This would be like a computer braile where you dont run your hand down a line of text but "pixles" pop out of the interface under your resting hand. "G" could be the end of the thumb since it is made low in the throat. The heel of the hand could be "C" etc and the tip of the index finger is "P". And the other hand could read vowells. Then once you learned the language you could "talk" to someone else by pressing your hands together and applying the right presure.
-- smugcomputerguy, Jul 15 2004

Think I'll stick to ASL. (Actually, I won't since I don't know sign language either.)
-- DrCurry, Jul 16 2004


It makes sense that by stimulating different parts of the hand in different ways one might be able to "hear" speech (and other types of sounds as well) using nerves in the hand. I doubt that it would work to "talk" using this method, since there are many fewer muscles than nerves in the hand, but if someone learns to "hear" others using this device, they can also "hear" themselves. This ought to make learning to talk much easier for a deaf person. You might even be able to get rid of the typical deaf person accent.

Sign language is good, but this technology (if it worked) could allow deaf people to interact much easier with hearing society. If it could be introduced early enough (incorporate it into some baby toy), a child might be able to learn to speak at a normal age. Imagine a baby holding this device and curiously exploring the different sensations it gave as they make different sounds. Imagine their delight as they hold this with one hand, and pound on a toy piano with the other...
-- scad mientist, Jul 16 2004


Talk to the hand...
-- half, Jul 16 2004


Some refreshable Braille devices talk to you as you run your finger across the pins - which brings up the question, why then are not people who want to learn Braille and are already audio-literate, taught to read Braille by being allowed to read audio books by running their fingers across the refresh able Braille display?

Also why aren't kids with other reading disabilities but who are already audio-literate taught other literacies like text literacy by a similar mapping of one literacy onto another.

Isnt this what computers are good at is this incremental mapping thing? Couldn't you map just about anything like for instance really subtle advertising onto anything else that person already had a literacy in or an addiction to?
-- JesusHChrist, Aug 03 2012



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