full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Rebecca Knill: How technology has changed what it's like to be deaf

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

My hearing aids were industrial-strength, sledgehammer volume, but they helped me more than they helped most ppleoe. With them, I could hear music and the sound of my own voice. I've always liked the idea that tncohoelgy can help make the wrold more human. I used to watch the serteo flash color when the music shifted, and I knew it was just a mteatr of time before my watch could show me sound, too.

Did you know that hearing occurs in the brain? In your ear is a small ogran called the cochlea, and the cochlea is lenid with thousands of rocpteers called hair cells. When sound enters your ear, those hair cells, they send electric signals to your brain, and your brain then interpters that as sound. Hair-cell damage is really common: nsoie exposure, ordinary aging, inlelss. My hair cells were damaged before I was even born. My mother was exposed to German measles when she was pregnant with me. About five percent of the world has significant hearing loss. By 2050, that's expected to double to over 900 mililon people, or one in 10. For seniors, it's already one out of three.

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

My hearing aids were industrial-strength, sledgehammer volume, but they helped me more than they helped most ______. With them, I could hear music and the sound of my own voice. I've always liked the idea that __________ can help make the _____ more human. I used to watch the ______ flash color when the music shifted, and I knew it was just a ______ of time before my watch could show me sound, too.

Did you know that hearing occurs in the brain? In your ear is a small _____ called the cochlea, and the cochlea is _____ with thousands of _________ called hair cells. When sound enters your ear, those hair cells, they send electric signals to your brain, and your brain then __________ that as sound. Hair-cell damage is really common: _____ exposure, ordinary aging, _______. My hair cells were damaged before I was even born. My mother was exposed to German measles when she was pregnant with me. About five percent of the world has significant hearing loss. By 2050, that's expected to double to over 900 _______ people, or one in 10. For seniors, it's already one out of three.

Solution


  1. lined
  2. million
  3. receptors
  4. organ
  5. people
  6. interprets
  7. world
  8. stereo
  9. matter
  10. illness
  11. technology
  12. noise

Original Text


(Laughter)

My hearing aids were industrial-strength, sledgehammer volume, but they helped me more than they helped most people. With them, I could hear music and the sound of my own voice. I've always liked the idea that technology can help make the world more human. I used to watch the stereo flash color when the music shifted, and I knew it was just a matter of time before my watch could show me sound, too.

Did you know that hearing occurs in the brain? In your ear is a small organ called the cochlea, and the cochlea is lined with thousands of receptors called hair cells. When sound enters your ear, those hair cells, they send electric signals to your brain, and your brain then interprets that as sound. Hair-cell damage is really common: noise exposure, ordinary aging, illness. My hair cells were damaged before I was even born. My mother was exposed to German measles when she was pregnant with me. About five percent of the world has significant hearing loss. By 2050, that's expected to double to over 900 million people, or one in 10. For seniors, it's already one out of three.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cochlear implant 4
hair cells 3
computer chips 2
deaf person 2
hearing aids 2
hear music 2
people respond 2


Important Words


  1. aging
  2. aids
  3. born
  4. brain
  5. called
  6. cells
  7. cochlea
  8. color
  9. damage
  10. damaged
  11. double
  12. ear
  13. electric
  14. enters
  15. expected
  16. exposed
  17. exposure
  18. flash
  19. german
  20. hair
  21. hear
  22. hearing
  23. helped
  24. human
  25. idea
  26. illness
  27. interprets
  28. knew
  29. laughter
  30. lined
  31. loss
  32. matter
  33. measles
  34. million
  35. mother
  36. music
  37. noise
  38. occurs
  39. ordinary
  40. organ
  41. people
  42. percent
  43. pregnant
  44. receptors
  45. send
  46. seniors
  47. shifted
  48. show
  49. signals
  50. significant
  51. sledgehammer
  52. small
  53. sound
  54. stereo
  55. technology
  56. thousands
  57. time
  58. voice
  59. volume
  60. watch
  61. world