According the World Health Organization there are about 278 million people in the world with moderate to profound hearing loss, and about 80% of those are from the developing world. Hearing aids and medical procedures such as cochlear implants are prohibitively expensive for persons in the developing world. On the other hand, natural signed languages exist around the world which enable deaf people to easily communicate with other and with others who know the language. With adequate education deaf people around the world learn to read and write in the spoken language of their countries. This enables the potential of using texting to communicate. In this presentation, we will review deaf technology around the world, its use and potential for use in the developing world.

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