Layared look
Layar is billed as the first commercially viable augmented reality service. For Android devices, aim your camera at any location or object that’s been indexed — a fort, a bar, a train station — and information pops onto the screen, with arrows and captions and everything. They’ve got content from Wikipedia and other sources, and claim to have 500 developers working on content and apps. There are some great opportunities here, as we’ve said before, for people with hearing, cognitive or visual disabilities.
Smart Mobs » Blog Archive » Layar Reality Browser 2.0 Launched Globally
Help now a text away
Waterloo, IA is the new national center of 911 accessibility; their call center can now receive text messages, and the operators can respond in kind. There are still a few potential bugs in the system–for example, the caller needs to be able to identify their location, which may be difficult for some nonverbal individuals with cognitive disabilities–but overall, this is a huge step forward.
Someone’s knocking at the door, someone’s ringing the bell
The Nuclear Doorbell is presumably designed for masochists with standard hearing who want to be alerted by sirens, screeching monkeys, or the Loud Voice of Doom every time the button is pressed. What caught our attention, though, is that it also comes with a flashing light. Therefore, people who are Deaf or hard of hearing could have an appropriate signaling system for about $24, instead of needing visual alert devices that you add to an existing doorbell setup and that cost easily twice that much. This is a shining (OK, flashing) example of the AoMS ideal: a product world where access is built in rather than requiring “special,” costly add-ons.
Technabob: Nuclear doorbell is the most annoying way for visitors to announce their arrival, ever
Sound thinking
Apple has filed a patent that will automatically adjust the volume on a Mac or iPhone based on ambient noise. If this ever gets implemented, it should be helpful not only for accommodating people with hearing impairments, but also for avoiding preventable hearing loss.
Electronista: Apple patent would auto-tune iPhone, Mac volume
Hear say
Apparently we missed the press release a couple of years ago on Motorola’s CrystalTalk noise reduction and voice enhancement technologies. We’ll make up for it by noting that LG is about to release their own version, DSE.T, by the end of the year. Clear benefits for hard-of-hearing people; we’d like to see how this works for people with mild to moderate speech disabilities, too.
Hearing loss epidemic
The CDC is now estimating that there are more than 5 million kids with noise-related hearing damage. This is blamed to a large extent on a fully preventable cause: Loud and protracted use of MP3 players that can be set to exceed safe limits of 85 dB. Some of which are marketed for three-year-olds. Three. Well before many speech and language milestones are reached. We can’t even wisecrack; we’re just appalled.
Video gram
The New York Times found a growing application for Webcams: increased opportunities for communication between far-off grandparents and grandkids. While the article mostly focuses on the implications for the kids we can imagine a lot of accessibility benefits for the other side. These could include better comprehension by hard-of-hearing elders as well as a greater possibility of cognitive linkage for people with Alzheimer’s between the child they see everyday onscreen and the one that’s running up to them in person.