<p>Communication tools such as text-based instant messaging, voice and video relay services, real-time video chat and mobile SMS and MMS have successfully been used among Deaf people. Several years of field research with a local Deaf community revealed that disadvantaged South African Deaf&nbsp / people preferred to communicate with both Deaf and hearing peers in South African Sign Language as opposed to text. Synchronous video chat and video&nbsp / relay services provided such opportunities. Both types of services are commonly available in developed regions, but not in developing countries like South&nbsp / Africa. This thesis reports on a workaround approach to design and develop an asynchronous video communication tool that adapted synchronous video&nbsp / &nbsp / codecs to store-and-forward video delivery. This novel asynchronous video tool provided high quality South African Sign Language video chat at the&nbsp / expense of some additional latency. Synchronous video codec adaptation consisted of comparing codecs, and choosing one to optimise in order to&nbsp / minimise latency and preserve video quality. Traditional quality of service metrics only addressed real-time video quality and related services. There was no&nbsp / uch standard for asynchronous video communication. Therefore, we also enhanced traditional objective video quality metrics with subjective&nbsp / assessment metrics conducted with the local Deaf community.</p>

The purpose of this research was to describe the use of autohypnosis as a psychotherapeutic intervention with hearing impaired college students specific to four clinical questions: A. Are hearing impaired persons susceptible to hypnosis? B. Can written hypnotic induction be used to introduce hearing impaired persons to relaxation technics? C. Can hearing impaired persons use autohypnosis to achieve a state of relaxation? D. While in a hypnotic state of relaxation can a hearing impaired subject engage in a predetermined fantasy?Eight oral hearing impaired undergraduates, between 18-22 years old, for eight consecutive days completed questionnaires germane to their use of hypnosis. Sixty four questionnaires were submitted to data analysis. Each subject's response as to perceived state of hypnosis was cross-tabulated with: five nonhypnotic state indicators;the amount of time displacement reported per hypnotic session; and three outcome indicators of subject having engaged in predetermined fantasy. The total absolute frequency of incidence(s) of hypnosis having occurred was calculated to be 49 out of 64 reported attempts. The relative frequency percentage was calculated as 75.6% which was interpreted as a descriptive indicator that oral hearing impaired persons utilizing a written autohypnotic technic are susceptible to and can induce, for self, a hypnotic state of relaxation. Additionally it was interpreted that for oral hearing impaired persons the induction technic does not have to deviate extensively from the traditional autohypnotic technic(s) used by (for) aural populations.The findings of this study were limited to the described sample, conditions, time frame and measurement instrument. However, from the 75.6% positive response to the clinical questions it was inferred that the overall outcome of the study was positive. Future research might affirm the appropriateness of autohypnotic relaxation therapy as a possible service to the deaf consumer of psychological counseling.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of the reading component of Ticket to Read®, a computer-based educational program, developed to improve hearing students’ fluency could improve deaf students’ fluency in order to improve comprehension. Fluency, the ability to read text accurately and automatically, forms a bridge from decoding to comprehension. This research is significant because the median reading level of deaf students who graduate high school has remained around a fourth grade level equivalent for the past thirty years, and there is a paucity of research that examines evidence-based practices to improve the reading performance of deaf students. There were 27 subjects in this study from an urban day school for the deaf. A dependent t-test was conducted using the subjects’ scores on a pretreatment and posttreatment reading assessment after nine weeks of treatment. No significant difference from pretreatment to posttreatment assessment was found, t(26) = 1.813, p > .05. In addition, an exploratory analysis using treatment and control groups was conducted using a quasi-experimental design based on mean gain scores from a pretreatment and posttreatment reading assessment. Twenty-seven pairs of subjects were matched on ethnicity, gender, and grade level to determine the main effect of treatment, the interaction effect of treatment and gender, and the interaction effect of treatment and grade level. No significant difference was found for the main effect of treatment, F(1,42) = 1.989, p >.05. Statistical significance was not found for the interaction between treatment and gender, F(1,50) = 1.209, p >.05. Statistical significance was not found for the interaction between treatment and grade level, F(2,48) = .208, p >.05. The results of this study have implications in the field of deaf education and are congruent with the findings of similar studies involving Repeated Readings to influence comprehension. Although significant tests were non-significant regarding students’ improvement on the reading assessment after the intervention, the direction and magnitude of the mean differences effect sizes for students in the treatment group support the need for further research regarding the evaluation of computer-based educational programs that can be used as effective educational strategies to improve deaf students’ reading performance.

