I’ve found that between the noise of my boots crunching on stuff and listening to a podcast/music (even on a low audio level with my mic input cranked up) I don’t hear people coming up behind me until they’re practically on top of me. Especially trail runners. I periodically check over my shoulder. I’ve thought about throwing a hearing loop sign on my pack so it’s a little obvious but not something as obvious as “deaf hiker, announce loudly”. I haven’t had any bad interactions on the trail as woman but it makes me hesitant to put something like that on my pack. But someone is going to get hurt if they’re running on a narrow trail and I can’t move out of the way in time. Suggestions/ideas would be great!

I made the switch and bought a Samsung Galaxy s23 Ultra. I love it and I never looked back, however the only thing I am disappointed is how dusty my front facing camera has gotten! When I need to use the VP or call VRS, my screen is so blurred 😩 What do you suggest how I fix this problem?

(iPhone users should refrain from sharing their biased opinions, lol.)

I think I've been overthinking this too much and would really appreciate some advice. I grew up hearing and in the last year I was told I had an inner ear disorder with mod-sever loss in both ears. I wear hearing aids and am taking ASL level 3 rn.

The question. So, I'm Trans. I do have a sign name, but it was given to me before my transition and no longer really represents who I am. (My best friend growing up was CODA and her mother gave me a beautiful sign name). Sometimes I feel really sad though because it doesn't fit anymore. So for now I just finger spell my new name now.

I know it's a really important that someone else In the community gives you your name. So do I just wait for a buddy to give me a new sign name? Is it okay to ask a Deaf pal if they would think of one for me? It's been a huge source of anxiety especially with what's going on in the world rn. Would love any advice. Even if it's - "Spencer, stop freaking out" thanks 💜🤟🏾

Besides ensuring you have a good supply of hearing aid batteries (if applicable) in your bug-out bag (you do have a bug-out bag, don't you? Yeah, neither did I until yesterday...) what, if anything, are you doing to address hearing and communication concerns if you need to evacuate your home quickly?

One thing I'm thinking is I really need to get a supply of ear mold tubing replacements. And test and pack my older hearing aid.

I’ve been attending a sixth form college since September. I was asked about any accessibility needs during the interview a few weeks before, and I told the teacher that I need information given during class written down so that I wouldn’t miss anything, and that a radio aid helped as well.

I keep missing things like timetable changes, things were doing, tasks to be done, etc. I showed up to class today and there was no lesson on — I walked away from the conversation without understanding why, which happens a lot. Timetable hasn’t changed, so this must have been announced during class.

2/3 of my teachers and all teaching assistants have quiet voices and I can’t hear them — they insist on whispering as to not disturb autistic people in the class, which I get, but it’s not too great for me.

We had to learn how to do something on the computers last week and I had to teach myself because without a radio aid and the teacher facing away from me I didn’t know what was being said.

I feel really dumb at college because it feels like a lot of things are just falling through the cracks for me even though I’m trying to do things right. I don’t really know how to talk to anyone about this and change things for myself so I would appreciate any advice. I’ve never advocated for myself because I would rather not say anything and try harder than everyone else, but with my hearing loss progressing it’s not really something I can sustain anymore. I’ve been hoping all this time that at some point they would get me what I needed but it’s pretty clear that’s not happening.

I am deaf but have some hearing with my aids. But if I don’t have my aids on I’m not capable of hearing people speak. I speak well and do not have a deaf accent because I was born hearing and lost it later in my teens. But if I don’t have my aids on I choose to not speak. WHYYYY YOU ASK?? No matter how many times you tell someone “ I am deaf, please don’t try to talk to me, or speak slowly and clearly for me to read lips” the will still TALK FAST AND QUIET AND COVER MOUTHS AND CRAP. like I JUST said don’t do that. But people constantly assume because I can talk, that I can hear. Even when I just in the previous breath told them I can’t. It’s really frustrating.

I'm hearing but have been studying BSL and working as a CSW in my local deaf charity for about 5 years. I'm in Uni doing BSL and Deaf Studies. I love signing and connecting with members of the deaf community but I'm really shy and struggle to engage in conversation.

In the future I'd like to continue to work with Deaf people in different settings but I feel like I need to be more involved in the community or culture first.

Any advice?

Hi everyone,

I’m a deaf person nearing 30 and considering a Working Holiday in Australia or New Zealand before I age out of the visa. I’ve done a lot of research and asked some friends about their experiences, but unfortunately, they were all hearing.

I’d love to read from any deaf folks who’ve done it. How was it for you? Did you find accessible work environments? How did you handle communication barriers, especially in jobs that require customer interaction? I would like to improve my (very bad) spoken English, as I am not a native speaker, and learn another sign language to interact with my coworkers and meet more deaf people from a different country.

My dream is to work in a deaf-owned business, and I’ve found a few amazing cafés and restaurants here and there. Has anyone worked in one or knows of other deaf-friendly workplaces?

Any advice or resources for a deaf person navigating a Working Holiday? Thanks in advance! 😊

Hello Everyone.

