My ex-boyfriend Josh was born mostly deaf, but had some hearing in one ear thanks to a cochlear implant—a spiral of electrodes threaded into his cochlea to stimulate the auditory nerve, bypassing damaged parts of the ear. The surgery, which is irreversible, wipes out any residual hearing in the operated ear. (It's a major invasive procedure—fortunately a one-time thing—that puts the patient at risk of facial paralysis.) A microphone connects to a removable external processor that converts sound to digital code; the code is transmitted to the implanted mechanism by way of a magnet. When fed through the cochlea, the decoded digital information is perceived as sound.

Josh wore the external part of the CI during most of his waking hours and we got by with lipreading and basic signing whenever he took it off. He never once complained about my snoring. If I wanted to have a private conversation with him in the room, I could just detach the magnet on the side of his head. It was also a fun party trick to announce that my boyfriend's head could stick to the fridge.

Not everyone likes a cyborg, however. In fact, many deaf people would be offended at the suggestion that they do something so drastic to artificially augment their hearing. Last year at Gallaudet, the federally chartered university for the deaf in DC, Josh and the writer Michael Chorost co-taught a class designed to address the deaf community's division regarding the use of cochlear implants. There's concern that the technology will eventually render an entire language—American Sign Language—obsolete.

A majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents, many who would sooner opt for insurance-covered implants for their kids than years of sign education, audiologist visits and hearing aids, which are pricey and usually are not covered by medical insurance. Those against CI argue that sign language is categorically better than oral language, and that orally educated deaf children with CIs are missing out on gaining entrance into a rich community and culture. If the CI business "cures" all deaf people, the implications for the signing community are dire.

Gallaudet is a signing university with a vociferous pro-ASL population. In 2006, a newly appointed president was voted out of office ostensibly because she had been educated orally and didn't learn sign until her twenties. Mike and Josh's class looked at how other minorities have dealt with "threats" to their communities and tried to apply the lessons from those experiences to suggest ways that signing deaf people can survive the increase use of CIs.

The other day I asked Mike—who wrote Rebuilt and the amazing cochlear implant story in Wired—what he thought was the most exciting stuff happening in the world of CIs right now. Really, I was fishing for things that would improve my life, should I ever date another half-bot: How about solar-charged receivers that don't require batteries (which used to die so conveniently during fights)? A line of accessories that could keep the thing in place during snogging? A remote control that could allow me to manipulate his every move, want and desire?

Mike didn't think there was that much to report—I was a little disappointed he didn't mention cat CIs! The future, according to Mike, is technology that facilitates two-way communication. Hearing people who dream of super-human auditory abilities probably won't be lining up to get CIs any time soon.

"The engineering is too difficult and the risks are too great," Mike told me. He sees implantation surgery going in a more practical direction. "People might be willing to get them to facilitate new forms of communication that to us would seem like telepathy," he said. "I don't mean the transmission of speech; there's no point to that, since we can do that. I'm talking about the transmission of brain states—fear, alertness, anger—and, in a certain sense, of memories."

In short, CI technology, as crazy science-fiction-esque as it seems, is already looking like the old grandpa in the rocking chair, nodding knowingly while the pro-CI and anti-CI groups still battle on like so many Hatfields and McCoys. "The real breakthroughs in neurotech will come not from doing existing things better, but from doing entirely new things," he said. From an outside perspective, it seems that, if the two sides were to unite and embrace implant technology, the deaf community could come out at the forefront of cyborg-ology. The deaf community has already been profoundly effected by neurotechnology. It's a point of view Mike argued elegantly in a much-debated 2007 speech he gave at Gallaudet:

We are heading into a future where the technology is opening up profoundly new possibilities for communication and group awareness...Cochlear implants are the cutting edge of a field called neurotechnology—the science of developing completely new kinds of ways of interfacing with the body and the brain...Who better than the deaf community to actively seize the lead in developing communications technologies that interact directly with the nervous system? And to experiment with new social forms to explore their uses? We already have one foot—more than one foot—in that world.

Tomorrow, I may get a brain implant that will help me not repeat myself or remember where I put my keys. Or remember where I put my keys. A large part of the deaf community, however, have already ventured farther down that road than I may ever see. Or, for the matter, hear.

Anna Jane Grossman is the author of Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By (Abrams Image) and the creator of iamobsolete.net. Her writing has appeared in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Salon.com, the Associated Press, Elle and the Huffington Post. She has a complicated relationship with technology, but she does have an eponymous website: AnnaJane.net. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnaJane.

