deaf

11.22.09

New Breed of Mice Retains Great Hearing (and Sex Lives) in Old Age

Scientists cross mice that have normal hearing with prolific breeders to get the best of both worlds in a new super mouse

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 11.09.2009 at 4:59 pm 0 Comments

A group of leading researchers working on hearing loss have created mice whose hearing worsens as they age, as mirror counterparts to humans. But these mice fail to breed well, which led the University of Rochester group to crossbreed them with mice that had great sex drives but even worse hearing loss in their old age. The result was a new super breed that is prolific and has superb hearing.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > age, breeding, deaf, deafness, elderly, hearing, hearing loss, mice, mouse, old, rodents

An Iowa 911 Call Center is the First to Accept Text Messages

hlp my hous on fir sav me

By Anna Maria Jakubek Posted 08.06.2009 at 7:15 am 0 Comments

This may come as a surprise to some (myself included), but despite the current ubiquity of texting, there’s still at least one place that won’t accept your texts: your local 911 center. Unless you live in Black Hawk County in Waterloo, Iowa, that is. Starting this week, the county’s emergency call center will be the first 911 center in the country to accept text messages sent to 911 in lieu of a phone call.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > 911, cell phones, deaf, emergencies, emergency, iowa, sms, text messages, texting

Stevie Wonder: Geek Musician

Tech-savvy artist pushes for gadgets that everyone can use

By Sean Captain Posted 01.13.2009 at 8:12 am 1 Comment

High-Tech Musician: Stevie Wonder, a voracious consumer of technology, wants manufacturers to make their products accessible to everyone. Lamar Mitchell

Twenty-two-time Grammy winner Stevie Wonder has created new sounds, even genres, by absorbing and reshaping every musical and audio technology he's encountered.

"He's always the first," says Lamar Mitchell, one of Wonder's technology assistants. "He was the first one to have a sampler…He was one of the first guys messing with drum machine technology." The distinct sound of Wonder's 1972 blockbuster hit, Superstition, came from a novelty piano/electric guitar hybrid instrument called the Höhner Clavinet. "It was meant to be an electric harpsichord," said Mitchell. "And then something happened when Stevie got it."

Though blind, Wonder has mastered the visually-oriented personal computer—both PCs and Macs.

[ Read Full Story ]

READ MORE ABOUT > accessibility, blind, ces 2009, consumer electronics show, deaf, disability, stevie wonder, vision free