RERC on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Gallaudet University, in partnership with the University of Colorado-Boulder, the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota, American Institutes for Research, Hearing Loss Association of America and other key deaf and hard of hearing stakeholders will, in the course of this five-year RERC, address the accessibility and usability of technology for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The goal of the RERC is to ease fundamental shifts in the role of technology for consumers who are deaf or hard of hearing, their family, and friends. The objectives are to effect:

• A shift from clinic to consumer-centric health care models
• Integration of data-driven approaches into practice
• integration of hearing technology into an interconnected mainstream ecosystem
• access built into mainstream products.

Anticipated outcomes include:

• improved fit of hearing devices to both children and adults
• improved decision-making on intervention strategies for children with hearing loss
• evidence of effective rehabilitation strategies and cognitive function in older adults with CIs
• improved integration of hearing technology and mainstream products with greatly improved usability
• accessible and usable voice assistants for people who are unable to speak clearly
• policy and technical standards that incorporate RERC findings
• increased opportunities and training for people with hearing loss in the field.

The expected products are materials on successful intervention strategies for children and older adults and accessibility of voice assistants, an industry-consumer portal on designing accessible products, a toolkit for integrating hearing devices into the Internet of Things, and a system to improve evaluation and fitting of hearing devices.