VOA慢速英语2015 既聋又盲的女性成为首个使用新型手机的人

Deaf-Blind Woman First to Use New Phone 既聋又盲的女性成为首个使用新型手机的人

A deaf and blind woman from Australia has become the first person to make a telephone call using a device that converts speech into Braille. Braille is a form of writing that uses raised dots on a surface that can be “read” by touching¹ it.

The technology is being tested for the first time in Australia and the United States. One test involved a simple phone call between two sisters.

Michelle Stevens is deaf and blind. Ms. Stevens says the braille telephone will end years of feeling isolated², or feeling alone and apart from others. She is one of five Australians who is taking part in the new trials, or tests. These trials will take place at about the same time in Australia and the United States, where the technology was developed.

Ms. Stevens' vision suffered damage because she was born prematurely³, or born too soon. She lost her hearing from serious ear infections.

The Braille telephone system, she said, will be a great help to her and others.

Ms. Stevens told VOA’s Phil Mercer that this telephone system will be one way to break the isolation⁴ of deaf-blindness. She adds that with future developments, the phone system might be able to give deaf-blind people more job opportunities. Not being able to communicate in the office or on the telephone is a major employment barrier for people who are deaf-blind said Ms. Stevens.

However, the phone system is expensive. It costs about $2,500. The phones work by transferring spoken words onto what is called a "dynamic braille display."

A similar trial will also take place in the United States in a few months. Christopher Engelke is a director with the U.S. company Ultratec. He will carry out the trial in the U.S.

How does it work?

Mr. Engelke says the Braille phone system is an exciting project. He describes the system this way: a deaf person, or one who is hard of hearing, uses the phone just like any other phone. However, subtitles⁵ or captions⁷ of what is said appear on the phone’s touch screen.

“The way that the whole system works is a deaf, or hard of hearing person, who speaks for themselves, would use the phone just like any other phone, except that much like getting subtitles on your TV, you get subtitles or captions to the conversation appearing on the screen, although for a Braille user they could read those captions in Braille bumps on a dynamic Braille display. So they would listen to as much as they can, speak with their own voice and then read everything that is being said to them by reading the Braille on the phone itself.” 

Mr. Engelke explains that vision-impaired people would listen to as much as they can, speak with their own voice and read everything that is being said to them from the Braille bumps on the phone.

Developers of the device say it could change the lives of those who cannot see or hear. In Australia alone, it is estimated there are 330,000 people who are deaf and blind. Some groups say that number is likely to reach 1.2 million by 2050.

Words in This Story

Braille - n. a system of writing for blind people in which letters are represented by raised dots

trial - n. a test of the quality, value, or usefulness of something

parallel - adj. moving in the same direction, side-by-side or taking place at the same time

hard of hearing - adj. relating to or having a defective⁸ but working sense of hearing

caption⁶ - n. a sentence or group of words that is written on or next to a picture to explain what is being shown

1 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

2 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

3 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

4 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

5 subtitles   

n.说明字幕，印在外国影片上的对白翻译字幕，译文对白字幕；小标题，副标题( subtitle的名词复数 )；（电影的）字幕

参考例句：

• subtitles for the deaf and the hard of hearing 为耳聋和听力不佳者打出的字幕
• a Polish film with English subtitles 附有英语字幕的波兰影片

6 caption   

n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明

参考例句：

• I didn't understand the drawing until I read the caption.直到我看到这幅画的说明才弄懂其意思。
• There is a caption under the picture.图片下边附有说明。

7 captions   

n.标题，说明文字，字幕( caption的名词复数 )v.给（图片、照片等）加说明文字( caption的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I stared, trying to grasp the point of the picture and the captions. 我目不转睛地看着漫画，想弄清楚漫画和解说词的意思。 来自辞典例句
• Indicates whether the user or the system paints the captions. 指示是由用户还是由系统来绘制标题。 来自互联网

8 defective   

adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的

参考例句：

• The firm had received bad publicity over a defective product. 该公司因为一件次品而受到媒体攻击。
• If the goods prove defective, the customer has the right to compensation. 如果货品证明有缺陷， 顾客有权索赔。