For those of you wasent born deaf, deafness being a result of noise induced.

Did your tinnitus gradually got louder as you lost more hearing?

I’ve been HOH my whole life, with a severe/profound loss on my left and a mild/moderate loss on my right.

Recently I’ve lost more hearing with a chance I’ll lose the rest. I’m being assessed for cochlear implants.

I’m trying to figure out how to move my life around this more severe and ongoing loss, how to keep teaching special education, and how to communicate and be part of a community.

I’m not Deaf. When I was growing up, oral language training and lip reading were pushed for HOH kids. But I’m learning sign now and I’m trying to figure out how to ease my way into more Deaf spaces and events. I have a lot of imposter syndrome and I also don’t want to accidentally intrude on spaces I don’t belong in.

Anyone here knows how can I get speech to text for voice chat in discord. not the paid options.

I’ve had multiple ear surgeries and reconstructions done on my ears growing up. From a very young age, I’ve been HoH and had a couple of hearing aids. Now I have the Ponto Oticon. I’ve just learned recently that there’s discourse on hearing aids but I’ve never heard of any reasons of why. Why is there discourse and debates on hearing aids? Hopefully this is appropriate to ask.

So my condition which affects my cochlear nerve has finally worsened to the point where I aM 100% deaf. I am slowly learning ASL but I am having a difficult time focusing on a course. Maybe I am just not using the right one. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good course? Should I try to find an actual live course? I feel like the majority of the ones out there are for hearing people that want to learn.

Hi,

I'm so proud of my CODA! They get it. They are at a conference about AI captioning, and they just told me that AI captioning is not a replacement for real subtitles. Finally someone in my family gets it.

Interesting times ahead. Automatic captions are not the greatest.

It has been a VERY busy past two weeks for us: BOTH New York AND Washington state have bills for open captions in movie theaters! Rather than post a long Reddit post, pointing you to two updates that went out on the Caption Action 3 petition. The Washington state update just went out. Washington's bill has a hearing very soon, details are in the update. Questions? Post a comment and we will reply.

1. New York State: https://www.change.org/p/movie-theaters-open-captions-subtitles-are-better-for-everyone/u/33174905

2. Washington state: https://www.change.org/p/movie-theaters-open-captions-subtitles-are-better-for-everyone/u/33210797

this isn't for anything i'm working on but being able to caption accurately is a skill i want to have nonetheless
if someone stutters, do you transcribe the stuttering sound for sound or do you write "(stuttering) [word]"? similarly do you make a note if a speaker has something that affects their pronunciations (rhotacism, lisp) or ignore it?
in my case i clutter, and have no idea if when subtitling myself (or someone like me) if writing the intended message or every single hiccup that happens to auditory glitches would be better?
haven't been able to find a post like this yet so hopefully this isn't a repeat of an existing post :0 i'm chill to remove it if it is

Can anyone recommend any subtitle apps that are free that I can just overlay over whatever i'm watching? Windows has live captioning but after awhile it pops up with " missing captions" if no one speaks for a minute or two which is annoying

TLDR - My wife refuses to learn sign and expects me to rely on auto captioning to communicate with her, what do I do?

Long version - this may just be half a vent here, but I am looking to learn from other's experiences when deafness became part of an existing relationship. Background info up front, question at the end.

I grew up with great hearing and thus verbal. Due to autoimmune disease I started using hearing aids 3.5 years ago, and today am crossing into profound deafness. At this point I consider myself deaf, as honestly the only reason I use my HA's is for others who lack the ability to communicate with me with visual methods, and I've built a career as a hearie - it'll take time to grow my skills and transition this.

That said, I choose to accept this journey, am learning ASL, work for a company that supports me in this, have deaf coworkers, am becoming familiar with my local deaf community, and have been very open about this as something that is important to me. I'm not afraid of being deaf, but being without communication and support does frighten me, so I'm doing the work.

At the moment I'm waiting on power aids, but when I have HA's that are sufficient for me, I can still function as 'hearing' if the person faces me, but the transition from moderately severe to profound happened over the last 5 months, so hearing is clearly a limited time offer for me.

I've been studying ASL for the past year or so, and have the basics down pretty good now.

The problem is my wife of 28 years has made it very clear she has no interest and refuses to make the time to learn. Instead she makes up random weird gestures and gets mad when I can't make sense of them. When I raise this as an issue her only response is 'why can't you just use auto captioning on your phone and read what I'm saying?' Evidently communication with me isn't that important, or is entirely on me to solve.

Reading my post, it seems obvious the relationship isn't healthy and either needs counseling or to end, and at this point I'm good with either outcome (we needed work anyway, and she's been resistant to that too).

So, have peoples relationships survived this? or is it typically the end? I'm certainly not willing to continue it as is, but I just don't know the odds it'll get better. I haven't been involved with the community long enough to has witnessed this first hand.

EDIT - couple folks asked why I'm in the relationship in the first place, and that is fair. Honest answer is I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse in the extreme, and a trauma survivor. Damaged people typically end up in unhealthy relationships, and I'm still navigating this, but I am moving forward and likely moving on. I don't expect her, or anyone, to change, but it'd be nice if she chose to grow.

