Technology, Wireless

The evolution of communication among deaf people, aside from the trend from person-to-person toward remote communication using devices, has changed dramatically in the decade of 2000. Prior to that, beginning in the late 1960s, the main form of remote communication was the use of teletypewriters, or TTYs (telecommunication devices for the deaf), a wired form of communication requiring users to be tethered to a wired connection, in either their home or their place of work. Over time, since 2000, the tethering link has weakened (or lessened) to a wireless form, meaning a deaf person does not have to be inside a home or workplace to be able to communicate using a device. This has lagged deaf individuals’ hearing counterparts by about 5–10 years, as the ...