TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION FOR THE DEAF

THIS PROPOSAL ADDRESSES THE PROBLEM OF TELEPHONE COMMUNICATION BY THE DEAF AND DEAF-BLIND. THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART ALLOWS THESE PERSONS TO COMMUNICATE ON THE TELEPHONE WITH OTHERS WHEN BOTH ARE USING SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT. THE PROPOSED CONCEPT WOULD REQUIRE SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT BY THE HEARING-IMPAIRED PERSON ONLY. THE PROCESS IS BASED ON A COMMERCIAL MICROCOMPUTER CONVERTING TONE OR PULSE SIGNALS INTO ASCII COMBINATIONS. THIS ASCII CODE COULD THEN BE CONVERTED TO SCREEN OUTPUT OR INTERFACED WITH A BRAILLE-OUTPUT DEVICE (FOR THE DEAF-BLIND). A SPEECH-OUTPUT DEVICE COULD ALSO BE INCORPORATED FOR SPEECH-IMPAIRED PERSONS. THIS ASCII CONVERSION PROCESS WOULD BE INEXPENSIVE TO PRODUCE ONCE DEVELOPED. AS THE USER WOULD FREQUENTLY BE INTERACTING WITH NONDEAF PERSONS, DUFFY ENGINEERING'S SYSTEM WOULD BE GEARED TOWARD EASE OF USE BY THE PERSON WITHOUT THE SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT.