Steve,
I have several comments. First of all, I believe the view of not suing
the cane--or the dog, for that matter--in certain situations is the view
of many in society that looking sighted is more important than looking
competent. I think of the times I have drifted off-path and someone
comes to correct me immediately, even though I regognize my error as soon
as I drift off.
T me, a travel aid should have two functions. I am a dog user. This
means that I usually don't have problems with getting around objects, but
often, I get very little imformation about them, either. For me, the
ideal travel aid would help me count openings, a task done well by a
cane, but not by a dog.
Secondly, I have a 60-70 decibel bilateral hearing loss. My greatest
difficulty is hearing at a distance and hearing direction. My hearing
aids are optimized for hearing voices, not hearing traffic direction. I
can tell if a car is coming, but someitmes I am overly cautious when a
car is on a neighboring street or when other noises block these sounds.
I have problems hearing directions of traffic at traffic-light
intersections. This is particularly true when a lot of turning traffic
is involved.
The ideal device for me would take a picture of this traffic flow and
vibrate on each arm, for example, as the cars went past. Another
alternative would be a set of very directional headphones with two mikes
that could translate distant traffic nsond to a lower pitch.
I know that the NFB does not like buzzer lights, but to me, they are
preferrable to getting run over. However, I would rather have a device
that could perform this function at *any* traffic light intersection.
Rick Roderick,
Louisville, KY
richard@iglou.com, rick_roderick.parti@pcusa.org
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