Technology assures deaf medical student learns surgery at UC Davis

This video was shared in 2011 and it tells the story of Amanda Mooneyham, a deaf medical student at the UC Davis School of Medicine:



Amanda Mooneyham has a 90 decibel hearing loss in both ears, which is considered profound. She can read lips and, with the help of hearing aids, can hear speech as long as the words are spoken clearly and in her direction. In a hospital operating room, where physicians are more apt to mumble than use complete sentences and where everyone wears masks and directs their attention toward the patient, Mooneyham faced a frustrating — if not entirely ineffective — surgical learning experience.

Using tablet technology to link the sounds in the operating room to an off-site medical transcriptionist, Mooneyham is able to "listen" — in real time — to every word uttered by the surgeon performing the operation.