An Intelligent Hearing Aid

Ever been in a noisy crowded room trying to carry on a conversation? Frustrating, yes?  My own hearing is beginning to weaken just a bit. I turn on captions when watching programs on the television.

Hearing aids have been around for decades, potentially helping millions (billions) with auditory impairments. Today, this news caught my ear: a smart hearing aid. Researchers at Fortell have created an impressive device, dubbed “the world’s most intelligent hearing aid.”  Sachin and Adam discuss Fortell’s device in the video Building an AI Ear. It addresses the problem of filtering out ambient distracting noise.

This exciting new technology is a boon for children and adults alike. 

Varied types of technology provide useful tools for reading and writing, as described in Assistive Technology by Filippini and Morey.  Hearing difficulties make learning to read a challenge, because a reader must blend discrete sounds together into a whole word, as in sounding out champ as ch-a-m-p, and blending the sounds together. See Filippini’s post on Phonemes and Morphemes for everyone, including those with specific learning difficulties.

A partial solution for hearing difficulties? Yes. That’s a win! 

Ps. It is possible that hearing difficulties may be liked to dementia. Read Neurol (2025) Hearing impairment and dementia: cause, catalyst or consequence?

Vocabulary via Images — A Heyday!

post updated 1-20-2026

Halfway into the first month of the new year. Hope it’s been happy enough. As for me, I have been exploring Amadine, an art app for doodling around on my iPad, and reading e-books. (Love the George Cross mystery series by Tim Sullivan.) I rarely read a paperback anymore, as that world is fading away. For better or worse, this is the digital age.

It’s for the better as far as teaching vocabulary goes, because with the internet, pictures are more readily available than ever before, greatly expanding the teacher’s toolbox. Digital technology can greatly assist learners with special needs.  Never before has it been so easy to find the perfect picture to convey a concept and build vocabulary. It takes only seconds to search! Granted, some images in cyberspace are AI slop, but that can be interesting, too, and we can use AI-based programs to modify any image as needed for the lesson. 

As a starting point or introduction, pictures are a great word-learning resource for all students. This also applies to learning a second language (posted here by Cárdenas-Hagan). Keep in mind, pictures are not only for children. Studies with older students show that learning, memory, and attention/ interest are boosted by illustrations, with some important caveats (James & Son, 2020; Khafidhoh & Carolina, 2019). Also, for teaching many new concepts, a picture is useful but certainly not sufficient alone. Andy Biemiller has made a study of differentiating between word types and when the types are learned (2024). In recent conversation, he states “my strong suspicion is that verbally-defined word meanings require a lot more effort and instruction than perceptual/procedural/functional meanings.” (January 2026).

There are many ways to use pictures for teaching vocabulary. Learners can sort pictures, find their own illustrations to match a given prompt, generate images with Ai apps, create their own illustrations “ from scratch” in layers, or generate a picture dictionary. Create images with crayons, even! Results of a recent study suggest that drawing images that convey emotional words such as despair, relief, and frustration might promote memory of such abstract words (Tran & Fernandes, 2023). Is there a learning difference when drawing pictures by hand versus drawing on the computer, with an art program? 

This mountain goat caught my eye. I purchased this  photograph at a Big Sky art fair from a local artist (Brooke Kapalka at K3 Photography). The image is intriguing and could illustrate various concepts: A new beginning for this frolicsome fellow — maybe a happy new year. Off with the old, on with the new. It looks like the fur is about to fly. Nothing like a picture to teach concepts. One relevant word is molting, defined as shedding fur, feathers, scales, or skin.  A kind of transformation, almost a metamorphosis. Other words come to mind also: frolic, leap, gambol. More scientifically, mammal, bovidae, nanny goat, billy goat, ruminant. Chew on that.

References:

Bates, J. & Son, J. (2020). English vocabulary learning with simplified pictures. TESL-EJ, 24(3), 1-20. https://tesl-ej.org/wordpress/issues/volume24/ej95/ej95a12/ 

Biemiller, A. (2024). Word meaning types acquired before vs. after age 5: implications for education. Front. Psychol. 15:1280568. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1280568

Khafidhoh, K., & Carolina, A. (2019). Using pictures for teaching vocabulary to the junior high school students. English Language Teaching Educational Journal, 2(1), 32–38. 

Tran, S. H. N., & Fernandes, M. A. (2023). Drawing enhances memory for emotional words. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 77(4), 296–307. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000319

Word of the Year 2025

Happy New Year. Let’s Talk Definitions, Specifically “Artificial + Intelligence + Slop” 

Cambridge Dictionary defines intelligence as "the ability to learn, understand, and make judgments or have opinions that are based on reason." 

Learning is one key component of intelligence, but it is arguably the least advanced aspect compared with the ability to make judgments and form opinions.

What does artificial convey? Created by humans? Fake? Imitation? Artificial sunlight is similar to sunlight, providing some highly beneficial aspects of sunlight while simultaneously missing something essential. Artificial sunlight is as far removed from the power of the sun’s streaming beams as fool’s gold is from the real deal. 

In the context of artificial intelligence, the word artificial appears to convey a simulation of human intelligence, computer-based, non-organic, digital. Perhaps artificial should also convey a lesser sense here, a partial or reduced and limited level, despite its amazing capabilities to sort, organize, and analyze reams of data, and to learn. The prefixes near-, pseudo-, quasi-, and sub- come to mind.

And how do we define slop? This word, originally designating soft mud, and subsequently “food waste as fed to pigs” has taken on another meaning. It refers to the sheer volume of junk littering cyberspace, produced via AI-based computer programs. This includes flawed images, videos, books, blog posts, reports, graphs and charts, created with minimal human oversight. Blame the AI boom. 

Mirriam-Webster has declared slop as the 2025 Word of the Year, defining slop as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” This colloquial term has swept the cybernautic world in recent years. Read more about the Word of the Year decision at Mirriam-Webster.

Digital slop is a derisory term for the sheer volume of substandard work produced via AI, typically created for monetization purposes. Such slop clutters the web with absurdities and misinformation, making cyberspace a dangerous (or hilarious) place indeed. For example, see the shoveling scene my AI program produced. How many goofs can you find?

AI = artificial intelligence…automated intelligence… alleged intelligence…alternative intelligence

Anti-intelligence when used for slop.