bionic bolero
Wired article: My Bionic Quest for Boléro.
I have mixed feelings on cochlear implants mostly because they (at least five years ago when I was more in the research field) required that parents of deaf children choose between their child learning sign OR speech. Not both. Sign languages and culture are important standing on their own. I feel that a goal of technology to be assisting others. I would lie if I said that a cochlear implant could not do that. I’ve seen similar devices for sight and at the time felt better about them, probably because they still would have the recipent learn braille. Anyway here it is and my mixed feelings about what happens young children are what caused my delay in posting. Think of my prejudices as being 5 years out of date, I’ll try to catch up and see what new is going on — it seems a lot! Anyway, I think this article and the work being carried out is quite fascinating.
Random quotes I found interesting:
About a year after I received the implant, I asked one implant engineer how much of the device’s hardware capacity was being used. “Five percent, maybe.” He shrugged. “Ten, tops.”
…
My hearing is no longer limited by the physical circumstances of my body. While my friends’ ears will inevitably decline with age, mine will only get better.
Michael Chorost is the author of Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human
[via boing boing]
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I can’t believe it’s been FIVE years!
