As a hard-of-hearing person who relies on lips to comprehend speech, two years of people wearing masks was like living in the Twilight Zone. However, a remarkable thing DID happen! Zoom video conferencing!
What is Zoom?
It is hard to imagine someone would not be familiar with Zoom by now. But just in case, Zoom is a video conferencing service whereby one can connect with others via voice, video, anywhere, anytime. Thanks to Toastmasters International, I learned of Zoom just a week after the Pandemic hit. With over 16,600 clubs in 143 countries – all in existence to practice speaking and leadership skills, the organization would perish if meetings had to discontinue altogether! But, thanks to Zoom (and other online streaming services), meetings could still occur. And no one had to venture outside the safety of their home!
In March 2020, my good buddy Circe Denyer was in the higher echelons of the Toastmaster leadership as the Quality Program Director for an entire district. As a result, I sat in on countless online training whereby Circe taught fellow Toastmasters how to master the online Zoom environment as a speaker, functionary, or speech contestant.
Since then, I’ve participated in club meetings, contests, business meetings, conferences, and daily connections with family and friends. If you have a hearing loss, Zoom is a Godsend to keep the relationship alive between you and your peeps. Here s why:
1) Video
With video, I can see faces and read lips!!!!! Zoom has a feature whereby you can show several faces on your screen or just the person speaking. The latter is helpful if the speaker has an accent or poor audio. The ability to get closer, so to speak, to read lips is a real boon.
2) Audio
I listen in on Zoom calls with either my Bluetooth hearing aid set up or headphones. The advantage is that I can crank up the volume without disturbing other participants on the call.
3) Chat
People can chat with me privately during a Zoom call. The advantage of this is they can give me a heads up if I’ve missed something, or need to be aware of something coming up that might trip me up. I can also ask questions or the group of a person if something said is unclear. It isn’t unusual for a person to see a private chat message from me that reads, “What did she just say?”
4) Closed Captioning
Yes, yes, yes. Zoom has a closed captioning feature. It has options for manual typing, or automatic captioning, like with YouTube. I’ve been in several meetings with captioning, and ALL participants enjoy the clarity it provides, not just me, the hard-of-hearing person! But, of course, it is good for a chuckle when it misrepresents a word or statement.
5) Closed Caption Transcripts
The closed caption feature that shows captioning at the bottom of the screen, like closed captioning for TV, is not recorded. HOWEVER, you can select to have captioning appear in a sidebar – and THAT can be saved and downloaded later. This feature is helpful for…
6) Blog or book content!
The latter is a way to capture your talks in writing and later edited for a letter, blog, or book chapter. Much of the content of my books started with transcriptions of my speeches. It is easier to talk about your content and have it transcribed than sitting down and staring at that blank paper or screen.
Zoom Video Conferencing for the Hard of Hearing Conclusion
Yes, the Covid era is a traumatic experience and memory. Unfortunately, not much good came from it, but it did bring to the forefront video conferencing, which is hugely beneficial to those with hearing loss.
Below is a link to a Twitter post by Gadgets 360, which includes video clips of how this works.
And here are two YouTube videos with extremely detailed instructions and guidance on how to get these fantastic features functioning for you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTMJ55ZvNpA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26CaWp0usI4
