BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » INFO for and About Deaf/HOH people--Theaters, captioning, cellphones,e

sherlockskitty · September 5, 2012 10:33 pm

Ok This is a thread that's about the things available to Deaf or Hard of Hearing (HOH) people like me. You can post about ANYTHING that you know of, such as relay services, captioning, clubs, or anything else that you know of.

I'll start, by giving an explanation about my local theater's Captioning devices. It's a small screen that you hold onto, that will fit into the cupholder of your seat. The screen is attached to a long but flexible metal thingie, (like a giant drinking straw) and you can adjust it to whatever length you feel comfy with, in order to see both the big movie and your small screen. Your small screen is in front of you, and you can read the wordson the small screen, as they are spoken, on the BIG screen. No one else can see it, and the people around you still have an unblocked view of the big screen. This theater used to have a headphone type listening device, and perhaps they still do, but those did NOT work for my hearing aids. So their new technology is much better, and a little bit funny, seeing as the device is like a giant flexible straw with a cup shape at one end and a rectangle shape at the other end. But it's a GREAT solution for people who cannot use headphones.

Another tidbit to add--Disneyland and Disney World had these technologies FIRST, and now our theaters have them, thanks to them!!

So-- does anyone else have anything to share?

edited to fix a sentence that didn't make any sense to me.

Last edited by sherlockskitty (September 6, 2012 3:21 am)

The Doctor · September 6, 2012 12:27 am

Just that I was hearing-impaired for a short while, and I was horrified to realise how challenging such a condition (still) is in modern society. Very humbling!

I later learns some sign language due to a deaf friend, and I miss not being in practice any more. Plus, the deaf community is so distinctive from other communities!!

Carol the Dabbler · September 6, 2012 2:35 am

What an interesting gadget! I'll have to keep an eye out for them next time I'm at the movies.

And kudos to the Disney people for pioneering such a helpful device! I hear a lot of people criticize that sort of innovation, saying it's only helping people who can afford to go to expensive places like Disneyland -- but once it proves to be popular there, someone is bound to figure out how to make them more affordable, and soon they're available at movie theaters all over the country.

sherlockskitty · September 6, 2012 3:26 am

Disney now has a BETTER system--I used it last year on my birthday. It's a radio-controlled thing that you hang around your neck. When I went on the Finding Nemo ride, I just pressed a couple of buttons, and I was able to read on the little screen-- (like a cell phone or a small tablet) the words over rthe PA system showed up as text on my little screen!! It worked on most of the rides. It cost 25 dollars to rent for the whole day, BUT you get that deposit back when you return it. It was the BEST thing I've ever seen. well worth the money. Yes, I did want to take it home with me, but since I needed the money.......

Davina · September 8, 2012 7:10 am

Do banks etc. where you are have an induction loop system to help? Ours do here. I used to teach some kids who were partially hearing and I would wear a transmitter thingy around my neck in class. Generally the kids didn't sign but would lip-read. They attended the school as everyone else and would have some lessons and extra stuff in the partially hearing unit on site. Some would have someone extra in class with them to help with lessons too.

sherlockskitty · September 11, 2012 12:54 am

No, banks don't have those listening devices here in USA and they ought to!! . For a deaf person, they usually write things down on paper, or, there's a signing employee there. Hospitals, churches, most important business (maybe food chains too) have employees that will sign with their hands. If no signer is available, then the employee will just have to be patient and write things down. Also, A deaf person might have a cell phone, where he/she can type down what he wants to say.

I got into the mainstream in high school. (I had Special Ed all thru 9th grade which I hated and was too smart for) At 9th grade, I wore hearing aids, but I also had a notetaker that took my notes for me. Did this in college too. These notetakers were provided by a special agency connected with the school. I don't think they have these anymore. I'm sure colleges and schools now have those listening devices which you hang around your neck, and then you attach thenm to your hearing aids or something. The teacher, or the speaker, will have the other end of it. However these won't work with a totally deaf person. I wish Disney would share their secrets with the rest of the corporations. they'd make more money.

sherlockskitty · November 17, 2012 6:08 pm

Ok I'm updating this thread---

Are there ANY hearing impaired ppl who wear hearing aids on this forum? Because I do, and my left hearing aid is driving me BONKERS ith the feedback. Nobody but ME can hear it. Here's the mystery....

1. I am the only one who can "hear" it.

2. No, it its NOT Tinnitus.

3. I know it's not tinnitus because when i press my finger to the earmold, to press the tube against it, the whistling STOPS.

4. Then it comes back again during the day-- every tiome I talk, when I move, etc. BONKERS!! This is an unusual case, is it not?

Please, Sherlock, come back so you can solve this mystery!!