The app takes sound from a mic—be it the built-in, in a headset or standalone—and amplifies it according to your demands: you choose the level, as well as which tones to jack up the most (useful for isolating a particular voice, or eliminating a constant background noise). The app also stores the last 30 seconds of audio in a temporary cache, in case you missed anything the first time around.

"But," you might say, "all this app does is pump up the volume on a microphone, which is probably the simplest possible idea for a non-novelty app, ever." And you'd be right! But it's useful in the same charming way that your DSLR serves as an improvised monocular, or your in-ear headphones work as earplugs when disconnected. Plus, it's not difficult to imagine situations in which the app could be useful for non-hearing-impaired folks. One issue: it's $10, which is too much even with the semi-medical pretense. [Techcrunch]

With one listen, I was hooked. I was a 15-year-old suburban New Jersey nerd, racked with teenage lust but too timid to ask for a date. When I came across Bolero among the LPs in my parents' record collection, I put it on the turntable. It hit me like a neural thunderstorm, titanic and glorious, each cycle building to a climax and waiting but a beat before launching into the next.

I had no idea back then of Bolero's reputation as one of the most famous orchestral recordings in the world. When it was first performed at the Paris Opera in 1928, the 15-minute composition stunned the audience. Of the French composer, Maurice Ravel, a woman in attendance reportedly cried out, "He's mad … he's mad!" One critic wrote that Bolero "departs from a thousand years of tradition."

I sat in my living room alone, listening. Bolero starts simply enough, a single flute accompanied by a snare drum: da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, dum-dum, da-da-da-dum. The same musical clause repeats 17 more times, each cycle adding instruments, growing louder and more insistent, until the entire orchestra roars in an overpowering finale of rhythm and sound. Musically, it was perfect for my ear. It had a structure that I could easily grasp and enough variation to hold my interest.

It took a lot to hold my interest; I was nearly deaf at the time. In 1964, my mother contracted rubella while pregnant with me. Hearing aids allowed me to understand speech well enough, but most music was lost on me. Boléro was one of the few pieces I actually enjoyed. A few years later, I bought the CD and played it so much it eventually grew pitted and scratched. It became my touchstone. Every time I tried out a new hearing aid, I'd check to see if Boléro sounded OK. If it didn't, the hearing aid went back.

And then, on July 7, 2001, at 10:30 am, I lost my ability to hear Boléro - and everything else. While I was waiting to pick up a rental car in Reno, I suddenly thought the battery in my hearing aid had died. I replaced it. No luck. I switched hearing aids. Nothing.

I got into my rental car and drove to the nearest emergency room. For reasons that are still unknown, my only functioning ear had suffered "sudden-onset deafness." I was reeling, trying to navigate in a world where the volume had been turned down to zero.

But there was a solution, a surgeon at Stanford Hospital told me a week later, speaking slowly so I could read his lips. I could have a computer surgically installed in my skull. A cochlear implant, as it is known, would trigger my auditory nerves with 16 electrodes that snaked inside my inner ear. It seemed drastic, and the $50,000 price tag was a dozen times more expensive than a high-end hearing aid. I went home and cried. Then I said yes.

It gets better. I recommend you read the rest.
[Wired, Photos: CT scan: Valley Radiology; Matt Hoyle]

Listening Test: It's music tech week at Gizmodo.

Noriaki lowered the B&D's cost by building it's chassis out of cardboard (the entire thing can be put together yourself), and by running its braille lettering program off an open source platform. I'm not completely sure how this technology helps deaf people any more regular phones, but it's a cool concept for helping out the visually impaired. [B&D Messenger via Tuvie]

The iPhone is now even more accessible for Americans who are deaf or have a hearing or speech disability. Today, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) announced a new Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) for iPhone, designed to give iPhone customers with disabilities the choice of unlimited text messaging, Web browsing and easy access to e-mail for $40 a month.

"Our Text Accessibility Plan allows customers who are deaf or have hearing or speech disabilities to literally tap out their communications on the go," said Carlton Hill, vice president of Product Management, Voice Products and Affiliate Marketing for AT&T's wireless unit. "Now with TAP for iPhone, users can tap, flick and pinch the innovative Multi-Touch touch screen for a completely new world of functionality."

This new plan is available to new and current iPhone users with qualifying disabilities through AT&T's National Center for Customers with Disabilities (NCCD). To qualify for the iPhone TAP, customers must complete an application for eligibility. The form is available for download at

During the iPhone activation process, customers sign up for a standard iPhone voice and data plan. After the iPhone is activated, customers can e-mail, fax or mail the eligibility form back to the NCCD to change their rate plan to the TAP for iPhone.

