iPod does not have captioning capabilties as confirmed by an article and in this Washington Post interview and many blog comments / postings. There is also a good article on the topic, but I can’t share the article with you because it’s copy-protected AND you have to register to view the article. Hence, my rant about registration-required sites.
Back to the topic. This CBS News article is a little confusing about the issue. It says:
“Search engines and podcast directories generally index audio and video by analyzing text that appears near the file or using humans to create summaries. Some also pull closed-captioning transcripts from video programming, but user-generated content generally carries no closed captioning.
“Chandratillake said Blinkx attempts to fill the gap by using speech-recognition software to transcript feeds when closed captioning is unavailable. It already indexes feeds, mostly video, from companies with which it has deals, including CNN, the British Broadcasting Corp. and Movielink LLC.”

Continue reading

Alex dropped me a line and soon we started having an email conversation. I learned she’s fluent in ASL. She’s not deaf nor does she have a relative that is. Not a teacher either. Anyway, I enjoyed getting to know her and she mentioned a person who wanted to use ASL, but her mother was not supportive of it. I’ve heard this story too many times — a parent who isn’t supportive of the child’s choice or doesn’t bother learning ASL.
I can’t imagine. Even if a parent disagrees with a choice (it isn’t like she’s doing illegal drugs, for goodness sakes!) — the parent should accept the child’s decision. Usually by the time a child has a preference, she’s not so little anymore.
By this time, the parent has what she can to raise the child her way. If the child chooses to go a different route, then there’s nothing you can do. Any effort is like leading a horse to water… the least the parent can do is build a decent relationship with the child.

A group of MBA students at Washington University in St. Louis is conducting a survey on behalf of a company called iMAT, which is developing a new product to benefit the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
It would be most appreciated if you would help this educational endeavor, and also help a company trying to assist deaf and hard-of-hearing people, by taking a few minutes to complete this very short survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=709271462168
Thank you so much for your time and consideration.
Kevin Kiley, Washington University in St. Louis
I completed the survey in less than five minutes. Link: Deaf Network of Texas

I’ve largely ignored webcasting and podcasting — just learning enough to understand what’s going on and staying up to speed with online technologies. But beyond that, it’s a waste of my time. I had thought about downloading podcasts and using them to practice listening, but I have enough material thanks to the speech therapist.
Besides, there are so many choices (The Paradox of Choice : Why More Is Less), so which would be useful for practice? Homemade podcasts may not be clear enough for me or it depends on the speaker. The books on tape and radio industries don’t just hire anyone — the voice matters.
Making Webcasts accessible to the deaf uncovers what happens to me a few times a week. I receive a link to a humorous resource only to find out it’s a video or audio that can’t be understood without understanding the text. The CaptionMeNow sounds like a great concept. It’ll take a while before sites adopt it and it’s an imperfect technology as speech recognition has a lot of growing up to do.

Ah, the good ol’ days when we had three feet tall speakers. I’d take out my hearings aids and press my ear against the speaker with the stereo volume turned way up. This was the only way I could hear with my own ears. I got reminded of this yesterday.
My son’s school had a rally to promote a drug-free life. Jay Jenson of Radio Disney (thank you!) came to the event and MC’d it. Of course, he had powerful speakers so the few hundred of us could hear him and the VIPs. I walked past the speaker with my implantless ear closer to it and felt the music’s vibration.
Came across this article on deaf and speakers, so it seemed like the topic to talk about.
Mavs Man was also there and he was awesome! Those in the Dallas area can rent him out for parties. Warning: he ain’t cheap, but he’s a crowd pleaser! Thank you, Mavs Man.

Brand New Captels for $99
Sprint and WCI has come to an agreement to promote this special for Texas Residents only. It’s available for a limited time and for a limited number of units.
WCI is now offering brand new CapTels (Captioned Telephones) for only $99.00 each. It will come with a one-year full money back guarantee. That means you can return them if you are not happy with them or for any other reasons.
This was made possible due to feedback we received from you state-wide. Its now available for you at an affordable price for a limited time. Be informed that they will be sold in limited number and they will go out fast.
To order, please complete this form.

Went to Cochlear’s Web site and found my way to this Hearing Loss Education Center’s resource page, which contains links to lyrics sites and more listening Web sites. I’ve updated the Auditory Training page.