ZEEZER-An Emergency Communication Alert System for the Hearing Impaired

Abstract

According to WHO (WHO, 2018) over 5% of the world population or 466 million people has disabling hearing loss which includes 34 million children. It is also estimated that by 2050 over 900 million people will have disabling hearing loss. Treat (2016) reports that 23.7% of Nigerians have hearing impairment (total deafness, hearing loss, or other hearing-related impairment) in a country of more than 155 million people. Also, up to 84% of deaf population in Nigeria remain undereducated and economically underdeveloped (Eleweke, Agboola, & Guteng, 2015). According to a study by Jaiyelo et. al. deaf people appear to be most vulnerable group in Nigeria as well (jaiyeola & Adeyemo, 2018).Thus, this research was carried out in the School for the Deaf, Abuja, Nigeria where questionnaires were distributed and interviews were conducted with the aid of a sign language interpreter. It was deduced that hearingimpaired individuals go about their daily lives just like every other individual in society. It was also observed that the hearing-impaired also make use of mobile devices, which is an essential medium for communication in today’s world. Hence, these deductions suggest that a mobile application which may help improve the lives of the hearing impaired can have a positive impact on their well-being. Thus, an app “Zeezer” was conceived and developed which can assist hearing-impaired individuals with a platform for real-time communication and also one that provides awareness in the form of alerts in times of danger and uncertainty.