Revisiting the Past to Understand the Present: The Linguistic Ecology of the Singapore Deaf Community and the Historical Evolution of Singapore Sign Language (SgSL)

Singapore, a young nation with a colonial past from 1819, has seen drastic changes in the sociolinguistic landscape, which has left indelible marks on the Singapore society and the Singapore deaf community. The country has experienced many political and social transitions from British colonialism to attaining independence in 1965 and thereafter. Since independence, English-based bilingualism has been vigorously promoted as part of nation-building. While the roles of the multiple languages in use in Singapore feature prominently in the discourse on language planning, historical records show no mention of how these impacts on the deaf community. The first documented deaf person in archival documents is a Chinese deaf immigrant from Shanghai who established the first deaf school in Singapore in 1954 teaching Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL) and Mandarin. Since then, the Singapore deaf community has seen many shifts and transitions in education programming for deaf children, which has also been largely influenced by exogeneous factors such as trends in deaf education in the United States A pivotal change that has far-reaching impact on the deaf community today, is the introduction of Signing Exact English (SEE) in 1976. This was in keeping with the statal English-based bilingual narrative. The subsequent decision to replace SSL with SEE has dramatic consequences for the current members of the deaf community resulting in internal divisions and fractiousness with lasting implications for the cohesion of the community. This publication traces the origins of Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) by giving readers (and future scholars) a road map on key issues and moments in this history. Bi- and multi-lingualism in Singapore as well as external forces will also be discussed from a social and historical perspective, along with the interplay of different forms of language ideologies. All the different sign languages and sign systems as well as the written/spoken languages used in Singapore, interact and compete with as well as influence each other. There will be an exploration of how both internal factors (local language ecology) and external factors (international trends and developments in deaf education), impact on how members of the deaf community negotiate their deaf identities.

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES AND INCLUSION EXPERIENCES

A teaching proposal for deaf people will be outlined here, mediated through You Tube, that contemplates the topics covered in History classes, through the joint and collaborative construction of a digital library of Libras videos on this platform. Therefore, a brief contextualization is outlined on how the discipline has been organized in the Basic Education curriculum in face of the technological changes that take place at the turn of the 20th century with the advent of information and communication technologies (ICTs) The methodology used is a qualitative approach in a descriptive and exploratory character, which will analyze some bibliographical productions on the subject and the discussion of two You Tube channels.The dialogues with Pinsky (2016), Bispo and Barros (2016), Castells (1999), Queiroga Junior (2018), Coelho and Bottentuit Junior (2019), Correa (2002) and Pereira (2017), open up possibilities for thinking about the teaching of History mediated by ICTs. Among the results obtained, there is the relevance of thinking about mediated educational projects by educational technologies that contribute to the achievement of autonomy of the deaf person, respecting their different ways of learning.

A method for simulation the effect of the reduced frequency resolution of the ear in patients with sensorineural hearing loss

A method for the simulation of reduced frequency resolution of the ear in patients with sensorineural hearing loss is proposed. The method is based upon the ability to adjust it according to the audiogram of a concrete person by frame-by-frame signal processing in the frequency domain. Simulation of the effect of the reduced frequency resolution of the ear is achieved by processing the components of amplitude spectrum of the original sound signal by the "smearing" function. The "smearing" function is formed from the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the auditory filters, which bandwidth is determined by the audiogram of the deaf person. The proposed method is implemented in the MATLAB. An experimental study of the effect of the reduced frequency resolution of the ear using the speech intelligibility test was conducted. The experiment involved 15 people who listened the records processed by the proposed method with various settings and noise conditions. Experimental data have shown that reduced frequency resolution of the ear leads to the deterioration in speech intelligibility, especially in the presence of background noise. Based on the answers of the participants of the experiment, the confusion tables of sounds were compiled, reflecting the fact of indistinguishability of sounds similar in frequency, that confirms the correctness of the proposed method.

Multimodality and transculturalism in a proposal of a LIBRAS didactic material for hearing people

From the officialization of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras), the deaf person acquires the right to be recognized as a bilingual individual and to ensure this condition, hearing professionals from different areas start to learn Libras, which is even established as a mandatory subject for graduation in some Brazilian higher education courses. Thus, discussions involving the language teaching process, the production of didactic materials, transculturalism and multimodality are necessary for this political and sociolinguistically complex context. From a qualitative research, the objective of this article was to discuss the multimodality and transculturalism present in a proposal for a didactic material to teach Libras in a course involving hearing professionals in the healthcare area. For this purpose, the constructed material considered as legitimate resources the writing of Portuguese, illustrations and photographs of Libras signs, as well as access to videos with different speakers of that language from the scanning of the QR Code incorporated in the material. It is understood that all these elements need to be addressed in an integrated way in the learning of Libras by hearing people, as they constitute the reading of the contemporary world, in which visual and digital resources are also part of the language.

