Once upon a time, there was something called, "wyndtell" pagers... Oh, it was the "IPhone" about 15 years ago. Everyone had to have one, but Deaf people were the first to get them through subsidies; thanks to Wynd Communications. What made it so awesome was the fact Deaf people could send messages to another person on the other end of the phone. The messages were sent to relay centers where they had machines that would translate our messages into sounds. The hearing person would hear our messages with a robotic tone.
(courtesy of Research in Motion)
Eventually, the rest of the world caught up with it and replaced it with TEXTING.... Wyndtells pagers eventually faded away. However, they may be returning as a futuristic device. Check it out below.
Suhyun Kim came up with the
Visual Sound - a mobile phone concept for the Deaf. The Deaf person would type his/her message on a transparent screen and it'll be converted into sounds for the person on the other end of the phone (and vice versa). Not much details are offered, but it's a start!
looks expensive! there better be a subsidy.
ReplyDeleteI suspect it'll be subsidized like the Droid from Verizon. However, I bet Tmobile would be the company to adopt the Visual Sound. They are considered the most Deaf-friendly phone company in the world and they offer GSM capabilities. (In other word, Tmoible (and ATT) will guarantee that the phone will work anywhere in the world while Verizon and Sprint will work only in USA with their CDMA.) Again, we'll see! :)
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