans were born in another country (learning...
Media Language Tech Fri, Apr 03 2009

Coffee with neighborsgo
Bionic Ear Angela Chambers, editor of the Plano edition of neighborsgo, asked if I could attend the coffee to talk to people about my neighborsgo experiences. Background: neighborsgo is the Dallas Morning News' citizen journalism site where some lucky stories make it...
Language Culture Sat, Mar 21 2009

Word on the Tip of Your Finger?
Bionic Ear Many of us have said, “It's on the tip of my tongue... I know it. I can't remember the word I'm looking for.” It happens to signers, too. This study indicates that it's the brain's misplacing of a memory —...
Language Culture Thu, Mar 12 2009

Word on the Tip of Your Finger?
Bionic Ear Many of us have said, “It's on the tip of my tongue... I know it. I can't remember the word I'm looking for.” It happens to signers, too. This study indicates that it's the brain's misplacing of a memory —...
Higher Education Language Thu, Mar 12 2009

Audism Free America to Protest
Bionic Ear Audism Free America Targets The Volta Bureau The purpose of the one-day rally is to call attention to how the Volta Bureau/AGBell Association has been an active force in the denial of linguistic and human rights of Deaf citizens through...
Language Audism Education Culture Wed, Mar 11 2009

Can You Hear This?
Bionic Ear NoiseAddicts has a great hearing test to see what you can and can't hear. It provides sounds from 8kHz up to 22 kHz. Don't fret if you can't hear anything beyond 15 kHz. It just means you're most likely to...
Tech Tue, Mar 10 2009

A Purim Miracle
Bionic Ear I've always hated services. I sat there bored out of my mind. Once in a blue moon, I made an effort to sit and follow. But it was too much work for little meaning. For a few years, I'd take...
Tue, Mar 10 2009

Captioning, Transcripts and Teachable Moment
Bionic Ear Love this story about working with NASA: I was approached by a web developer who was working on a project for NASA: an out-reach program geared towards students at all levels (K-4 through “higher ed”) that essentially encouraged students to...
Tech Tue, Feb 24 2009

Deafness Isn't Amazing... It's Just Is
Bionic Ear Well, everyone knows by now that Amazing Race 14 has a mother and son team where the son is deaf. Only one episode has aired (I write this watching the second) and Margaret and Luke won the first leg. Cool!...
Media Tech Sun, Feb 22 2009

Review of Video Captioning Apps
Bionic Ear Bill Cresswell lists ProudGeek reviews of some captioning methods. Bill also adds other captioning options that aren't reviewed. If you know of any services or options not included, please leave a comment to add it to the list. Thank you,...
Tech Fri, Feb 20 2009

Mixed Deaf and Hearing Marriages
Bionic Ear Great discussion over at Filipino Deaf about deaf and hearing marriages and when the wife is deaf vs. when the husband is deaf. From the post: This leads me back to my main query, how successful is a deaf marrying...
Language Culture Sun, Feb 15 2009

Translate Lectures into Sign Language
Bionic Ear Two University of Michigan grad students in the College of Engineering’s Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, have developed a system that translates sign language into speech using cell phone technology.They call it MSigns, which stands for Mobile Sign...
Higher Education Language Tech Thu, Feb 12 2009

Captioning, Transcripts and Teachable Moment
Bionic Ear Love this story about working with NASA: I was approached by a web developer who was working on a project for NASA: an out-reach program geared towards students at all levels (K-4 through “higher ed”) that essentially encouraged students to...
Media Language Tech Fri, Feb 06 2009

Whoo Hoo for Hulu
Bionic Ear I had heard about Hulu, yet another video watching service. Originally, I ignored it as I ignore most video service news. I happened to catch the Alec Baldwin Hulu commercial and he intrigued me enough to check it out. Not...
Media Language Tech Wed, Feb 04 2009

Amazing Race Stars Deaf Contestant
Bionic Ear I love The Amazing Race. If I had the energy, I'd like to appear on it and have the opportunity to travel... but it's hard to take in all the places and thoroughly enjoy them when you're constantly go, go,...
Media Language Thu, Jan 29 2009

My Son's Hearing
Bionic Ear I got a surprise from the school nurse. She said that my youngest, a five-year-old kindergartener, failed his hearing test twice. The state required that she notify the parents and ask for a follow up. His hearing was fine until...
Mon, Jan 26 2009

A Religious School Teacher's Story
Bionic Ear One of my best friends emailed me because she has a new student in her religious school class who has a cochlear implant. She and her sister are in the 4th class together despite the person with the cochlear implant...
Language Education Tech Thu, Jan 22 2009

Closed Captioning on Inauguration YouTube Channel
Bionic Ear The Inauguration YouTube channel features videos recorded by President-elect Obama, Michelle Obama, Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) Executive Director Emmett Beliveau, and others. President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden are working on making this the most accessible inauguration in history. PIC...
Media Education Legal Fri, Jan 16 2009

Deafbarrassing Moment for 2009
Bionic Ear First, let me tell you about the T feature on hearing aids and cochlear implants. It's one of the coolest features ever. When you switch from M (microphone) to T (telecoil), you hear nothing except what comes through the phone...
Language Art and Storytelling Tech Culture Wed, Jan 14 2009

