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Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Ears are extraordinary organs. One of the most remarkable things about this process is that it is completely mechanical. Your hearing system is based solely on physical movement.

To understand how your ears hear sound, you first need to understand just what sound is.

When something vibrates in the atmosphere, it moves the air particles around it. Those air particles in turn move the air particles around them, carrying the pulse of the vibration through the air. When you hit a bell, the metal vibrates -- flexes in and out. When it flexes out on one side, it pushes on the surrounding air particles on that side. These air particles then collide with the particles in front of them, which collide with the particles in front of them, and so on. This is called compression. This creates a drop in pressure, which pulls in more surrounding air particles, creating another drop in pressure, which pulls in particles even farther out. This pressure decrease is called rarefaction. a vibrating object sends a wave of pressure fluctuation through the atmosphere. We hear different sounds from different vibrating objects because of variations in the sound wave frequency. A higher wave frequency simply means that the air pressure fluctuation switches back and forth more quickly. We hear this as a higher pitch. When there are fewer fluctuations in a period of time, the pitch is lower. The level of air pressure in each fluctuation, the wave's amplitude, determines how loud the sound is.

To hear sound, your ear has to do three basic things: (1) Direct the sound waves into the hearing part of the ear; (2) Sense the fluctuations in air pressure; (3) Translate these fluctuations into an electrical signal that your brain can understand.

The pinna, the outer part of the ear, serves to "catch" the sound waves. Your outer ear is pointed forward and it has a number of curves. This structure helps you determine the direction of a sound. If a sound is coming from behind you or above you, it will bounce off the pinna in a different way than if it is coming from in front of you or below you. This sound reflection alters the pattern of the sound wave. Your brain recognizes distinctive patterns and determines whether the sound is in front of you, behind you, above you or below you.



Once the sound waves travel into the ear canal, they vibrate the tympanic membrane, commonly called the eardrum. It is positioned between the ear canal and the middle ear. The middle ear is connected to the throat via the eustachian tube. Since air from the atmosphere flows in from your outer ear as well as your mouth, the air pressure on both sides of the eardrum remains equal. This pressure balance lets your eardrum move freely back and forth.

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Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Our last class was very good. We completed one chapter and I left with many notes. That's the way I like this class to continue. The teacher told the class about an upcoming NAD (National Association of the Deaf) event in Miami during the summer. I visited the NAD site but was unable to locate information regarding that event. I sent NAD an inquiry via e-mail and I will post information on that event here so stay tuned. All I know is that it will be in June at Doral.

Next Monday there will be no class: Spring Break!

Vocabulary

audience: (in audience) sign the latter gesture- hands pulled inward; (if not in audience) sign "people" first, as shown in text: ABC book.
change: both X-hands are used in this sign.
equal: circle outward w/ arms.
stalking: right A-hand moves continually in circles behind left A-hand.
forbid: left palm outward and right palm inward- strike the palm.
if: F-hand, wiggle open fingers or point pinkie finger of right hand to forehead.
measure: thumb bent in to palms.
engineering: Y-hand alt movements with palms out.
architecture: sign "house" with A-hands.
structure: sign "built" with A-hands.
building: B-hands move up/down palm facing each other.
postpone: F-hand (right) move forward/back from left F-hand.
relative: this sign is most commonly used with R-handshapes.
relationship: F-hand joined move forward/back before chest.
diplomatic: D-hand twist on forehead.
hooker: the sign for "shame" is repeated. "Shame" is just one movement; "shy" is one slow movement.
diarrhea: 5-hand facing right and right 10-hand w/ thumb on left hand palm moves downward.
poop (or shit): same sign for diarrhea with left hand in A-handshape.


Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Monday night the teacher brought to class the next workbook after ABC. It is the third (volume 3) workbook in the ASL series, Signing Naturally. He told us about www..dawnsignpress.com- the largest online store for deaf related products. The teacher also talked about video relay and career opportunities for us with companies such as Sprint. He wrote the following links on the board:

www.sprintvrs.com
www.ip-relay.com
ww.sorensonvrs.com

Vocabulary

fat: right y-hand on left palm (up).
confident: when making this sign, bring forward the right hand slightly.
up to you: the L-hand moves forward from forehead to the 10-hand.
hide: slap fist under the left palm (palm to palm) when making this sign.
liscense suspended (or expired): twist the right hand downward once after making the sign for "liscense."
poison: the sign for "medicine" can also be used for this word.
pull: keeps palm side of fists facing down when making this sign.
travel: make short circular movements when making this sign.
struggle: both hands shake slightly.
judgment: F-hands, facing each other before chest, move up and down.
go-there-repeatedly: flick index fingers repeatedly.
e-mail: left C-hand facing right with right index, palm down, moves forward once.
movie: place right hand between thumb and index.
spend: both fists on hip move forward and point index ahead.

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Yesterday I attended the Deaf Nation expo in Coconut Grove. Sadly I could not stay too long but I did enjoy it. I saw my ASL teacher at the event but he was leaving as I was arriving. It was great and I look forward to attending the expo next year.




Wednesday, March 10, 2004

The last ASL class has been the best to date. The teacher was cooking and I learned much. My opinion is now changing and I am fired-up more than ever. We studied just one chapter at a normal pace. If the classes continue like Mondays class, then I'm a happy fellow. The teacher talked about the third ASL level- the advanced class next term. In that class we will use the text, Signing Naturally. In fact we will begin that text before this ASL 2 class ends. Also, the teacher signed another story and I still had trouble keeping up with the signing speed. I am catching more of the signs though. I'll get it with time, slowly.

Vocabulary:

Concern: similar to "tend."
fart: left fist with open right hand, palm up, moves down from fist. Funny sign. :-)
late: this sign also means "not yet."
metal: tap curved index on chin repeatedly.
bitter: twist index on chin (no tapping).
miss (like miss something): tap chin once with index and point to person/place/etc.
nothing: wiggle hands, not arms or tap thumb side of fist on chest near heart.
research: index moves repeatedly outward on left palm.
condom: index and thumb (right hand) moved down on left hand index.
FrustratING: move hand (like frustrate) in circles before chin.
impact: same as "hit" with a wider movement.
know-that: ends w/ y-hand palm down (or straight open hand, palm down).
apply: same as "shirt."
broke down: fingers touch, palms facing before chest, and hands move downward (fingers flick down).
support: tap fists repeatedly.
mistake: sign for "wrong" but moves in circle from chin.
plain: right hand, palm left, brushes under left 5-hand, palm down.

Monday, March 01, 2004

The class tonight was good. The instruction was mainly from the text with no real extra insights (for me). We reviewed chapters 15 and 16 of the book. The only new signs (not in book) I learned were the different "I love you" handshapes:

I really love you: The "love" handshape with the middle finger bent over the index.
I hate you: The "love" handshape with the middle finger extended and close to the index.

The "love" sign is used more as a greeting then a declaration of love.

The teacher also told us a brief story with sign. I find it hard (still) to read sign at regular speed. I did get the general sense of the story. I was able to extract many signs and put them together, like a puzzle. I enjoyed that exercise because it was a challenge.

Reading signs and fingerspelling, at regular speed, is still a bit too fast for me. Grrrr.

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