Russell · November 26, 2012 3:26 am

So..... lurker here!! Happened to pass through while googling info about the Doyle stories and found some related forum threads, then stopped to browse what else everyone was talking about on here, and this caught my attention! Why so? Because I'm hard of hearing myself, of course.
Obviously, with today's tech and advocacy/interest with making things accessible, there's plenty of stuff out there now, not just the neat caption things at the theatre. I only use a few of the things out there myself. But mostly I just wanted to chime in for a second to reply to 'kitty' above me first about aids. Oi... they're a pain, aren't they!! ;) I've only had slightly similar myself... and wanted to ask if you've checked the tube for any tiny nicks where air escapes. Or maybe it's just not fitting right anymore, and in either case, should ask to have it pulled out and replaced with a new one. Hope that helps!

Tantalus · November 26, 2012 4:04 am

Skitty,

I just now saw this thread (thanks to someone posting recently). I had never heard of the movie theatre devices you're talking about, but they sound like a nice option. I rarely go to the theatres, but when I do, I always miss the captions. I hear just fine, but when we watch movies at home, we always play the captions, just because it's easy to miss dialogue in movies, especially in fast-paced action or bits of quickly-delivered lines (I can't imagine watching Sherlock without them!).

I think I've mentioned elsewhere that my wife is trained in deaf education, and that we had a deaf foster daughter (from Russia, of all places!) for awhile. She had had a cochlear implant, but never wore her device, as she was made to have the surgery by her adoptive American mother, and never wanted it. So, we signed with her, and of course, played the captions whenever we watched movies, etc. I guess that's when I started playing the captions as a matter of habit.

My dad has slowly been losing his hearing (runs in his family) as he has gotten older. I rarely say anything to him anymore without him saying, "What?". We've tried to get him to get a hearing aid, but he isn't interested. I've wondered if it's selfish to keep asking him about it. I tell myself that I want him to hear all he's missing, but maybe I just am impatient with having always to repeat myself.

Hope you solve your feedback problem soon! My 97-year-old grandmother has been legally deaf for some time (started losing her hearing as a little girl), and wears a box-type hearing aid near her chest. It gives feedback all the time, and is very frustrating to her.

sherlockskitty · November 26, 2012 7:44 am

Russell wrote:
So..... lurker here!! Happened to pass through while googling info about the Doyle stories and found some related forum threads, then stopped to browse what else everyone was talking about on here, and this caught my attention! Why so? Because I'm hard of hearing myself, of course.
Obviously, with today's tech and advocacy/interest with making things accessible, there's plenty of stuff out there now, not just the neat caption things at the theatre. I only use a few of the things out there myself. But mostly I just wanted to chime in for a second to reply to 'kitty' above me first about aids. Oi... they're a pain, aren't they!! ;) I've only had slightly similar myself... and wanted to ask if you've checked the tube for any tiny nicks where air escapes. Or maybe it's just not fitting right anymore, and in either case, should ask to have it pulled out and replaced with a new one. Hope that helps!

