Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TEACHING AND ~O~MUNICA~ION AID
The present invention relates to an aid for the
teaching of the hearing lmpaired and to a communication aid
for use by the speech impaired.
The invention primarily relates to an aid for the teach-
ing of a person with impaired hearing, but also has use in as-
sisting a person who either cannot speak or has a speech disorder
to communicate in reason.l~ly rapid fasllion.
In a principal embodiment, the invention includes a
visual display of alpha numeric characters in such sequence as
to correspond exactly to what is being said. As such display
is presented in correspondence with the speakers face the con-
text of what i9 being said is more clearly defined for the person
who might o-therwise have difficulty understanding the speaker.
In a further embodiment, the display may be of a size
that the teacher sits beside the display and uses a control unit
to display in printed form the word or nwnber which the teacher
is then speaking.
In preferred construction, however, the teaching aid is
li~ht and portable and has useful application at all times and
places quite apart from the classroom. In this arrangement, the
visual display is of small size connected to a small computer
and the computer may advantageously be controlled by a glove
worn by the teacher and which carries contact buttons to con-
trol the visual display.
In i~s preferred embodiment, the present invention
assists the teaching of the hearing impaired by placing a visual
display which may or may not be illuminated adjacent the face
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and mouth of the teacher so that the pupil is shown a visual
presentation of the word then being spoken so as to simultan-
eously correlate the lip movements necessary to spPak a specific
word with that word in printed form.
The present invention also provides a communication
aid for the speech-impaired by providing an alpha numeric dis-
play, computer and control unit assembly of small easily carried
si7e and which is used by a speech-impaired individual to visually
display words/numbers/let-ters which otherwise would be spoken
during conversation.
In a further embodiment, the display may contain or
be connected to a radio wave receiver to receive signals within a
limited frequency range transmittecl from a radio wave transmitter
contained in or connected to the logic compu-ter. This arrangement
avoids connection by wires and has particular application when a
number of hand-held display units are in use.
In a still further arrangement the logic computer may
be used in association with a -tape cr cassette recorder/player -to
capture programmed output from the computer for repeated use. The
recorder/player is connected to a visual display which then dis-
plays the information pre-recorded on the tape. This arrangement
is advantageous when a film or videotape is to be repeated as the
tape and player can then simply be played together to provide a
visual display of the words or dialogue appearing on the screen.
DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART AND TEACHING APPARATUS
The correct procedure for the teaching of the hearing
impaired has been a controversial subject for hundreds of years,
the controversy being over the most desirable method of actually
communicating with a deaf individual. Great emphasis has been
~0 placed on trying to have the deaf individual cope in the normal
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hearing world, and advances in hearing aid technology have come
a long way to making this possible for many hearing-impaired
individuals. Usable remnants of hearing, when amplified by modern
aids and combined with lip reading skill, have helped many
hearing impaired individuals function in normal society with no
additional help. However, there are still many individuals who
are unable to do so. These individuals may not have sufficient
remnants of hearing in the frequencies that are vital to dis-
tinguish speech, and/or they may not have the skill or talent that
makes lip reading (where only one-eighth of the spoken sounds
are visible) possible. These individuals may also have other
handicaps both physical and/or environmental.
For these people, modern techniques include a manual
communication system that "cues" the hearing impaired person as
to the type of sound, the sound, or the word being spoken. These
techniques include, respectively, cued speech, finger spelling and
sign language. There are, however, many drawbacks to such manual
forms of communication - principally those being that the present
forms provide an added dimension to the input being absorbed by
the hearing impaired person and this dimension is an abstract one.
The present manual forms used in teaching and communicating
have no meaning to people unfamiliar with communication with the
deaf, and present manual forms require extensive practice,
dexterity, and close attention in order for them to be performed
correctly.