Psychometric Properties of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, WISC-IV for Deaf Intelligence with Wardenburg Syndrome and Level of Intelligence for Different Mental States

This study aimed to investigate the psychometric characteristics of the Wechsler-4 scale of the intelligence of deaf people with Waardenburg syndrome and the level of intelligence according to the mental state. To achieve the objectives of the study, a descriptive survey method was used. The sample of the study consisted of (17) students from all deaf schools in Jordan, whose ages ranged between (8-17) years, and (WISC-IV) was applied in sign language. Indicators are reached for Construct Validity (2.741 - 0.243). And indications for reliability, where the correlation coefficients ranged between (0.487 - 0.898). The results showed that there were no differences in the IQ level of deaf people with Waardenburg syndrome due to gender. The absence of differences in the IQ level of deaf people with Waardenburg syndrome is due to the mental state variable in favor of the deaf group of those with the borderline between Gifted and Superior, but the overall IQ level of the deaf person with Waardenburg syndrome is within the lower limits (IQ = 71), which is Learning Disability. There are also differences in the level of the sub-tests of the scale for deaf people with Waardenburg syndrome, as the (Cancellation) test was the highest score and then (coding) in second place. The study recommends including this syndrome as part of the hearing impairment categories. Studies have been carried out on the development of the functional section of the Wechsler-4 scale to suit the visual perception of deaf people with Waardenburg syndrome. Received: 27 February 2021 / Accepted: 5 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

The Sign Language in Psychotherapy with Prelingually Deaf Person

Specialized psychotherapy for deaf people is still a young field of scientific research. The article describes collaboration and interaction between a therapist and a prelingually deaf person. This special collaborative relationship has several dimensions: language, Deaf culture, interpreting.

Visual, navigation and communication aid for visually impaired person

The loss of vision restrained the visually impaired people from performing their daily task. This issue has impeded their free-movement and turned them into dependent a person. People in this sector did not face technologies revamping their situations. With the advent of computer vision, artificial intelligence, the situation improved to a great extent. The propounded design is an implementation of a wearable device which is capable of performing a lot of features. It is employed to provide visual instinct by recognizing objects, identifying the face of choices. The device runs a pre-trained model to classify common objects from household items to automobiles items. Optical character recognition and Google translate were executed to read any text from image and convert speech of the user to text respectively. Besides, the user can search for an interesting topic by the command in the form of speech. Additionally, ultrasonic sensors were kept fixed at three positions to sense the obstacle during navigation. The display attached help in communication with deaf person and GPS and GSM module aid in tracing the user. All these features run by voice commands which are passed through the microphone of any earphone. The visual input is received through the camera and the computation task is processed in the raspberry pi board. However, the device seemed to be effective during the test and validation.

DUKUNGAN SOSIAL GERAKAN UNTUK KESEJAHTERAAN TUNARUNGU INDONESIA (GERKATIN) TERHADAP PENYANDANG TULI

A person with a deaf person is someone who has a disorder or damage to the ear organs. They prefer to be called Deaf (Tuli) than Deaf (Tunarungu). As a language used daily, Deaf friends get accessibility in fulfilling their rights and support from un-deaf friends and deaf friends. In this study, the authors used a qualitative research method with interviews, documentation studies and observations to study and describe the forms of social support provided by the Movement for Welfare Deaf Indonesia (GERKATIN) to Deaf friends and also examine the influence of Deaf friends who have joined this organization. The results showed that GERKATIN’s social support included: (1) social support, namely in the aspect of informative support such as the presence of Sign Language Interpreters (JBI), and social media that helped Deaf friends access information; (2) emotional support, such as sharing among members; (3) instrumental support, such as BISINDO learning places as socialization access to the community; (4) award support, such as JBI on television or in formal events; and (5) group support, such as sharing feelings among Deaf friends. Direct influences such as intensive support and communication provided by fellow members, indirect influences, namely the existence of a place to share stories, and interactive influences such as GERKATIN have an influence on Deaf friends to make this organization a place for their welfare such as avoiding discrimination that has many negative impacts. Abstrak. Orang dengan penyandang tuli adalah seseorang yang mengalami gangguan atau kerusakan pada organ-organ telinganya. Mereka lebih senang dipanggil dengan Tuli daripada Tunarungu. Sebagai bahasa yang digunakan sehari-hari membuat teman Tuli mendapatkan aksessibilitas dalam memenuhi hak-hak mereka dan dukungan dari teman-teman dengar maupun teman-teman Tuli. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan metode penelitian kualitatif dengan wawancara, studi dokumentasi dan observasi untuk mengetahui dan mendeskripsikan bentuk dukungan sosial yang diberikan oleh Gerakan untuk Kesejahteraan Tunarungu Indonesia (GERKATIN) kepada teman Tuli. Juga meneliti tentang pengaruh teman Tuli yang telah bergabung di organisasi ini. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dukungan sosial GERKATIN meliputi: (1) dukungan sosial, yaitu pada aspek dukungan informatif seperti dengan adanya Juru Bahasa Isyarat (JBI), dan sosial media yang membantu teman Tuli mengakses informasi; (2) dukungan emosional, seperti teman sharing antar sesama anggota; (3) dukungan instrumental, seperti tempat-tempat belajar BISINDO sebagai akses sosialisasi kepada masyarakat; (4) dukungan penghargaan, seperti JBI di televisi atau di acara-acara formal; dan (5) dukungan kelompok, seperti berbagi rasa antar sesama teman Tuli. Pengaruh langsung seperti dukungan dan komunikasi intensif yang diberikan oleh sesama anggota, pengaruh tidak langsung, yaitu adanya tempat berbagi kisah, dan pengaruh interaktif seperti GERKATIN mempunyai pengaruh kepada teman Tuli untuk menjadikan organisasi ini sebagai wadah kesejahteraan mereka seperti terhindarnya dari diskriminasi yang mempunyai banyak dampak negatif.