Thank you!!! I HAVE just had new molds done, and I'm using them now. But.....the same thing is happening still....only not as bad. Yes, they are3 a PAIN in the EAR!!! I've had to put up with MANY different types of earmolds and tubing. and hearing aids. I have spares, and I'm learning that two of my old molds are causing feedback AND tinnitus--so I can't wear them much. The one that isn't bad, causes my ear to hurt... UGH. I never had this problem before I turned one year older in November. But thank you for your advice. It's very nice to meet you, russell.

~~~~~~~~

Tantalus wrote:
Skitty,

I just now saw this thread (thanks to someone posting recently). I had never heard of the movie theatre devices you're talking about, but they sound like a nice option. I rarely go to the theatres, but when I do, I always miss the captions. I hear just fine, but when we watch movies at home, we always play the captions, just because it's easy to miss dialogue in movies, especially in fast-paced action or bits of quickly-delivered lines (I can't imagine watching Sherlock without them!).

I think I've mentioned elsewhere that my wife is trained in deaf education, and that we had a deaf foster daughter (from Russia, of all places!) for awhile. She had had a cochlear implant, but never wore her device, as she was made to have the surgery by her adoptive American mother, and never wanted it. So, we signed with her, and of course, played the captions whenever we watched movies, etc. I guess that's when I started playing the captions as a matter of habit.

My dad has slowly been losing his hearing (runs in his family) as he has gotten older. I rarely say anything to him anymore without him saying, "What?". We've tried to get him to get a hearing aid, but he isn't interested. I've wondered if it's selfish to keep asking him about it. I tell myself that I want him to hear all he's missing, but maybe I just am impatient with having always to repeat myself.

Hope you solve your feedback problem soon! My 97-year-old grandmother has been legally deaf for some time (started losing her hearing as a little girl), and wears a box-type hearing aid near her chest. It gives feedback all the time, and is very frustrating to her.

Yeah Tanty---with me-- I hate saying WHAT? And I hate being yelled at, because I didn't hear right and I asked a dumb question. Mostly I just.....sit there and listen to what I CAN hear, but I don't alwways join in. People ignore me. This only happens in large groups, and It hurts sometimes. But I've learned not to let that get to me.

Oh,,,, that box type hearing aid? I had that when I was 5 years old!! That brings back memories...bad ones-- I kept getting teased...and I couldn't run on the playground or join in with the other kids for fear of feedback and embarrassment. Maybe that is how your grandma feels. And maybe her insurance will pay for behind the ear aids?

I rarely go to theaters myself, but when I heard about that new device that they have, which is the flexible straw thing, I started going, but ONLY for special movies. Prices there are OUTRAGEOUS!!!! I wait tfor them to come out on DVD. The movie I'm gonna go see december 14th is THE HOBBIT starring our own Martin Freeman. And watching Sherlock with captions is a MUST, because that guy talks a mile a minute!!

I don't think you can keep asking your dad to get a hearing aid. That's not selfish to keep asking him about it, because you are concerned, I get that, but it is a bit pushy. My advice is to let him make up his own mind. You've done what you can, the rest is up to him. He might feel left out, like you are ignoring him, and I will assume that THAT is when he will start thinking about getting his hearing taken care of. Just love him. that's all you can do, at this point.

I will solve my feedback problem somehow...there are things that cause tinnitus, ringing in my ears, and THAT is what no one else can hear. But i'm also hearing whistling like it's from my hearing aid. the only way to stop it is to push the mold in, or take it out. However, the tinnitus stays. I can tell the difference, yes.

Tinnitus is caused by a number of things which I am trying to avoid---

sodium and salt-- this also applies to sodium in pills...
anti-depressants....
aspirin
too much MSG (sodium salt)
that's all I know at this point.

BUGGER I gotta go to sleep.

goodnight all

Russell · November 26, 2012 6:53 pm

Thanks, nice to meet you too! (although already been seeing as a regular poster round here!) ;) And just as a briefly quirky aside, Russell isn't my real moniker, despite being a 'proper' name... well, ok, I know that was probably obvious, but so many people on here I got a grin from with their names being a clever nod to something from this world, that I wanted to do the same, so that's my name here, for all intents! Of course, it remains to be seen if anyone gets it... ;) ;)

And... Sigh... yes, I know the frustration with having things work right. But everyone above is chiming in so much on captioning and theaters, just had to pitch in! I know the knowledge of captions and assistive devices is old hat these days, but even with hearing-impaired people like me who simply lived in the more mainstream world and didn't encounter a lot of the stuff out there, I wasn't aware of some of it for so long! Special alarm clocks, phone stuff, services...... heck, that theater caption stuff has been around for a while, and I only found out about it by chance last summer thanks to loving movies and being so wistful about missing out seeing some particular ones coming up (Avengers, whoo!!), because I so rarely go, and someone pointed me here: http://ncam.wgbh.org/mopix/ where I learned about that device you mentioned. There's even http://www.captionfish.com/ where you can find what theaters around you use that stuff. Did you know about?

And as for my beloved Sherlock? Oii! Like some people have already mentioned the frustration with... don't even get me started!! ;) Using captions on the tv is my default method for catching all the fast dialogue... so hard otherwise! And even watching my shows on Hulu or network's websites are pretty good about captioning since it's such an obviously simple feature these days. But when you live across the ocean, and are one of the poor saps who have to wait for PBS to have the right to air it months after the Brits get it, sooo unfair hearing about those lucky others sneaking it online, and you try it but can't keep up because streamed/pirated stuff is never encoded with captions... Yeah. Hmm... but then, I hear other fans of shows from our networks here complain it takes forever to get to their country, so we're all in the same boat in some ways.

