deaf

Hall says when she has access to an interpreter, they are rotated throughout the week, forcing her to repeatedly explain some technical concepts. “Google is going the cheap route,” Hall claims, saying her interpreters in university were more literate in tech jargon.Kathy Kaufman, director of coordinating services at DSPA, says it pays above market rates, dedicates a small pool to each company so the vocabulary becomes familiar, hires tech specialists, and trains those who are not. Kaufman also declined to confirm that…

An audio bug in macOS hasn’t been fixed in 21 years, despite Apple being aware of it, and users posting their frustrations with the bug throughout the years.According to developer Fabian on X, this bug causes the audio balance on a Mac to shift to the left or right channel of a speaker. There are two temporary fixes — install Balance Lock from the App Store, or manually shift the balance to the center by going to System Settings > Sound > Output > Audio Balance.It was originally thought that this was a recent…

A breakthrough clinical trial using gene therapy has restored hearing to five children born deaf. After six months, the children were able to recognize speech and hold conversations, raising hopes for wider use in the near future.The patients in the trial suffered from a genetic condition called autosomal recessive deafness 9 (DFNB9), which is caused by a mutation in a gene called OTOF. This gene produces the otoferlin protein, which helps transmit electrical pulses from the cochlea to the brain, where it can be…

His father's voice, the sounds of passing cars and scissors clipping his hair: An 11-year-old boy is hearing for the first time in his life after receiving a breakthrough gene therapy.The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) which carried out the treatment – a first in the United States – said in a statement Tuesday the milestone represents hope for patients around the world with hearing loss caused by genetic mutations.Aissam Dam was born "profoundly deaf" because of a highly rare abnormality in a single…

To get the new genetic material into cells, they engineered harmless viruses to carry it. Doctors carefully injected a tiny amount of liquid containing the viruses into a part of the children’s inner ears called the cochlea, a spiral-shaped chamber that contains hair cells. The first patient in the trial received the gene therapy in December 2022. Researchers followed the participants, who ranged in age from 1 to 6 years old, for 23 weeks after treatment.While the gene therapy did not give the children a “normal” level of…

I used to hate raves. As a Deaf woman, I rarely felt comfortable in clubs and parties. After too many experiences of being excluded or subjected to unwanted attention, sexual harassment and assault, I had come to view those spaces as dangerous and unsafe. Many of my Deaf and disabled friends felt the same.But I have always loved dancing. I started when I was six years old and would skip and twirl everywhere I went, from walking down the street with my parents and waiting in the town pool queue. I obsessively watched dance…

Echo is here, and with it: Echo (Alaqua Cox), staking it out on her own, and finding out what it means to be a hero. She was first introduced in the second episode of Disney Plus’ Hawkeye, initially an antagonist to Kate Bishop and Clint Barton. It wasn’t long before Cox’s superhero was announced to have her own show — which finally premiered on Disney Plus and Hulu in January. But is she a good guy? While she spent most of her first action-packed episode chasing our heroes, Marvel Comics readers know it’s a bit more…

Edward Lovelace’s heartfelt and valuable documentary tells the story of Lawand Hamad Amin, a profoundly deaf Iraqi Kurdish boy who some eight years ago fled his home country with his family, found himself in the Calais “jungle”, and was helped across to the UK by a disability charity. Lawand was settled in Derby where he became a star pupil at the Royal School for the Deaf. Equipped with a hi-tech hearing aid and learning British Sign Language, he came to terms with the world for the first time, gaining a new relationship…

Subdued, low-key and unassuming, this Japanese film about a young deaf woman who becomes a professional boxer firmly eschews the traditional sports movie tropes. Based on a true story, it is resolutely unsentimental, taking a meditative and naturalistic approach to the tale of Keiko (Yukino Kishii). She isn’t an obvious fighter. “She’s small, she has no reach, she’s not fast enough,” says the owner of her gym, her biggest supporter, “but she’s got heart.” Even heart and dogged determination, however, might not be enough…

The title is presumably meant to refer to the film’s fine-boned heroine Keiko Ogawa (Yukino Kishii), a scrappy boxer who has just turned professional, but it just as aptly describes the film itself: a delicate, atmospheric study that’s quite unlike most other fight movies. Based on a memoir by boxer Keiko Ogasawara, this very internal story unfolds during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, with a locked-down Japan adding a further layer of isolation to Keiko’s life. Thanks to Kishii’s luminous performance, Keiko…