Alternatives to Vocal Communication
July 13th 2010 -
While communication disorders may hinder a person’s ability to speak, see, or hear in traditional spoken language, there are a variety of successful alternatives through which communication can still be achieved.For the deaf, a combination of lip reading and sign language are the optimal form of communication. Though most deaf people learn to speak, they usually prefer to accompany their vocals with sign language. Sign language is the use of visually transmitted signals to relay a message. The language consists of thousands of standardized hand signals and patterns. While the spatial grammars are different from the spoken language, this visual communication gets the message across just like verbal speech. It is common among deaf students to use a sign language interpreter who will convert a professor’s lecture into signs.The blind, on the other hand, have no problem hearing or speaking. They do, however, need an alternative to written language: Braille. Braille was devised in 1821 by a blind Frenchman named Louis Braille. This intricate system of raised dots comprise of cells made of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each. The Braille system has revolutionized written communication for the blind.These two main communication systems (sign language and Braille) ensure that people suffering from any combination of deafness, blindness, or the inability to speak, have the opportunity to communicate. Today, however, there are more high tech options available than ever before which may soon replace the traditional means of nonverbal communication.