sherlockskitty · November 26, 2012 9:39 pm

hey Russell!! No I don't get it, but that is ok. And here on message boards it's smarter to NOT use your real name, no matter WHAT message board yur using. Only trouble is, our emails can sometimes be seen by ppl who know how to look for them.

But anyway-- Yes it's a hardship for me in USA to wait till 6 months after you brits get Sherlock, Merlin, or Doctor Who, with captions on our tv's for those shows. But you know what? There's a website I know of, that has the subtitles for all those shows. http://www.addic7ed.com I've figured out how to watch the videos and scroll down the page for the subs at the same time. I am sure there are more sites like this, but I don't know. this one is free, so I use it alot. But I do donate from time to time. It's a very neat site.

for those other sites yu mentioned, I didn't know abt them. but I'll look them up soon. thank you!!

tobeornot221b · November 27, 2012 5:19 am

Russell wrote:
Thanks, nice to meet you too! (although already been seeing as a regular poster round here!) ;) And just as a briefly quirky aside, Russell isn't my real moniker, despite being a 'proper' name... well, ok, I know that was probably obvious, but so many people on here I got a grin from with their names being a clever nod to something from this world, that I wanted to do the same, so that's my name here, for all intents! Of course, it remains to be seen if anyone gets it... ;) ;)

Hi Russell, glad you could join us - welcome!
As for "Russell" - the first that sprang to my mind was that the filming of the (most essential!) scene where John and Mike Stamford meet took place in Russell Square Gardens. Admittedly, a bit far-fetched...

Russell · November 27, 2012 5:43 am

Aww... okay. ; ) My name and pic were pretty much the 'clue' (not from the show), but not sure how many fans here have read it. Also, I've been an online junkie for years, just never really got very active with forums, so of course I know how to watch out... just was clarifying it!

Anyway - yeah, I know. Although I lucked out with the last season of the Doctor, thanks to a friend with DirectTV/BBC America. And hadn't heard of that website! Only taking a quick look at for a second, not quite sure how works, but like idea. Ehh... sometimes you get used to doing/not doing/accommodating stuff thanks to hearing and availability... sometimes just frustrating. And you've probably noticed that while most other tv show websites are good at putting up recent eps with captions, frustrating how with many things they don't. You'd think it'd be simple??
So... do you use a whole lot of the other things available out there? Just curious as someone else used to it. Was never bad enough to need special devices to alert the user to smoke alarm/door knocking, etc, but the alarm clock really changed things. Heck, back when I was in college, it was a lifesaver to have not just a fellow student notetaker, like high school, but instead, they provided a real-time captioner, like the ones you see in courtrooms. There's even captioning services available on cell phones, but I haven't tried it much... the single time I experimented with it was kinda mixed. But anyhow... thanks for the comments! Hope get your thing fixed soon!

Russell · November 27, 2012 5:48 am

Oh... and just noticed 'tobe' posted before me... thanks.. Hi! Hee!! Believe it or not, my earlier comment about noticing so many good witty/tied-in names and wanting to make my own, included yours and others! ; ) And ha... I did not know that! Different Russell! ; )))

tobeornot221b · November 27, 2012 5:56 am

Clever you - "Different Russell"! We gonna find out about your name - be assured...

Davina · November 27, 2012 1:48 pm

I thought you had named yourself after Russell Tovey...

Tantalus · November 27, 2012 3:39 pm

There is an actor named Russell Honeywell...

And then there is "Russell" in "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!"...

Tantalus · November 27, 2012 3:45 pm

sherlockskitty wrote:
Oh,,,, that box type hearing aid? I had that when I was 5 years old!! That brings back memories...bad ones-- I kept getting teased...and I couldn't run on the playground or join in with the other kids for fear of feedback and embarrassment. Maybe that is how your grandma feels. And maybe her insurance will pay for behind the ear aids?

I don't think it's cost that keeps my grandmother in her box hearing aid. It's just that she's had it for decades (well, not the same one, but similar ones), and she is afraid to change, I guess. A bit of a traditionalist. Or maybe it's like a security blanket or something for her?

sherlockskitty wrote:
I don't think you can keep asking your dad to get a hearing aid. That's not selfish to keep asking him about it, because you are concerned, I get that, but it is a bit pushy. My advice is to let him make up his own mind. You've done what you can, the rest is up to him. He might feel left out, like you are ignoring him, and I will assume that THAT is when he will start thinking about getting his hearing taken care of. Just love him. that's all you can do, at this point.

Wise advice, and I'm sure you're correct about not being pushy. I actually think he likes not hearing everything, as my mom can be quite demanding and loves telling Dad what to do!

Russell · November 27, 2012 4:35 pm

Davina wrote:
I thought you had named yourself after Russell Tovey...

I... Oh. . . . Hah!! Oh dear, totally forgot about him and how fans of what we are would unfortunately obviously think of him first. (although honestly, I kinda liked him better in Who and Being Human... ;p) Especially with so many members neatly taking up names of quite a few of the characters. And sure... I like to try to have fun with cute wittiness... but not quite like some of those I referred to above! (looking at you, tobeornot221b, wholocked, nothisdate, and always1895!) Cute. Hum hum... just my own little geeky moment.
But no... it (and the icon) are reference to an awesome Sherlock-related book I actually just recently discovered, along with some other fandom stuff, as well. Haven't gotten to it yet (and was having fun bantering about), but meant to start up a curious chat about it in one of the book threads. For now, gotta run!

But just as a quick aside... Sigh... yeah, I hear (snrk) you others about being the hearing-impaired one in group. Sometimes you can't push them... they don't want to face it, or feel resigned with, or not sure how much better can really be (something I working on looking into again, even after 26 years of dealing with... ; PPP) And sometimes seriously need a nudge, or just another head to look into things with them!