The role of paralinguistic voice-control of interactive media in augmenting awareness of voice characteristics in the hearing-impaired

Abstract

Explaining voice characteristics to the deaf is not an easy undertaking for their instructors. Furthermore, many existing strategies for conveying these characteristics and teaching the deaf how to perceive them do not seem efficient, especially when dealing with the concept of pitch. As a result, some deaf people are not fully capable of differentiating between voice characteristics. Paradoxically, this doesn.t only apply to the deaf, but many of the hearing do not know the difference between pitch and loudness; when asked to generate a higher-pitched sound, many generate a louder sound. These were some of several reasons that led to my exploration of additional approaches to the visual representation of voice. I developed and employed non-speech voice-controlled applications in analyzing the interaction patterns of seven deaf children. The aim was to explore the potential role of paralinguistic vocal control of interactive media in enabling the deaf to have a greater understanding of voice and to offer their instructors more efficient and engaging strategies for explaining voice characteristics.