Abstract:
This selective use of language media by the hearing impaired in contemporary Japanese society was investigated. The data used in this study were collected from a survey conducted by mailing questionnaires to 1700 profoundly deaf males and females, aged from 20--70, in 1991. Responses to the items regarding the significance of the language media such as oral and manual methods, and conversation by writing were analyzed, with regard to the difference between the responses of both genders. The following results were obtained: (1) According to the category of people with whom they communicated, the rate of use and the rate of effectiveness of each medium were characteristically different; (2) according to the different occasions of the use of language in daily life, use of the language media and their efficiency differed significantly; (3) assistance from sign interpreters and accompanying persons was useful, depending on the occasion; (4) younger subjects showed higher ability in the use of language media than older subjects; (5) females showed higher ability in lip reading; and (6) one-third of the subjects used only one or two of the language media for all the categories of people and occasions.