Technology and Human Rehabilitation: Prostheses for Sensory Rehabilitation and/or Sensory Substitution

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the scientific and technical research and development aspects of sensory aids. The critical role of hearing in the development of language and the production of speech is well established. If hearing is lost after learning to speak, speech is usually retained, but it is subject to a noticeable reduction in quality. Certain sensory aids to this class of the hearing handicapped can ameliorate or remedy this deterioration. The congenitally hearing-impaired child or one who loses hearing before an age of several years cannot acquire speech autonomously and requires special training, with a predictable lag of 3 to 5 years behind normal children in the use and development of language. The problem is exacerbated by the delay in the early recognition of hearing difficulty in the infant and young child. The loss is not addressed until the child noticeably lags his peers in the understanding and use of language, a measure sometimes put off as late as the early school years. Because in human development, the practical use of language antedates formal education, the delay in diagnosis and therapy can introduce irremedial and uncompensatable losses.