These smart health devices can change the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing

Connected objects are not just about measuring sports performance or installing accessories in the home. For people with different disabilities, smart health change hearing and these technologies can be great help. Discover five accessories designed to simplify their everyday life.

Smart health change hearing

The Unitact bracelet, to develop the touch

Unitact is a connected bracelet for hearing impaired people that you have already spoken to several times. It can be difficult to communicate or attract the attention of a deaf person. Unitact works on another stimulus: vibrations. The Novitac company that designed it describes it as a connected object “that gives a new sense of touch”. It is intended to accompany you throughout the day. Connected to your smartphone, it offers dozens of different vibrations, intensities and variable durations that can be activated on different parts of your wrist.

Its neat design hides a connected object really imagining to create a new language to help you in a multitude of different situations. It starts with vibrations to wake up, information during your sports activities, attract attention or reassure your loved ones through messages previously recorded. The Unitact connected bracelet is available in three sizes: small (14-17 cm), medium (17-20) and wide (20-23). Three colors are proposed: blue, gray and red. Its price is 199 euros.

WEAR helps you follow conversations

You do not like the concept of the hearing aid nested in the ear? WEAR could be the solution for you. This connected necklace is connected listening assistant. To wear around the neck, it records all recorded sounds within a radius of two meters. These are captured, amplified, improved and retranscribed almost instantaneously in a discreet earpiece. This is not a solution for people who are completely deaf, but rather for those who are hard of hearing or have trouble following conversations in noisy environments. To make the acquisition count 195 dollars and 22 additional for the expenses of port.

Olive, the hearing aid at a reasonable price

“Deafness is a financial problem, not physical”. The slogan of the Olive hearing aid can surprise those who do not know the subject. But hearing-impaired people are well aware of the potential cost of a quality hearing aid. This accessory is also discreet. Visually it looks more like a bluetooth headset than conventional hearing aids that are sometimes intrusive.

Using a sound algorithm system and a Bluetooth connection, Olive greatly enhances hearing ability, especially in noisy environments. The dedicated application allows you to adjust the settings according to your own situation. Its price really allows to change the situation since in the United States for example, it takes 4000 dollars for a good hearing aid. Olive can be ordered from 100 dollars.

Captioning on Glass, for those who still have Google Glass

We are aware that few people are still equipped with Google Glass glasses. Since the end of sales in December 2015, we can imagine that keep them is often only nostalgic interest. Researchers at Georgia Tech University have developed an application for deaf people. Thanks to the voice recognition of Google, the application transcribes on the screen of your glasses what your interlocutor tells you. A system that is reminiscent of the subtitles of movies and whose instantaneity is certainly a weight advantage. Only small inconvenience, it is necessary that the person who speaks to you, is in front of the telephone. It is therefore impossible to have a timely discussion in an easy way. However, we can imagine that a similar concept should appear in the coming years on a more sustainable medium.

Mobile Lorm Glove, a glove to break insulation

The Mobile Lorm Glove is a connected object for people who are both hearing impaired and visually impaired. This is a glove filled with sensors that is used to transcribe the alphabet Lorm. This is a method of communication especially invented for those suffering from this double handicap at the end of the 19th century. Each button on the hand corresponds to a different letter, an alphabet completed by a system of lines. So one literally writes on the hand of his interlocutor to communicate.

This glove designed by Design Research Lab has digitized the concept that can be complicated to memorize. A system of vibrators makes it possible to carry out sensory feedback to the wearer. This prototype is also connected in Bluetooth to a smartphone and it becomes possible to exchange SMS messages between remote carriers. For now, the concept does not seem to have been developed further. But no doubt the concept should reappear with the gradual emergence of the “increased human being”.

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