Discussion on:

Using infrared light to help deaf people hear and blind people see

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"Perhaps someday an optical cochlear implant will allow deaf people to once again enjoy music and hear all the nuances in sound that a hearing person would enjoy.?

Huh? Deaf people never did hear... that's why they're deaf. They don't have the "parts" to enable them to hear. This is not a matter of "once again" enjoying music. (my daughter works with the deaf).

Can this work on someone without an inner ear to attach to?

Besides, as a musician, I'm not too sure I want to be able to hear "hundreds or thousands of frequencies". Imagine the confusion.

Not all deaf people were born deaf; some are deaf due to disease or injury. I am half deaf, one ear has a lot of hearing loss but the good ear works harder to overcome this. I have trouble echo locating and understanding what I hear in noisy environments.

The human range for frequencies is roughly 200 to 2000 hertz. Most speech sounds are in the mid range. Children can hear higher than 2000 hz; this ability gets lost due to loud noises (rock concert loud) and age.

Approximately 90 percent of people who claim to be deaf or hard-of-hearing were not born that way.

Audible range for human hearing is from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

People born into deafness, were made this way by God. For MOST deaf people, its a CULTURE. Things like this dont just MAKE you hearing. They are critical serious procedures, with side effects, and not 100% reliable to work at all. Many deaf people consider this deafness genocide. WHat if things were just created to tinker with people who were born hearing to turn them deaf, or semi deaf, but have to go through a serious surgery first. Doesnt sound as fun, huh?

But for those who are deaf, and WANT this done... Know that once its done, you are now not considered deaf BY the Deaf, and STILL NOT considered hearing, BY the hearing. Speech is still impeded, and therapy to now learn or re learn or distinct between frequencies and sounds must be done.

These facts should be included within articles like these.

The problem with those who are born deaf or blind is that there is a critical age that surgery would need to be done. This is within the first few years after birth when the infant's brain is still capable of learning how to process sound and light. After that period of time is when surgery will generally fail.

To say that people born deaf were made that way by god is an excuse to do nothing. Some children are born with other birth defects that can be corrected with surgery; if this is available then it can help improve the child's life.

Seriously Dontfixit? Guess you cantfixignorance.

Guess you watched that repeat episode of "House" last night where he ordered a cochlear implant against the patient's will.

Here's a clue for you. It's a TV show not real life.

People like Dontfixit should also avoid using anti-biotic or cavity
filling or even soap... maybe their gods didn't want them to get rid of
infections or do personal hygiene... or just walk instead of using a
car, or using a computer... Come on, get real.

I think it is pretty funny to say all this to me as i AM DEAF.

@Sboverie- Yes the "critical window", please see my part where after they have the surgery, they are no longer considered deaf by us. And hearing people see them with the equiptment on their body/ear, and dont see them as hearing. And even if that is the PEAK time for them to get surgery with the best outcome, it STILL does not make them hear 100%. (Please, i know many with implants, and a trial patient of the above.) So, because i was BORN deaf, and have no need to "fix" it, is an excuse? This is not a defect. People with a "defect", i.e. cleft palet, extra toes, brain damage, down syndrome- Do not have their own language like the deaf. As far as facts are concerned, people with their own langauge is a CULTURE. I think a lot of people who be offended by equalizing a Culture with a Defect.

@NoSacredCow- I do not watch fictional crap on television such as you watch, thanks, go rent some more marathons.

@FuzzyIce- Really, I should avoid those things? How is that even relevant? Are you born with cavities? And are cars and computers changing aspects of your body? Please, do some research instead of bashing me.

I only appreciate people like Sboverie who are willing to talk about this topic, instead of people wasting my time on nonsense.

@Dontfixit, I hope I'm allowed an opinion even though I'm not deaf, I'll try not to make it an ignorant one...
I'm trying to understand your vitriol. It seems that you are offended that something which you see as a characteristic which is part of your identity is being fixed; treated like a problem. I guess that's how I'd feel if tall people with brown hair were made to feel that society considers them defective unless they get shorter and blonder...
Many hearing people certainly do not realise how important deaf culture is to deaf people; you've made this point very well, along with outlining the very real risks to people's senses of self if they gain hearing (especially as an adult). Most/all hearing people certainly underestimate these things.
However, while you apparently consider life without hearing as being in no way lacking compared to life with hearing, the fact that you don't know what you're missing means that you can't make an informed judgement on that. Can you?
I'm going to say this even though you won't like it: Deafness is a defect; deaf culture is a culture. Neither of us is qualified to give a definitive opinion on this; maybe somebody who had hearing and lost it can give their opinion. I'm sticking my neck out and saying that, having known hearing - with all of music and the practical conveniences it brings - most people who lose it are sorry to see it go.
As for which of these factors is more important - that's down to the individual to decide.
Let me ask you this - do you consider blindness a defect? When doctors and scientists strive to find cures for blindness, do you see that as an attack on a culture or an attempt at laudable medical progress?

I can see a benefit in this research.

@steve jones- thank you very much for your insight! this is true that i do not know what is being missed as i did not have hearing before, but in addition do you know what you may have to gain by being apart of deaf culture? Trust me, there is huge difference i have hearing siblings and i feel they are more cultured by know sign and being apart of the 'deaf community' with me. And yes, there are things that i cannot take part of, i.e. movie theatres without caption.. but i can still enjoy clubs by feeling the vibrations, the music is so loud i dont know how you all still have hearing . It is considered a handicap, meaning i could have that little blue sign in my car window and take advantage of parking spaces that i clearly do not deserve, and also take advantage of many benefits i could be offered being what the law considers "handicapped" ..But i dont. Because i am not handicapped, I can sleep peacefully at night without hearing my parents fight and the dogs barking, I can ignore strangers rude comments, I can multitask without being distracted by the volume of my sisters cartoons, i can drive with the windows down without hearing the speeding a*hole behind me cursing me out for going the limit. I can chose weather to be in a school of all deaf, or mainstreamed with hearing kids. I can dance, sing (although i have no idea what im saying, and sure I do not sound good.), drive, workout, work, shop, do anything.. except hear. .. And no i also do not consider blindness a defect either... but i feel like i am more capable without my hearing, than i would be if i could not see. Thats why i have not spoken on blindness, as i do not know anyone who is blind, nor do i know how they feel.

Sorry for being so long, but i very much appreciate your reply.

Oh and one more thing, in my opinion.. Blind people do not have a separate language, they still SPEAK english, and READ english, its just that it is in raised dots. But deaf people, do not sign in 'english' per se'. It is called American Sign Language (ASL) and not Signed English because it is translated differently. I write very well because of my hearing family members and great schooling, but the way i sign a sentence would be differently. We normally skip pronouns, and subjects, locations, verbs, and the actual questions is all switched around. For instance to speak, "Where is my Mom?", ASL signed version would be, "Mom Where?". Sure you can speak that, and somone would understand you, but you wouldnt naturally say that all the time. So the sentence structure is very different, just like when you learn a foreign language. Take an ASL or Deaf Culture class, it is very fun! I enjoy teaching them!

wish they would have something similar to this for people with gloucoma

It seems we've found common ground

The author implie 8 electrodes means that only 8 frequencies are heard. Please elaborate since this would mean that a cochlear implant with 24 channels would be virtual useless.

I wish you continued success and a very nice page
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