“Verbally”, an ingenious new Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) aid launched by Intuary, on May 18,2011, previously added to the iTunes app store of the iPad in March this year, has carved out a niche for itself in providing effective functional and interactive communication to people with speech disabilities, and thereby, ameliorating the diabolic conditions faced by them while trying to establish full interpersonal communications and social closeness and in removing the hurdles to developing their potential for education, employment and independence.
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Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) is a non-profit making organization, working under the aegis of Govt. of India, under the ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (http://www.socialjustice.nic.in).
It was incorporated in 1972 to take up manufacture and supply of artificial limb components and rehabilitation aids for the benefit of the physically handicapped and started production in 1976.
Objectives: The main objectives of the Corporation are –
A hearing aid is an electro acoustic body-worn apparatus which typically fits in or behind the wearer’s ear, and is designed to amplify and modulate sounds for the wearer.
It makes some sounds louder so that a person with hearing loss can listen, communicate, and participate more fully in daily activities. A hearing aid can help people hear more in both quiet and noisy situations. However, only about one out of five people who would benefit from a hearing aid actually uses one.The hearing aid receives sound through a microphone, which converts the sound waves to electrical signals and sends them to an amplifier. The amplifier increases the power of the signals and then sends them to the ear through a speaker.
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Digital hearing aid |
Analogue hearing aid |
| Digital hearing aid Translate sound to digital code, change it and re-transmit it back by using mathematical calculations.
Distinguish different sounds and therefore amplify all sounds differently. Produces a high quality sound that is extremely accurate. Duplicates sound transmission. Digital circuitry is typically the most expensive. Background noise reduction. Feedback is used for reduction or cancellation of noise. All sound frequency are dealt with. |
Analogue hearing aid directly converts sound waves to electrical waves.
Do not distinguish different sounds and therefore amplify all sounds equally, which means some sounds, are too loud while others may be difficult to hear. This is rectified when the hearing aid user adjusts the volume Sound quality has to be compromised and lot of manual work is required. The sound transmitted has some error. Cheaper as compared to digital one. Background noise no cancelled. No such feedback circuitry is used. Analogue hearing aids are designed with a particular frequency response based on your hearing test. |
A hearing aid is a device used to help hard-of-hearing people hear sounds better. In the past, a funnel-like amplification cone, called an “ear trumpet” or “ear horn” was used. Also sometimes used was a desk with a built-in amplifier into which a microphone and earphones could be plugged; these worked better than passive ear trumpets but were not portable.