One present manual form of teaching is for the teacher to
finger spell letters while simultaneously saying the words so
that the pupil can differentiate between words that may look
alike in
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lip movements. Finger spelling must be done very close to the
mouth with the hand held in a steady position, without blocking
the viewers sight of the mouth, with the
shape of the fingers very clearly defined and in very rapid flow-
ing rate. This procedure is very difficult for many people who
do not have the manual dexterity to make many of the letter shapes
involved. It is also very tiring to hold a hand steadily close
to the mouth and the tendency is to let the hand drop or move
therefore resulting in less defined letter formations. This
dropping also separates the hand and mou-th from the pupil'ssight
line and removes the possibility of lip reading. As a result, the
aim of finger spelling which is to assist in distinguishing between
words that may look similar on the lips is lost and the pupil mis-
takenly replaces this aim with an abstract form of communication
which is to attempt to read the shapes of the fingers only.
Similar disadvantages exist in the teaching of cued
speech. In this method, types of sounds (for example, a voiced
b as compared to a non-voiced p) are analyzed and are indicated
by finger formations with the hand held against the face. This
procedure bears little resemblance to language per se, and re-
quires extensive trainin~J oF the formation of sound.
Sign language (words) also requires a substantial amount
of training and also detracts from the main teaching goal by the
fact that the formation of the word is depicted by hand movements
which utilize the whole body in order to distinguish the thous-
ands of words in the particular languaye being taught.
The difficulties and abs-tractness of the various types
of manual communication and the difficulties of using only lip
reading are best illustrated by the fact that despite years of
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trying various methods, with modern technology, the average read-
ing level of the deaf graduate from senior school remains steadily
in the grade ~ to 6 level, which is not literate enough to function
well independently in modern society.
U.S. Patent 4,121,357 granted October 24, 1978, to
Sidney R. Hoffman relates to a method of teachin~ reading and
employs visual representations of both written words and facial
movements to form such words for the understanding of the hear-
ing impaired. q`he appara-tus for this patent includes two separate
display panels, one to present the facial image of the speaking
person and the other to display the word or words then being
spoken. This is a programmed sequence and can be used only to
present pre-recorded material and direct communication between
the teacher and the pupil or pupils is not possible. The pre- `
recorded material may be below or above the level of the pupils
and while speed control is possible with the apparatus of the
patent, the actual teacher involved has no c~irect input into
the teaching program other than to vary the speed of the visual
presentation.
In teaching the hearing impaired it i5 important for
tlle teacher involved to inulle-~iately gras~ -the degree of ,omprehen- i
SiOII of the pupil and teach accordi.ngly if the pupil is not to be
confused. The apparatus of the Hoffman patent is solely for class-
room use and removes the classroom teacher from direct learning
involvement with the pupils.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
In one embodiment the present invention provides a
visual display instantly controlled by the teacher to provide
in printed form a word or words which the teacher is then sim-
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ultaneously speaking so that the pupil can immediately appreciate
what is being said to him. The apparatus in the embodiment may
be of desk top size and in use, the teacher sits immediately
adjacent the display so that both the face of the teacher and the
display are in a common sight line. The visual display is con~
veniently controlled by the teacher through the use o~ a control
unit.
In preferred construction, however, the vi.sual display,
and control unit are of small portable size so that the device
may be used at any place and at any time. In this preferred con-
struction the display may be in the form of an alpha numeric dis-
play having suitably ten character spaces, and which may or may
not be illuminated. The display is of small size and in use can
be hand-held by the teacher in close proximity to his or her mouth.
Alternatively, the display can be carried by a head support w~n
by the teacher and positioned adjacent the mouth leaving both of ~:~
the teacher's hands free. The display is wired to a small computer
which causes the display to present that word which the teacher
; selects using a control unit. A suitable control unit may be in
the form of a glove provided with contact points selectively con-
. trolled by the teacher to result in the desired display. A conven~
ient glove arrangement provides a control in each finger with two
contacts in the tumb, and the teacher by selectively actuating
various of the contacts can spell out in printed form the word then
. being spoken. With this arrangement, it is possible for the teacher
to display the printed word simply by tapping the fingers or thumb
against any convenient surface whether it be in a classroon, out-
side or any time when it is desired to communicate spoken words ~:
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with the hearing impaired.
