Talking Sense - Volume 45, No 2, Summer 99
By Sarah Worsfold (Chief Speech and Language Therapist), Tracey McCarron and Jan Sains (both Resident Support Workers) - who all work for the Southampton Community Healthcare Trust.
Is it possible that a vibrating wrist pad could help deafblind people feel part of the world of speech and sound? When Barbara Portsmouth tried out a vibro-tactile aid, we hoped the answer would be ‘Yes’.
Easy communication - which is essential to our wellbeing - is something most of us take for granted. Yet people without sight or hearing, like Barbara, cannot just settle down for a chat. Barbara had hearing aids but they gave her little benefit, so she chose not to wear them. However, when she made contact with the Hearing Therapy Department in Southampton, a new option of using a vibro-tactile aid was suggested which would allow acoustic information to be delivered by an unaffected pathway. And so began a promising collaboration.
What is a vibro-tactile aid?
Vibro-tactile aids were originally developed as environmental aids and only relatively recently have become commercially available and portable.
A vibrating pad is worn on the wrist like a watch. It is connected by a lead to a small box, which can be worn in a pocket, on a belt or underwear. This houses rechargeable batteries and a microphone.
The wearer is able to detect vibrations which are triggered on the skin by both speech and environmental sound . Although (unlike the ear) the skin is not set up to receive a wide range of frequencies, with practice, users can learn to recognise different patterns of sound and match them to different stimuli. Information is carried about sound and silence as well as loudness and pattern of sound. More complex devices may also give some pitch information.
A vibro-tactile aid works best at a distance of three to six feet but, as with other hearing aids, it does not distinguish between important /useful sounds and background noise.
The need for training
Previous experience of fitting over 80 vibro-tactile aids has persuaded us of the need to support wearers and their carers when the device is introduced. It is not immediately obvious how the aid will help communication, and it can be very irritating to wear at first. A significant degree of perseverance is required from all involved.
Deaf wearers with no other difficulties usually take five to six weeks to develop a realistic view of the merits and shortcomings of the aid. It seemed Barbara might benefit from highly structured support in the early days, and this approach appears to have been successful. A programme of 12 sessions was set up for activities and possible tasks to be discussed and for Tracey and Jan to report on the level of use of the aid since the last meeting.
A world rediscovered
Initially Barbara only wore the aid for about an hour each day, but she is now using it for up to eight hours. She wears it in a small velvet purse across her chest. Specific tasks were attempted such as identifying the sound of the bath being filled, but Barbara has been happier receiving general environmental sounds in the normal routine of her day. Experiments have been made with different environments such as cookery and dancing. Barbara has chosen not to wear the aid during aromatherapy as that is her quiet, calm time without distractions.
Music has always been very important to Barbara - she used to like listening to records and cassettes before she lost her hearing. Now she enjoys recognising music again, being able to detect the rhythms, and music with a strong beat gives her particular pleasure. It is also possible for her to detect voices, including her own. We hope this will encourage Barbara and the people around to just start chatting.
