Tips for living in a world without sound

This blog is being written for those who are deaf and hearing impaired or those who are losing their hearing. I have been deaf for 43 of my 50 years. I was raised mainstream meaning I wasnt taught sign language and never met my first deaf person till after having been deaf for over 14 years, so I had no idea how they lived or the tools that were availiable for the hearing impaired.
The first thing I found out about was telecaptioning for the television. Telecaptioning puts a box at the bottom of the screen where everything that is said comes out in writing much like the old world war II movies where the Germans or Japanese spoke and it came out in writing so for the first time I could make sense in what was happening on the TV. It opened up a world of joy for me and I thought it was the greatest invention of all time. Back then you had to have a reciever connected to the TV with video cables in order to view the captioning, nowadays all new televisions have it built in as required by law all you have to do is turn it on with your remote control. Not all programs are telecaptioned but most of them are including all those good movies on HBO and Showtime and even sports programs like Pro Football and Baseball. If your one of those people that likes to rent movies make sure the movie has a CC printed somewhere on the cover, some do and some don't.
My next order of business was to figure out how to know when someone was at the door. I couldnt just leave my door unlocked, someone could come in while I was asleep and rob or trash the place and I'd never hear it. I ran accross this add for the X10 remote home security system on the net one day. All you have to do is get an interface and a handfull of modules, run a wire from your doorbell to the interface then put a module in each room of the house with a lamp plugged in to it and you've got yourself a whole house doorbell system. I can't say enough about X10, they have all sorts of stuff that can tie in to the system like cameras and motion detectors. I'm especially fond of the remote cameras and keep them over my outside doors, this lets me see who is at the door before I open it. When the doorbell goes off I simply switch channels on my TV or you can add an old TV and run it all the time. You can even hook up a motion detector so it all comes on whenever theres movement outside the door. I dont much like the motion detectors as birds, leaves, and even shadows moving in the wind can set them off. I found that out through trial and error so I just took the motion detectors and placed them in the house hooked to yet another lamp so whenever I walk into a room a light comes on automatically. (available from X10.com and sometimes e-bay)
Next would come Telephones. You have to have some way to call someone in case of an emergency right? For that you would need a TDD or Telecommunications Device for the Deaf also called a TTY. There are different types if TDD's some hook directly up to your phone line and some use a regular phone with the handset placed in a cradle on the TDD. How do you know when the phone is ringing? They make a special phone flasher that plugs into your phone and a lamp and flashes when the phone rings, a lot of the newer TDD's come with them built right in to the phone.
The problem with a TDD is both parties must have one so you can type back and forth to each other. 911 has a TDD and all you have to do is dial the number and press the space bar a couple of times when you see by the little red light on the phone that they have answered. So what if you have a friend or relative who isnt deaf and doesnt have a TDD? They now have a national relay system whose number is 711. You dial 711 and an operator who isnt deaf and has a TDD answers and asks you for the number you are calling, you give them the number and they pick up a regular phone and dial whoever it is your calling, they tell your party that they have a call from a hearing impaired person and explain the relay system to them. Then you type to the operator what you want to say, the operator tells them and when they reply the operator types back to you what is said. Not exactly an ideal system but it beats not being able to communicate. I have found that some people will hang up on you either afraid or paranoid that its a scam. I had to dial three different companies one time when I had a plumbing problem before I could get someone mature enough to talk to me and come out and fix my pipes. So a lot of the time I'll just jump in my car and go there rather than put up with the hassel.
Then theres the problem of waking up in the morning to go to work. Obviously a screaming alarm clock isnt going to do you a bit of good. They now make flashing alarm clocks that either flash a built in light or a lamp plugged into it. Still not enough? then theres the bed alarm that puts a strong vibrator either under your pillow or your mattress and either plugs into your flashing alarm clock or comes as a comlete unit. All of the above with the exception of the X10 system can be obtained from Hearmore.com as well as various other companies. Hearmore also sells a similar system to the X10 but costs a lot more.
In closing I cant say enough about computers and the World Wide Web. Whoever invented it had no idea how much he was helping the deaf and hearing impaired. You can find almost anything, e-mail anyone and conduct business and they'll never know they just made a transaction with a deaf person. You can find love or meet other deaf and hard of hearing people, make plane or hotel reservations, rent cars or shop for anything and have it delivered right to your door.
Thats how I do it. I hope the information is usefull to someone. If your deaf or hearing impared or maybe your one of the many people losing their hearing, following the above tips can make for a much more fullfilling, rewarding, and independent life.