The preferred embodiment as discussed above can be
used to teach or communicate with one or more pupils. In a
variation, the assembly could in addition to or independently
from the display positioned adjacent the mouth of the teacher
be provided with any number of small individual hand held dis-
play units which are held by the pupils in a generally direct
line of sight with the teacher who speaks the word then appear-
ing on the display.
The teacher can carry her display either by hand or
on a suitable head support, the former being preferred in the
case of a private conversation.
The present invention is also useful in situations
where a class or group of hearing impaired individuals are watch-
ing a movie or theatre performance. In this situation, a larger
visual display would be provided on stage and which is controlled
by the supervising teacher to display in printed form the word
then being spoken on the screen or by live actors. Alternatively,
each of the pupils could carry a small display unit, controlled
by the supervising teacher, which would display the words which
are then being s~oken on the screen or stage.
The present invention has a number of advantages over
prior art teachings.
1. The teaching cues being presented to the hearing
impaired are not abstract manual representations but rather they
are alpha numeric symbols (printing) as clearly understood by
the general public. This provides a major contribution to the
teaching the deaf by taking away the abstract intermediate step
of a manual system. No matter which form of known methodologies
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is used to teach the hearing iMpaired, the emphasis has always
been to try to present as much as possible the written form of
the word, since it is only through complete understanding of what
he or she is reading that a hearing impaired individual can achieve
a desirable functioning language level.
2. The present invention can be used in areas where
lip reading and sign language, etc. cannot, such as in darkened
places and ln some public places like movie theatres, theatrical
performances, and the like, and in such instances the display will
~` 10 be illuminated.
3. The present invention also provides for a more
private conversation between hearing impaired adults for individ-
ual displays can be hand held so that only the viewer can read it.
This is not possible with any type of sign language.
4. Recent advances in having closed captioning for
the deaf availa~le on television is a ma~or example of the import-
ance of the written word form contributing to the understanding of
the hearing impaired person. With the present invention, it is
now possible for the hearing impaired to enjoy the same benefits
at live performances, movies, sports broadcasts, and news bullet-
ins, without necessitating an interpreter sitting between the
viewer and the performance.
5. It is believed that the present method of communi-
cation is simpler to learn than the prior methods of manual com-
munication. Since little movement of the hand is required in the
case of the glove embodiment other than a slight up and down move-
ment of the fingers, it is believed that more people will be able ,
to learn it and will be able to produce printed communication at
a rate closer to natural speed than any of the known manual forms.
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The operation of the glove embodiment requires far less skill andless discomfort than previous proposals for the fingers and hands
are free for movement. The display either when worn by the teacher
or when hand held by the student is at -the optional viewing posi-
tion. The person communicating no longer requires her hands to
be completely free in order to communicate, and a person carrying
a child or any other load is still able to send the message re-
quired using the glove embodiment. Only slight contact press-
ure against a surface is required to activate the display and
therefore the surface can be any suitable surface indoors or out-
doors.
6. The present desire for the integration into regular
classrooms of hearing impaired people has met with several prob-
lems. For many whose option is sign language and other manual
forms, it has meant either extensive and expensive training or
the regular classroom teacher or alternatively the hiring of a
highly trained and salaried interpreter. In addition, normally
hearing pupils can be distracted by the presence of an interpreter
who must use gestures and body language to convey ideas. By using
the present invention, either the present teacher or a somewhat
less expensive volunteer can learn the system well within a few
days. Instead of the hearing students being distracted by an
abstract and obtrusive movement, they in fact receive more read-
ing practice something that many teachers will find beneficial
for students especially for those who are having difficulty in
that area. The present invention, therefore, becomes an asset
to all pupils rather than a distraction to the hearing pupils and
makes possible a more successful integration.
