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National Resource
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Description
This mission of Gallaudet University's RERC is to provide consumers who are hard of hearing or Deaf, as well as their families and clinicians, with the knowledge and tools necessary: (1) to take control of their communication and hearing technologies, adapt those technologies to their needs in real-world environments, and achieve greater autonomy in their technology use; and (2) to derive full benefit of the shift from special-purpose devices to increasingly powerful and interconnected consumer electronics.
Services Provided
The RERC aims to narrow the gaps between the potential for new technologies to improve the lives of individuals who are hard of hearing or Deaf and their ability to exploit this potential. The center carries out three research and three development and training projects: R1 investigates how a previously successful face-to-face, clinical program of aural rehabilitation for cochlear implant users can be transferred to a telerehabilitation model, in which services are delivered in the home to previously underserved populations with limited access to clinical facilities using the interactive platform for telehealth and collaborative applications developed by the RERC on Telerehabilitation. R2 investigates how consumers with hearing loss can customize their own cochlear implant mapping using a consumer-driven system to control the programming of the device and personally explore a range of programming parameters to determine if this type of user-driven customization can maximize device benefit. R3 investigates new clinical tools to address a critical gap in fitting hearing devices to very young, prelingual children with hearing loss. D1 develops a framework for a consumer-centric, technology-focused train-the-trainer program, which develops skilled consumer trainers to provide improved quantity and quality of technology training to other consumers. D2 develops field tools, implemented through the integration of hearing devices and smartphones, for monitoring listeners’ perceptions, environmental context information, and hearing device configuration during real-world listening situations, so that factors that interfere with the ability of consumers to use or benefit from hearing devices can be identified. D3 develops interactive learning environments where consumers can explore virtual, yet realistic, listening situations, learn how to optimize the use of their hearing technology, and then transfer the knowledge and skills they have acquired to similar situations encountered in the real-world.