Current iPhone customers who qualify may also submit the NCCD application to request the TAP for iPhone. Customers can contact the AT&T NCCD with questions at 866-241-6568 for voice calls or 866-241-6567 for TTY calls.

AT&T offers TAP plans to qualifying customers for use with most handsets across AT&T's portfolio. The NCCD also helps AT&T customers with disabilities with a variety of applications that aid in wireless communications. These include Mobile Magnifier, which enables individuals who have low vision or are blind to zoom in on the screen and Mobile Speak, which reads aloud menu options.

From what I can tell, the signal will be compatible with many recent HD Radio receivers, so you don't need a special box. The Kenwood in the picture is a proof-of-concept; the actual first-ever closed-captioned broadcast will take place on Wednesday. Leave it to the progressives at NPR to come up with it, teaming with Harris Corporation and Towson University to develop the delivery mechanism and user interface. Of course, if it takes off, deaf right-wingers will finally get their fix of conservative hate talk, too.

NPR, Harris Corporation and Towson University Launch Global Effort to Make Radio Accessible to Hearing and Sight Impaired First Over-The-Air Transmission from Special CES Station LAS VEGAS, January 8, 2008 - (LVCC S227) —- NPR, Harris Corporation and Towson University today announced a new initiative to make radio more accessible to the hundreds of millions of hearing and visually impaired people around the world. At a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the three organizations announced the global accessible radio technology initiative and provided the first live demonstration of the accessible radio technology. The group also announced a new research center for developing future technologies on the campus of Towson University near Baltimore, MD. Additional plans call for the establishment of an international consortium of equipment manufacturers, broadcasters and other organizations to help foster broad adoption of the initiative. The initiative will be spearheaded by the three founding organizations and will leverage cutting- edge HD Radio™ technology to enable hearing-impaired people to "see" live radio content on specially equipped receivers by applying television closed-captioning processes to radio broadcasts. The technology also will provide audio cues and voice prompts, as well as advanced radio reading services, for those visually impaired and blind.

"Digital radio technology makes it possible—for the first time—to serve the sensory impaired," says
Mike Starling, vice president and chief technology officer of NPR. "Beyond developing the
technology, this initiative will ensure the accessibility of these radio services at minimal costs."
During the press conference, the organizations showcased the first over-the-air transmission of the
accessible radio technology using a signal from WX3NPR, a special temporary station authorized
by the FCC for the live broadcast. Attendees at the press conference watched the text transcript of
the NPR flagship morning news magazine "Morning Edition" on the HD Radio receiver's viewing
screen, which is what a hearing-impaired listener will see using the technology. Additionally, the
demonstration carried a digital radio reading service that will assist the vi sually impaired with daily
readings of current books, newspapers and magazines.

Following the demonstration, the participating organizations unveiled details for the International
Center for Accessible Radio Technology (ICART), which will be headquartered at Towson
University in Towson, Md. Towson will house the primary administrative and academic research
office for the initiative, with NPR Labs in Washington, D.C., providing technology R&D and software
development, and Harris Corporation supplying transmission and research support at its radio
broadcast technology center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Members of the global initiative went on to detail plans to further study and understand the
challenges faced by the sensory-impaired population in accessing radio broadcasts, and develop
methodologies to address those issues through cutting-edge technologies. To ensure that the
effort represents the widest range of participants and fosters the broadest possible adoption,
organizers said they will work to bring together policymakers, broadcasters, transmission
equipment companies and receiver manufacturers from around the world. Presently, the initiative
has more than a dozen members, representing virtually every aspect of the "microphone to
loudspeaker" chain: broadcasters, network content providers, infrastructure and transmission
equipment companies, and receiver manufacturers. In addition to founding members NPR, Harris
and Towson University, specific member organizations include iBiquity Digital Corporation, Delphi,
NDS, Radiosophy, Helen Keller Institute, National Center for Accessible Media/WGBH, Northern
Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons, and the United Nations Global
Alliance for ICT and Development.

NPR, Harris and Towson will jointly determine strategic direction of the organization, with
assistance from the initiative's full membership. NPR will provide much of the content, Harris will
provide much of the transmission-related technologies, and Towson will provide research into the
needs of the sensory-disabled population and will house the primary ICART facility on its campus.
"We're working very closely with radio stations around the world to ensure they have the right
technical infrastructure in place for this initiative," said Howard Lance, chairman, president and
chief executive officer of Harris Corporation. "The new HD Radio transmission systems we're
installing are tailor-made for this effort, as their digital capabilities will make it relatively easy for
stations to transmit live textual transcripts to HD Radio receivers."