7. Using the hand held mode of the invention, a child
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in a regular classroom can learn to understand not only the
teacher who is facing him, but also the teacher who has to turn
her head, or a pupil sitting next to her. With nominal training,
a hearing impaired individual can hold the hand held display unit
in such a way that he can see the speaker's face or head and what
is being said from anywhere in the class. Thus, what the person
in the back of the room is saying can be just as readily understood
as the teacher facing him.
8. Due to its broad presentation, the general popula-
tion using the facility of closed captioning on television, thelanguage level of such presentation tends toward a medial level.
For many' it is too simple to be enjoyable and for others it is
too complicated to be understood. The pre.sent invention can pro-
vide language at the level of the viewer providing that the inter~
preter is aware of that level, and a young child's parents can
provide language at a level and with a vocabulary more in keeping
with the child's understanding than can a closed captioning system
being utilized for the public in general.
9. In addition for use in the teaching of hearing im-
paired, the present invention can also usefully be used by hearingor hearing impaired persons who for some reason such ~s throat
surgery cannot speak words in intelligible fashion. In this
case, the speaking impaired person simply taps out the desired
words through the contact-carrying glove which he is wearing for
instant display on a hand held or supported unit. Such conven-
ience is much quicker than hand written messages and by using
the present invention a speaking impaired person can carry on a -
routine conversation at speeds reasonably close to normal.
OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to provide
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a teaehing and communieation aid for the hearing and speech
impaired to provide a rapid visual communication display of
seleeted letters, words, and/or numbers, the aid eomprising at
least one alpha numerie display unit seleetively aetuated by a
personalized eontrol unit through a logie eomputer, the eontrol
unit being operated by a person who wishes to teaeh or communicate.
A further object of the invention is to provide an aid
assembly as above discussed, and wherein the control unit is in
the form of a glove having a number of eontaets eonnected to the
logic computer. The use of a control unit in the form of a glove
has the advantage that it ean be easily carried and the display
operated by selectively touching the control button against any
suitable surface while at the same time leaving the hand generally
free to perform other functions when not engaged in the actual
operation of the display. The glove ean eonveniently have six
button contaets, one for each finger and two on the thumb, selective
closing o~ the eontaets in various eombinations providing forty-two
possible different letter/word/number/punetuation eharacters for
eaeh character space provided in the display unit.
It is also an objeet of the present invention to provide a
teaching aid for the hearing impaired and consisting of two or
more identieal alpha numerie display units of size to be hand
held and which provides identical displays and which are to be
held by hearing impaired individuals to provide the individuals
with a written form of the word or words then being spoken by a
teacher at some distanee sueh as at the front of a classroom.
A further object of the invention is to provide a -teaching
and eommunieation aid eomprising a single alphanumerie display
unit of small size to be carried by a person who wishes to teach
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or communicate and which display unit is adapted to be mounted on a
support worn on the head of a person who wishes to teach or com-
municate. Such a small portable aid is easily carried and operated
by the individual and the display which is mounted adjacent the face
: and mouth of the teacher provides immediate appreciation by a
hearing imparied person of the written form of the word then
being spoken by the teacher.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a
teaching and communication aid for the hearing and speech impaired
to provide a rapid visual communication display of selected
letters/words/numbers/punctuation, the aid comprising a small hand-
sized portable alpha numeric display unit having a line of separate
light-emitting diodes or liquid crystal displays each capable of
displaying a number of dif~erent characters to provide an intell-
igible display, the display unit being selectively actuated by a
personal-sized control unit through a logic converter, the control
unit being in the form of a glove hav:ing a number of contacts to
actuate the di.splay and worn by a person who wishes to teach or
communicate.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The inventive concept will now be more fully discussed with
reference to the accompanying non-limiting examples shown in the
accompanying drawings wherein:
Figure 1 illustrates in perspective view one embodiment of
the present invention showing a small-sized display unit positioned
adjacent the mouth of a teacher;
Figure 2 illustrates in schematic perspective view an
embodiment of the present invention wherein the display unit is of
a size sufficient to be seen from a distance and wherein the dis-
play can be controlled by an instructor or teacher to display in
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word form the words being spoken by an individual or individ-
uals on a conventional television screen;
Figure 3 illustrates in schematic perspective view a
further embodiment of the present invention showing a number of
small hand-held display units which may be individually carried
by students and which provide a character display of the sounds
spoken by a teacher or other individual;
Figure 4 illustrates in schematic perspective view an
embodiment of the invention incorporating a radio wave transmitter
and receiver; and
Figure 5 illustrates in schematic perspective view an
embodiment of the invention utilizing a tape recorder/receiver.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The accompanying drawings will now be discussed in de-
tail and wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts.
