Hearing Impaired

For people with limited hearing, understanding movies or plays can be challenging. That's why engineers at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technolgy have developed a system that streams audio from the stage or screen to the user's earphone-equipped smartphone.

In order to regain their sense of hearing, many deaf people currently opt for cochlear implants. Such devices are expensive, however, plus they must be surgically installed. That's why researchers are developing an electric retainer that transmits spoken words to the user by buzzing their tongue.

Google Glass hasn't exactly set the world on fire, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still have some cool potential uses. Today Glass has two big new apps: one that can turn it into a life-changing tool for the hearing-impaired, and another that, erm, helps movie theaters sell tickets.

For the first time, researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia have used cochlear implants to regenerate auditory nerves through gene therapy, a process where therapeutic DNA is inserted into cells to treat a disease.

The ReSound LiNX hearing aid connects with a user's iPhone to allow music and phone calls to be heard directly through the device, thus allowing more comfortable smartphone use for the hearing impaired.

Sydney-based Portuguese design duo Catarina Araujo and Sofia Santos, have devised a low-cost, practical necklace that uses Leap Motion to interpret sign language into written words. They have been selected for the second phase of the TEDx Youth competition.

With Sony's Entertainment Access Glasses for movie theaters, the hearing impaired can see private closed captions projected right in front of their eyes.

The Ukraine’s quadSquad has taken out the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup with the EnableTalk gloves that translate sign language into speech in real time.

A team of students has created a portable sign-language translator.

Kyocera's Smart Sound Receiver helps us hear phone calls in noisy environments through the use of a vibrating screen.

University of Washington (UW) engineers are developing the first device able to transmit American Sign Language (ASL) over U.S. cellular networks.

The Outer Ear converts sound waves into physical vibration that hearing impaired or deaf people can feel on their skin.