Product: Television: Sound
Speaker Pillow for the Deaf   (0)  [vote for, against]
Allow hearing-impaired people to feel what they cannot see

If you have ever watched an action or horror movie or an opera with the sound turned off and the subtitles on, you'd know immediately how badly this is needed.

I propose a pillow/cushion with an encapsulated base speaker driver inside that conveys the mood and action through vibration. Uses conventional TV audio output.
-- FloridaManatee, May 27 2003

A start http://www.radiosha...oduct%5Fid=33%2D209
Only goes down to 240 Hz though [Piquan]

Sense http://www.sense.or...pairment/usher.html [Piquan, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Sense http://www.sense.or...pairment/usher.html
[sufc, Oct 04 2004]

Why would a deaf person associate suspense with vibration? The audio adds an element to the presentation - but only for those who can interpret the intent. For someone who is deaf, you may as well run a jackhammer in the next room.
-- phoenix, May 27 2003


I know a deaf guy who loves clubbing, and oddly enough, dancing. He's always right up at the front by the speakers, and he dances to the bass kick and any other bass lines that might happen to be there.

Even stranger is that he has really good taste in music.
-- rapid transit, May 27 2003


Yeah, a good bass line is felt, and it's true, deaf have excellent taste in music. I'm profound...ly deaf.
-- thumbwax, May 27 2003


there's always one - my ex was fairly deaf (he had selective hearing) and his taste in music was appalling.
-- po, May 27 2003


The only selective hearing I've come across is the nocturnal deafness one that many men seem to develop after they have babies.
-- Helium, May 27 2003


I have a friend who has a condition called Ushers syndrome. (See link) She was born deaf and never really got the hang of speaking and over the last 30 years has been going blind.
She loves music.
In the past I've taken her to Dub nights and to some hard house nights in nightclubs. She feels the music and knows how to move.
I've given her an acoustic guitar, mouth organ and a keyboard to play. The guitar she feels through her stomach, mouth organ - lips and the keyboard she plays for the sensation.

-- sufc, May 27 2003



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