In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1, the present
invention consists of a small alpha numeric display unit 2 connec-
ted by wire 4 to a logic computer 6 which in turn is connected by
wires 8 to and controlled by a control unit 10 which is in the form
of a glove. In this embodiment the display unit 2 is mounted on a
head support 12 worn by a teacher or speech impaired individuals
for communication purposes. The head support 12 (or a similar
type of support which could be worn around the neck) positions
the display unit adjacent the face and mouth of the teacher so
that a pupil can correlate the written form of a word or number
with that word or number then being spoken by the teacher. The
display unit 2 is controlled by the logic computer 6, and the
display is actuated by the teacher wearing the glo~e control unit
10. The glove may be provided with six contact buttons 14, one
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for each finger, and two for the thumb, and the presentation of
the character display is controlled by the selective closing of
the various contact buttons by the teacher. A suitable arrange-
ment for the computer is discussed below, and with this arrange-
ment it is possible for the teacher to illuminate on the display
a great number of words/numerals/letters/punctuation and far ex-
ceeding any number of combinations which are required for a
successful operation of the present communication device.
The arrangement shown in Fi-Jure 1 is prim~rily designed
for use by a parent or teacher in the education of hearing im-
paired individuals. However, such an arrangement has immediate
application by a speech impaired individual for this individual
using the device can simply spell out words and numbers to com-
municate without having to follow the conventional practice of
writing words on paper~
Figure 3 shows a display unit 16 of a size wh..ch can
be seen from a distance. Display 16 is operated by computer 6
and glove control unit 10 in the same manner as discussed abov~
with refexence to Figure 1, but in this embodiment, the invention
20 may be used in association with a conventional television set 18 1 .
with the teacher or parent actuating the display to present the
words or letters then being spoken on the screen in written form
- on the display.
In this embodiment, and in addition to the larger dis-
: play unit 16 the assembly may also include any number of small
hand-sized display units for personal use by the pupils watching
the screen.
` Figure 3 illustrates an embodiment wherein one, two
or three or more small hand-held unit displays 2 are simultan-
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eously actuated by the computer. The teacher or instructor wears
the glove control unit 10 and the pupils are each provided with
an individual display unit. The student can hold his display more
or less in the same line of sight as when viewing the face of
the teacher and the teacher actuated the display to present the
word or number which he is presently speaking.
The preferred control unit which is in the form of a
glove 10 may be of any suitable ma-terial Eor comfortable use either
indoors or outdoors, and in preferred arrangement each finger is
provided with a single button contact 14 with the thumb having two
such button contacts. The button contacts may be of any suitable
arrangement such as similar to the buttons used in conventional
electronic calculators and all that is required is that the clos-
ing contact pressure of the buttons actuate the pro~rammed com-
puter to present the desired visual display.
By using six button contacts, there are forty-two pos-
sible unique combinations of characters that can be presented.
These are
six combinations of one button at a time,
four-teen combinations of two buttons at a time,
twelve combinations of three buttons at a time,
eight combinations of four bu-ttons at a time,
two combinations of five buttons at a time.
The computer can then be programmed to provide any of
the twenty-six alphabet letters, any of the ten number characters
O to 9 (ignoring the similarity between the number 0 and the
letter o) and one combination can be used to signify the end of
a word or a number sequence, leaving five combination options for
punctuation. '~
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By way of example only, the simultaneous pressing of
five of the buttons may be used to indicate the end of a word.
