Modern Communication Technology, Assistive Technology, and Hearing Impairment: How Do They Go Together?

This work sheds light on the experiences of hearing-impaired individuals with communication and assistive technology nowadays, primarily for the contact with public entities, including the health sector. We used an online survey and 12 in-depth interviews to collect statistics and narratives and analyzed the answers. Our findings draw a picture of technology as an enabler and life-saver with a number of weaknesses, both technical and non-technical. Areas of improvement include the universal design of technical solutions, user journeys for users of assistive technology, technical installation and setup of public and private infrastructure, instructional and educational training, and others.