Using Talking Lights Illumination-Based Communication Networks to Enhance Word Comprehension by People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing This article details a new method that has been developed to transmit auditory and visual information to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In this method, ordinary fluorescent lighting is modulated to carry an assistive data signal throughout a room while causing no flicker or other distracting visual ... Research Article
Research Article  |   June 01, 2003
Using Talking Lights Illumination-Based Communication Networks to Enhance Word Comprehension by People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Roderick T. Hinman, E. C. Lupton, PhD, Steven B. Leeb, Al-Thaddeus Avestruz, Robert Gilmore, Donald Paul, and Nancy Peterson
 
Author Affiliations & Notes
  • Roderick T. Hinman
    Talking Lights, LLC, Boston, MA
  • E. C. Lupton, PhD
    Talking Lights, LLC, Boston, MA
    Talking Lights, LLC, 28 Constitution Road, Charlestown, MA 02129
  • Steven B. Leeb
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
  • Al-Thaddeus Avestruz
    Talking Lights, LLC, Boston, MA
  • Robert Gilmore
    Boston Guild for the Hard of Hearing, Boston, MA
  • Donald Paul
    Boston Guild for the Hard of Hearing, Boston, MA
  • Nancy Peterson
    Boston Guild for the Hard of Hearing, Boston, MA
  • Corresponding author: e-mail: neil@talking-lights.com
  • Copyright © 2003 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Article Information
Hearing Disorders / Research and Technology / Research Articles
Research Article   |   June 01, 2003
Using Talking Lights Illumination-Based Communication Networks to Enhance Word Comprehension by People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
American Journal of Audiology, June 2003, Vol. 12, 17-22. doi:10.1044/1059-0889(2003/005)
History: Received June 23, 2002 , Accepted January 16, 2003
 
American Journal of Audiology, June 2003, Vol. 12, 17-22. doi:10.1044/1059-0889(2003/005)
History: Received June 23, 2002; Accepted January 16, 2003

This article details a new method that has been developed to transmit auditory and visual information to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. In this method, ordinary fluorescent lighting is modulated to carry an assistive data signal throughout a room while causing no flicker or other distracting visual problems. In limited trials with participants who are deaf or hard of hearing, this assistive system, combined with commercial voice recognition software, showed statistically significant improvement in sentence recognition compared to recognition of audio-only or audio-plus-speech-reading stimuli.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Randolph Easton of the Psychology Department of Boston College for valuable discussions concerning the statistics used in this work. Support for this work was provided by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders under Small Business Innovative Research Grant 1R43DC04015-01.
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