The Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams program challenges young engineers to develop an invention that solves an issue in their community. As a team of high schoolers from the Quarry Lane School, driven by a shared passion for engineering and sports, we were inspired to take on the challenge to create a device to improve in-game communication for athletes with hearing loss. Our value of user input has inspired multiple interviews and involvement with the Deaf community, providing us with valuable insight on our project. After an extensive application process, we were chosen as one of thirteen nationwide teams to officially become a 2020-21 InvenTeam and granted $10,000 by the Lemelson-MIT Program to continue developing this invention.
Even after the grant period has ended, our team is as passionate as ever to carry on with the project as we continue developing and refining our invention and solve this issue once and for all.
Learn more at:
[*lemelson.mit.edu/inventeams*](<http://lemelson.mit.edu/inventeams>)
" Imagine a game of basketball: the agile scuffling of shoes against a maple wood floor, the shrill command of the referee's whistle, and the impassioned exclamations from the opposing coach as the scoreboard slips in their favor. How would this experience differ with none of the scuffling, screeching, and agitated words? "
Athletes with hearing loss face an additional layer of in-game complexity. Hearing disabilities are not a detriment to athletic abilities, but they do result in communication delays that lead to an overall competitive disadvantage. In basketball, being unable to hear the referee’s whistle can result in the team losing vital seconds to set up a play, or pose a disadvantage for coaches trying to get their team's attention in-game. The Quarry Lane InvenTeam aims to mitigate these hindrances by developing a device with immersive haptic and/or visual cues that advance in-game interpersonal communication.
As we researched more about our problem, the focus was to gain a perspective on deaf culture and preferences by interviewing people in from the Deaf community. Debbie Ayres, a hearing basketball coach from the local California School for the Deaf, recounted her various attempts to get the players' attention by stomping on the ground to send vibrations, or waving her arms while running up the sidelines. Neither method proved very practical for fast pace sports calls. Another community partner, camp director Angelica Martinez from the Deaf Camp Pacifica, pointed out the occurrence of this issue in various sports beyond basketball. She suggested the use of a haptic device, which may be especially effective as deaf athletes are typically more responsive to tactile senses.
<aside> 👥 Beneficiaries - Athletes, specifically basketball players, who are deaf or hard-of-hearing - Coaches and referees
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Through the insight gathered from the deaf community our own testing, we came to the solution of alerting a deaf basketball player through a haptic vibration that is triggered by the referee’s electronic whistle. When the whistle is activated, the device will send a wireless signal causing the player’s wearable device to vibrate. This vibration can communicate specific messages like a dead ball or coach’s instructions. Preferably, it will be worn in an unobtrusive location such as the ankle.