"There is tremendous need for accessible radio for sensory-impaired people, including the deaf,
hard-of-hearing, blind, visually impaired, print impaired, deaf/blind, and mobility impaired," said Dr.
Ellyn Sheffield, assistant professor of psychology at Towson and co-director of ICART. "There is no
question this initiative will have a profound impact on the quality of millions of people's lives.
Finally, sensory-disabled individuals will have access to all radio programming, as well as radio
emergency alerts and vital disaster recovery information."

HD Radio enables station operators to split their broadcasts up into multiple channels, providing
several CD-quality channels for their audiences. Through this accessible radio initiative, a small
amount of the total data capacity will be used to carry textual data that will be shown live on a
screen on new versions of HD Radio receivers, essentially providing a closed-captioning transcript
of live broadcasts for the deaf. Initially, the closed-captioning text will be created by live, court-
reporting-type captioners at individual stations and networks. Ultimately, the initiative is hoping to
leverage advanced speech-to-text translation software applications that one day allow expansion
of captioning across the radio dial. Specially equipped HD Radio receivers are in development with
several features to provide the visually impaired audience with better access to broadcasts, such
as audio prompts that notify which direction the tuner is going, what channel the radio is on, and
larger, easier-to-read text on the radios.

More than 1,500 radio stations are currently broadcasting in HD Radio in the United States. Over
half of the CPB-qualified stations have been awarded HD Radio conversion grants by the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting. According to current estimates, by 2010, all 825 public radio
stations should be broadcasting digitally.

More information on the initiative can be found at www.i-cart.net

About NPR
Since its launch in 1970, NPR has evolved into a leading multimedia company, award-winning
primary news provider and dominant force in American life. NPR produces and/or distributes 1500
hours of programming weekly, including more than 150 hours of news, i nformation, talk,
entertainment and cultural shows for the 800-plus NPR Member stations around the country,
attracting 26.5 million listeners weekly. NPR also programs two 24/7 channels for Sirius satellite
radio and five 24/7 music multicast channels for digital HD Radio, having served as an industry
leader in HD research and development; additionally it produces nearly 90 podcasts, making it the
biggest podcaster among American media companies. www.NPR.org offers extensive original
video and audio content, hourly newscasts, concerts and free audio streaming of current and
archived NPR programs.
About Harris Corporation
Harris is an international communications and information technology company serving
government and commercial markets in more than 150 countries. Headquartered in Melbourne,
Florida, the company has annual revenue of over $4 billion and 16,000 employees — including
nearly 7,000 engineers and scientists. Harris is dedicated to developing best -in-class assured
communications™ products, systems, and services. Additional information about Harris
Corporation is available at www.harris.com.
About Towson University
Founded in 1866, Towson University is recognized among the nation's best regional public
universities, offering more than 100 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs in the
liberal arts and sciences, and applied professional fields. Located in suburban Towson, eight miles
north of Baltimore, the university's beautifully landscaped, 328-acre setting offers a pleasant
environment for study and a diverse campus life, as well as easy access to a wealth of university
and community resources. With nearly 20,000 students, Towson University is the second-largest
public university in Maryland. As a metropolitan university, Towson combines research-based
learning with practical application. Its many interdisciplinary partnerships with public and private
organizations throughout Maryland provide opportunities for research, internships and jobs. The
university's radio station, WTMD, will soon convert to digital format and will serve as the initial
testing ground for the initiative. Towson University is a founding member of the Coalition of Urban
and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU); TU President Robert Caret holds the office of president.
Additional information can be found at www.towson.edu.
HD Radio™ is a proprietary trademark of iBiquity Digital Corp.

Update: AT&T's officially bringing an iPhone data-only plan for the hearing-impaired. see here for details.

NYT Breaking News Again: Loud Music Makes You Deaf [Giz]

Beethoven just wishes he could have lived to see this. A new device has been created by a product design student in London to allow deaf poeple to "feel" music using vibrations through an audio speaker. The "Vibrato" by Shane Kerwin actually connects to a speaker and relays the sounds of different instruments through unique vibrations for each individual one. And apart from feeling music, the deaf and hard-of-hearing can also create their own tunes by connecting the speaker to a computer.

Speaker helps deaf to 'feel' music [CNN]