The consensus is that she ain't gonna, and that is my take on it too. But had to ask as my history is so messed up I don't have a good yardstick.

And since I opened that can of worms, yes I am safe, have an emergency plan if I need it, an amazing therapist and a good support system. When(if, but probably when) this decision happens it likely won't be pretty, and I've prepared for that.

Edit 2 - don't want to jump out right now ... my dog needs surgery, and want to be sure she is healthy before disruption.

I know that these events are hosted for the deaf and hard of hearing community but as someone who has been learning ASL for a while now I feel like I would get more hands on experience with deaf culture if I went to these events and met people who sign for every day speech

I know the year just started and the next presidency just started, but i am wondering if you think the ADA is at risk of being changed or removed during the next 4 years?

Just curious if anyone else is wirried about atuff like this, the whole federal funding thing is stressfull enough. I worry trump will do worse.

Due to my hearing impairment, I am experiencing challenges in communicating with the lead man in a loud manufacturing company. It is uncertain whether he is aware of or has forgotten my condition. When he speaks to me and I fail to understand the information, mistakes occur during the night shift. He then becomes annoyed, stating that he had previously informed me. This scenario occurs almost daily, leading to significant frustration on my part. The communication barrier between us is a major concern. What actions can I take to resolve this issue?

I was raised oral but still struggle in the hearing world. It's hard for me to keep with group conversations despite wearing a Cochlear Implant.

I'm looking to expand my connections outside of the deaf community (just haven't met the right person) so how do you explain or ask the hearing person to be accommodating during dates? I've never dated a hearing person before so any tips would be appreciated.

I'm a woman. And no unsolicited DMs pls.

The news is out: Sorenson Communications has acquired OmniBridge and Hand Talk to advance sign language translation using AI on their phones. As said, my company is the other Deaf-owned company innovating in this field, I'm so curious about their next steps for the Deaf community. Let’s see how this unfolds.

How will you all feel about this? Will you feel comfortable about using AI Terps on your phone?

HELLO ALL! I am looking for anyone who might know where to find a recording of the musical Les Miserables that either has the ASL interpreters displayed or perhaps even a Deaf ASL version of the show (I know Gallaudet put on the show in 2023 I think.)

I am an interpreter looking for recordings to help me and my team prepare to interpret the show! It is such an old and well-beloved show and we want to make sure we do it justice. Any resources would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Hi I’m deaf in both ears and I use cochlear implants in both ears. I have always find it difficult to hear over the phone. Even with the bluetooth and I can only ever call people that I’m close to but even that, sometimes I struggle with understanding everything that’s being said. As I’m getting older, I do want to gain more independence, especially over using the phone. I have heard of the relay app but I have never used it before. So I was wondering what are people’s opinions on it and if there’s any other apps that may be useful?

Hey, so I, a 18y/o guy, have a question about ear piercings while wearing Cochlear Implants/Hearing aids. I’m seriously thinking about getting a Helix piercing but I am unsure if my hearing aids will make things difficult when I am wearing them because of the pressure they put on the piercing. I also heard that a Helix is generally difficult to heal and don’t want to risk anything too bad so yeah, should I reconsider or is it fine? (oh and btw I am planning to but a ring in once it’s healed)

Hi! I'm a hearing person with questions about sign language. I have a BA in linguistics, so I know some basic information about sign language (such as the presence of syllables and the fact that there are many different varieties of sign language, which is why I'm just referring to sign language in general rather than ASL or SSL for example). My son is 1.5 years old and he loves Mrs. Rachel. She uses baby signs sometimes, and has a video featuring a mixed deaf/hearing family (whose YouTube channel is called mysignedworld). My son actually learns the signs quicker than I can. But that's besides the point.

My question is does sign language have unique puns, word play, and/or expressions that don't translate well or can only be understood with a native (or nativized) level of sign language? Seeing the family from Oursignedworld got me thinking about all the interesting ways a nativ(ized) Family might interact and joke around with each other.

I'd really appreciate any knowledge or anecdotes! Thank you!

Edit: sorry for the typo in the title. Sometimes I switch letters.

I'm Christian and go to church when I am able to do so. I'm the only Deaf person there, and it's mostly all older people due to it being a southern Baptist Church. I'd prefer to go somewhere else like to a deaf church but this church is currently my only option. Well tonight the entire church was praying to cure my deafness. I feel like just as I've finally come to terms and accepted my identity as a Deaf person, everyone wants to treat me like I need to be fixed and pity me. I've already had a rough day today due to other happenings so this just struck a nerve and had me crying in the parking lot once I got to my car. Maybe I'm overreacting and overly sensitive due to a stressful day, but this got to me and I really wanted to talk about it. Everyone close to me is hearing so they don't understand, they mean well but because the thought of them losing their hearing feels tragic, they assume I'd do almost anything to get mine back.

Several friends have noted that agencies are not offering interpreters, which is concerning. However, I haven't heard any reports of interpreter reductions in this area.