Healthy Hands
Bionic Ear Never thought about it until today — shame on me. If I used ASL on a regular basis, this hand injury would've been more frustrating. I couldn't type much for six weeks, so imagine trying to sign with one hand....
Language Culture Fri, Jan 09 2009

Hearing Reader Asks for Dating Advice
Bionic Ear A reader wrote to me about her relationship. I told her I am not in the best position to advise and asked if I could post it as I think she would benefit from a community response rather than one...
Culture Mon, Jan 05 2009

More Online Captioned Videos and iTunes
Bionic Ear It's hard to find captioned or subtitled videos online. Came across two good resources: www.Harkle.com billc.vodpod.com by the awesome Bill Creswell ( [link] 2GuysTalking go on the hunt for captioning. iTunes has an option where you can search all closed-captioned movies...
Tech Tue, Dec 30 2008

SubPLY
Bionic Ear Deborah alerted me to a service that does subtitling. SubPLY is offering to do free captioning of YouTube videos. That's a big job to make such an offer, but I'm sure it's temporary to help promote the service....
Tech Mon, Dec 29 2008

Speech to Text Software with Deaf Accent
Bionic Ear This post will show you what I said and what this stuff where code [Line spoken should be, “the software heard”]. I strike out the software's mistakes and picked [put] the correct version in practice [brackets]. Here we go... For...
Tech Sat, Dec 20 2008

Tuning
Bionic Ear Will Cox sent this to me. Love it. I always wondered how hearing people can sleep. It just bugs me to think of going to bed with my hearing turned on. Sure, I've taken a nap with my hearing aids...
Tech Sat, Dec 20 2008

Speech to Text Software with Deaf Accent
Bionic Ear This post will show you what I said and what this stuff where code [Line spoken should be, “the software heard”]. I strike out the software's mistakes and picked [put] the correct version in practice [brackets]. Here we go... For...
Media Language Tech Culture Wed, Dec 17 2008

Deaf Twitter Group
Bionic Ear Been quiet for a while between my herniated disc and hand surgery. Still can't type much, so I'll just point the way. Bryen's intro Deaf Twitter Group...
Media Language Tech Culture Mon, Dec 15 2008

No MRIs: One Downside of Cochlear Implants
Bionic Ear I haven't blogged as much lately as so many things hit at once. My kid with the challenges was having a lot of them and at the same time a herniated disc and inflamed piriformis muscle hit. The pain prevented...
Tech Thu, Dec 11 2008

Deaf Twitter Group
Bionic Ear Been quiet for a while between my herniated disc and hand surgery. Still can't type much, so I'll just point the way. Bryen's intro Deaf Twitter Group...
Tech Culture Thu, Dec 04 2008

How to on Deaf People
Bionic Ear wikiHow on how to understand deaf people. Many of the points hit the target. We can't help that we have a “deaf accent.” We have little or no ability to understand inflection. Some people think those with a southern or...
Media Higher Education Language Art and Storytelling Tech Culture Wed, Nov 26 2008

How to on Deaf People
Bionic Ear wikiHow on how to understand deaf people. Many of the points hit the target. We can't help that we have a “deaf accent.” We have little or no ability to understand inflection. Some people think those with a southern or...
Language Tech Culture Tue, Nov 04 2008

1 in 10 MP3 Abusers Could Go Deaf
Bionic Ear CNet reports on a study of MP3 usage performed by the EU's Scientific Committee. The study says that one in ten iPod users could go deaf. It shouldn't scare anyone away from buying an iPod or other MP3 player, but...
Tech Mon, Nov 03 2008

Guardian Deaf Issue
Bionic Ear “More than 8 million Britons have impaired hearing, ranging from the 6 million older people who are mildly or moderately deaf, to the 700,000 whose deafness is more profound. In this special issue, we explore how it feels to be...
Culture Mon, Nov 03 2008

Deafness Research Grants
Bionic Ear Two calls for applications... Call for Applications: Research in Hearing and Balance Science The Deafness Research Foundation (DRF) requests applications from both new applicants, and DRF awardees applying for a second year of funding, who are dedicated to exploring new...
Higher Education Mon, Nov 03 2008

ABC Captions Shows Online
Bionic Ear I went to look up a show on ABC's web site and ran into the player. In big letters, it said ABC.COM has a full episode player. A few lines down, “Closed Captioning.” I tried to install the player in...
Media Language Tech Wed, Oct 29 2008

1 in 10 MP3 Abusers Could Go Deaf
Bionic Ear CNet reports on a study of MP3 usage performed by the EU's Scientific Committee. The study says that one in ten iPod users could go deaf. It shouldn't scare anyone away from buying an iPod or other MP3 player, but...
Language Education Tech Thu, Oct 16 2008

Guardian Deaf Issue
Bionic Ear “More than 8 million Britons have impaired hearing, ranging from the 6 million older people who are mildly or moderately deaf, to the 700,000 whose deafness is more profound. In this special issue, we explore how it feels to be...
Language Art and Storytelling Culture Mon, Oct 13 2008