Technology

Hearing Access: Zoom is Beta Testing Integrated Auto Captions

Shari Eberts Advocacy, Community, Coping Strategies for Hearing Loss, Deafness, Disability, Hearing Loss, Hearing Loss in the Workplace, Technology, Telehealth Disability, Hearing, Hearing Loss, Hearing Loss Hacks, Hearing Loss in the Workplace, Inclusion, Living With Hearing Loss, Technology

Another day, another Zoom meeting. Or make that two or three Zoom meetings. Much of the world continues to operate remotely, meaning virtual communication remains critical — and without captions, these events are very challenging for people with hearing loss. Several options now exist for free auto-captioned remote conversation including Google Meet and Skype, but Zoom, the most popular platform, remains un-captioned, except via third-party add-ons in their premium plans. This is a big problem for people with hearing loss.

About a month ago, I penned an open letter to Zoom and other video conferencing companies asking them to make the high quality auto speech recognition (ASR) captioning available in their premium plans free for people with hearing loss. The gold standard of captioning is Communication Access Realtime Translation or CART, where a live transcriber types what is spoken in real time, but this is not always available or cost effective for personal use. Hence the need for free ASR captioning.

My post turned into a petition that has garnered more than 34,000 signatures. I am extremely proud of how the hearing loss community has come together to advocate for its needs in this time of crisis. I’ve been asked how long I will keep the petition going. The answer: Until we get the results we need. Sign or share the petition here.

Zoom-meeting-ASR-captions

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Hearing Loss Advocacy: Captions Are Our Ramps

Shari Eberts Advocacy, Break the Stigma, Community, Coping Strategies for Hearing Loss, Deafness, Disability, Hearing Loss, Technology, Telehealth Deafness, Disability, Hearing, Hearing Loss, Hearing Loss Hacks, Inclusion, Living With Hearing Loss, Technology, Telehealth

Last week’s post was an open letter to video conferencing companies like Zoom and Google, asking them to provide free auto captioning for people with hearing loss during this time of physical distancing. In most cases, auto captioning is available on these platforms, but it is hidden behind a paywall for premium paid accounts. There was so much support from readers, I started a petition on Change.org to capture the response.

The results have been tremendous. As of this writing, 8,000 people have signed the petition, and the number continues to grow. I have begun sharing the petition with the companies. If you have not signed already, will you help me to show more support by signing and sharing the petition? Together we can make change happen!

SIGN OUR PETITION ON CHANGE.ORG 

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Uniting as a Hearing Loss Community While Social Distancing

Shari Eberts Community, Coping Strategies for Hearing Loss, Disability, Gratitude, Hearing Loss, Technology, Telehealth Hearing Aids, Hearing Loss, Hearing Loss Hacks, Living With Hearing Loss, Technology, Telehealth

COVID-19 has brought many inconveniences and frustrations to our daily lives, but there have also been some positive side effects — like bringing the hearing loss community closer together. On Saturday, March 28, 2020, more than 80 members of the hearing loss community met on a virtual Zoom call. The group discussed ideas for coping with the burden of social isolation, described our favorite technology hacks for communicating, and shared our stories of illness and recovery. We provided one another the support, understanding and camaraderie that we all are seeking at this time of social distancing.

Images of faces and smartphones in boxes

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Finding the Person in Patient-Centered Care

Shari Eberts Advocacy, Audiology, Break the Stigma, Hearing Loss, Person-centered Care, Technology Audiology, Hearing, Hearing Aids, Hearing Loss, Person-centered Care, Technology

The best audiologists will provide a road map and set of tools that patients can use to manage their hearing loss successfully. These will not be the same for every person, but must be tailored to each patient’s priorities and communication challenges. I share my hearing loss story and tips in this article published in the November/December Issue of Audiology Today. Reprinted with their permission. 

Living With Hearing Loss | A Hearing Loss Blog

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The Key To Success With Hearing Loss — Whatever Works!

Shari Eberts Advocacy, Break the Stigma, Coping Strategies for Hearing Loss, Deafness, Disability, Hearing Loss, Technology, Yoga and Hearing Loss Deafness, Disability, Hearing Aids, Hearing Loss, Hearing Loss Hacks, Living With Hearing Loss, Technology, Yoga and Hearing Loss

Regular readers of this blog know I am almost as passionate about yoga as I am about hearing loss advocacy. Yoga and meditation keep my body and mind strong and help me handle the daily frustrations of living with hearing loss. Often, the techniques I explore in my yoga and meditation practices can be directly applied to managing my hearing loss. My experience at a recent meditation seminar was no different.

The seminar entitled “Staying Sane in a Crazy World” featured Joseph Goldstein, a renowned meditation teacher, and Dan Harris, an ABC anchorman and author of the New York Times bestseller “10% Happier.” The talk was sponsored by New York Insight Meditation Center and it was packed! I had not expected a meditation lecture to be such a popular way to spend a cold winter’s evening during the holiday season, but I was pleased to see all the interest.

What I had expected was a lot of details on the specifics of meditation — the best way to sit, what to do with your hands, the perfect place to meditate, how to choose guided or silent, etc., but I was once again surprised. The main takeaway — do whatever works for you. It reminded me a lot of living with hearing loss.

Living With Hearing Loss | A Hearing Loss Blog

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