Under upplysningstiden tog den systematiska undervisningen av dövstumma fart. Detta väckte uppmärksamhet och många av deras lärare i både Frankrike och Tyskland blev kända och hyllade för sina prestationer. Dessutom blev den dövstumme ett alltmer vanligt inslag i filosofisk och pedagogisk debatt. Man ställde sig frågor vad de dövstumma kunde lära sig, vilka kunskaper de besatt utan utbildning och man debatterade flitigt vilken undervisningsmetod som var den bästa.    Dessutom dök de dövstumma upp i mer utpräglat filosofiskt tänkande. Denna figur utan talspråk blev till ett dynamiskt inslag och en utmaning i den samtida debatten och europeiska tankeutbytet. I och med att de dövstummas inre liv inte var tillgängligt och möjligt att undersöka kom en mängd föreställningar att projiceras på dem och de användes som medel i filosofiska debatter av epistemologiskt, antropologiskt och psykologiskt slag.   Den här undersökningen vill med hjälp av samtida tyskt tidskriftsmaterial och tre filosofiska texter titta närmare på hur man förstod de dövstummas väsen och i vilken mån den dövstumme var ett sant mänskligt väsen. Till tre figurer (det vilda barnet och skogsmänniskan) fogas den dövstumme som en tredje gestalt, vars närvaro ställde trängande frågor om människans väsen. Vem var den dövstumme och vad var det som gjorde att många av samtidens tänkare ställde sig tveksamma till om den dövstumme var en verklig människa? Vad skulle tillkomma för att han skulle räknas som en sådan?   De dövstumma kom att kopplas samman med vildhet, djuriskhet och beskrivas som ofullbordade människor vars realiserande ålåg dövstumlärarna. Men trots detta tänkte man sig att de kunde bli verkliga människor i och med att de omfattades av föreställningen om en för människan typisk perfectibilité. I undersökingen argumenteras det för att några central aspekter av att göra människor av de dövstumma bestod i att ge dem språk och därmed ett förnuft, att skapa ordning i deras inre och att skapa ett jag. Conrad Amman (1669–1724), Abbé L'Epée (1712-1789), Samuel Heinicke (1727-1790), K. P. Moritz (1756-1793)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes special study report entitled: Training environment for the deaf. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Taking an anthropological perspective, this dissertation focuses on a small segment of the American deaf community that uses Cued Speech by examining the nature of the cuers' linguistic repertoire. Multimodality is at issue for this dissertation. It can affect the ways of speaking or more appropriately, ways of communicating (specifically, signing or cueing). Speech and Cued Speech rely on different modalities by using different sets of articulators. Hearing adults do not learn Cued Speech the same way deaf children do. English-speaking, hearing adult learners can base their articulation of Cued Speech on existing knowledge of their spoken language. However, because deaf children do not have natural access to spoken language phonology aurally, they tend to learn Cued Speech communicatively through day-to-day interactions with family members and deaf cueing peers. I am interested in examining the construct of cuers' linguistic repertoire. Which parts of their linguistic repertoire model after signed languages? Which parts of their linguistic repertoire model after spoken languages? Cuers' phonological, syntactal and lexical repertoire largely depends on several factors including social class, geography, and the repertoire of hearing cuers whom they interacted with on a daily basis. For most deaf cuers, hearing cuers including parents, transliterators and educators serve as a model for the English language. Hearing cuers play a role as unwitting gatekeepers for the maintenance of 'proper' cueing among deaf users. For this dissertation, I seek to study the effects of modality on how cuers manage their linguistic repertoire. The statement of the problem is this: Cued Speech is visual and made with the hands like ASL but is ultimately a code for the English language. The research questions to be examined in this dissertation include how cuers adapt an invented system for their purposes, what adjustments they make to Cued Speech, how Cued Speech interacts with gesture, and what language play in Cued Speech looks like. / text

In Canada, the field of study related to teaching American Sign Language fingerspelling and numbering is very new. This study focused its examination on the potential educational benefits when incorporating fingerspelling and numbering within an ASL course as opposed to the potential educational benefits when creating a separate fingerspelling and numbering course for second language learners. The study was conducted by administering surveys, pre-tests, and post-tests with students from two Canadian Deaf Studies Programs, as well as interviewing instructors. The participants’ receptive skill acquisition and complex rule comprehension of fingerspelling and numbering was examined in both instances (with and without a separate course) but no distinct differences were found. Data analysis of instructor responses indicated a strong inclination for advanced studies of fingerspelling and numbering for students who continue on to higher levels of education, specifically in American Sign Language-English Interpretation Programs. Additional research is needed, as this study was limited due to the small number of participants. In general, the results of the study confirm that fingerspelling and numbering are challenging practices for second language learners of ASL and that more curricular materials, focused on teaching these skills in natural conversational contexts, are needed. / October 2015

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Science in Audiology