By pushing two selected buttons together, the letter B may be
indicated, whereas if only one selected button is pushed, the
letter A may be indicated, and so on.
In a further embodiment, the visual display unit need
not be wired directly to the logic computer but the display unit
may contain or be connected to a radio wave receiver to receive
signals within a limited frequency transmitted from a radio wave
transmitter contained in or connected to the logic computer. A
suitable arrangement is shown in Figure 4 wherein the transmitter
is shown at 18 and the receiver at 20. Both of ~hese units may be
suitably small and may be battery-powered for convenience.
In operation, the control unit 10 is used in the manner
described above to program the logic computer 6 which in turn
causes transmitter 18 to transmit a specific radio wave signal
to the receiver 20 resulting in the formation of a character in
one space of the display ùnit 16; different specific signals from
the transmitter resulting in the formation of different characters
in the spaces along the display unit. The display unit shown at
16 in Figure 4 may be of a size such as that shown in Figure 2,
or a small receiver could be associated with each of the small
size display units 2 as shown in Figure 3.
A further embodiment of the inventive concept is shown
in Figure 5 and includes a tape/cassette recorder/player 22. The
logic computer 6 is plugged into the recorder 22 and programmed
output from the computer is captured on the tape for repeated use.
This system can be used to create captioning at minimum expense
which is considerably cheaper than captioning systems that pro-
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vide captioning directly on film or videotape.
For example, a teacher may show a film or videotapeon picture screen ~4 several times a day and the system accord-
ing to the embodiment of Figure 5 can conveniently be used to
avoid the repetition necessary for the arrangement shown in Fig-
ure 2. With the arrangement shown the teacher using the control
unit 10 and computer 6 and programs the recorder 22 during the
first playing o~ the film to record comnlents and dialogue in time
with the film. With subsequent film showings the teacher then
simply plugs the recorder 22 directly into the display 16 using
a wire such as shown in broken lines at 26 and replays the recorder
and the display unit presents the pre-recorded comrnents. This
arrangement can be of great economic value to school boards having
a number of hearing impaired students (either in small or inte-
grated classes) in their jurisdiction. By simply providing a
tape with each video tape or movie sent from a central supply it
is possible to have the film captioned as it is used this provid-
ing substantial savings over present captioning processes. This
arrangement also has application beyond captioning for the deaf
as it can be used to sub-title foreign films. It also allows a
teacher to insert questions or comments into a film presentation
without having to disrupt the presentation.
In one construction, the visual display consists of ten
individual character spaces, each space consisting of a light
emitting diode (LED) Qr liquid crystal display (LCD) capable of
displaying any of the forty-two characters. Each LED or LCD is
capable of displaying all forty-t~o alpha numeric characters.
This type of diode or LCD display arrangement is conventional
and is used in some types of hand calculators and also in the
newer forms of pocket cornputers capable of language translations.
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Although actuation of the display panel may be control-
led in any number of ways, the con-trol unit may be actuated in the
followlng manner.
When the logic computer is turned on the display char-
acter spaces clear and the computer is ready to start displaying
characters beginning at the left most character space. A table
which is permanently loaded in the computer memory recognizes the
corresponding alpha numeric output display formation of unique
button contact combinationsO
The computer scans the button contacts to determine the
specific combination which has been activated and it will also
determine if it is the combination which indicates the end of a
word. If it is the end of a word signal the display will then
clear and the computer is again ready to start displaying characters
in the leftmost character space. If the combination is not the
end of a word signal the computer determines the corresponding
output code and a character designation appears in the appropriate
character display space, with subsequent character displays moving
sequentially to the right on the display. Where there are no more
character spaces available (as when a word is more than ten letters
long) the next character will be presented in the leftmost charac-
ter space and the remaining character spaces are cleared.
After each character is displayed or the end of word
signal is recognized and acted upon the computer will return to
its scanning as before until such time as the unit is turned off.
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