Was it known to you that hearing impairment was the universal link to have influenced people to invent the telephone, internet and text messaging? If you didn’t know that yet, now is the time to read more about it.
Starting with Telephone
We all know that Alexander Graham Bell from the United States invented the telephone during the 1870s. But was it been known to us that Bell’s mother and wife suffered from progressive deafness, which made him interested in learning acoustics? His father worked to help people with hearing impairment speak, which was considered innovative during that time. Bell and his brothers were taught to write visible speech, symbols showing lip movements to sounds, and also to match these symbols to the related sound.
Bell first used the telegraph as a basis for inventing the telephone. On 9th October 1876, he had the first telephonic conversation with Thomas. A. Watson, who was an assistant to Graham Bell. He created the Bell Telephone Company a year after the invention, and over 150,000 people in the United States had phones by 1886.
Moving to the Internet
Vinton Cerf, who worked as the technology evangelist of Google, was recognised as one of “the fathers of the internet”. Cerf has limitations in hearing, but when he had to be part of an initial research team that studied internet protocols, he needed to share documents with the team members as it was difficult for him to talk on the phone. It was in 1981, the first IP-based network came in and it has further taken the form of revolutionary telecom networks. It was only after 1990 has the internet become a portal for easy communication and networking.
Then to Text Messaging
Matti Makoen, who was employed by Nokia Networks and Telecom Finland later, invented text messaging, one of the most convenient features of a mobile phone even celebrated equally by the deaf and the norm. He discussed the idea of text messaging with Seppo Tiainen and Tapiol sitting in a Copenhagen pizzeria, and it was conceived for making communication easier for deaf people who use mobile phones. Text messaging then put forward a new method for saving telecom bandwidth, and that lead to a great change in the world of cellular communications.
What is Next?
We assume you are just as astonished when we found out all of these together about how our disabilities always pave a way for better things. We have seen that the invention of the telephone, internet and text messaging has changed all of our lives for the better. It made everything easier for us. Elise Roy, an artist, lawyer, and human-centred designer delivered a dynamic and thought-provoking TED talk, and we like to quote something from her awe-inspiring talk, “let people with disabilities help you look sideways, and in the process, solve some of the greatest problems.”
