Juliet England: What to make of the new hearing aid emoji?

Love them or hate them, emojis are part of our daily lives, and an integral part of the way we express ourselves online. They even had their own Hollywood movie in 2017, albeit one received with near-universal contempt. (And apparently they’ve been around for 20 years.)

But if you thought those often annoying little yellow symbols had no link to deafness or hearing loss, it could be time to think again.

Among the dozens of new emoji designs landing on iPhone users’ keyboards imminently is one of an ear with a hearing aid. It’s part of a series of ‘disability-themed’ emojis, alongside a guide dog and a wheelchair, apparently in response to demands for stronger coverage of disabilities.

According to Apple, the new range of icons will ‘celebrate diversity in all its forms’ and ‘help fill a significant gap in the emoji keyboard.’

It will also be possible to change the skin colour of the humans featured in the new symbols.

The new designs (59 in all) will become available in their latest incarnation any time now, in the form of a free software upgrade for iPad, iPhone, Mac and Apple Watch. The thing is known collectively as Emoji 12.0, and is the second version of Apple’s iOS 13.2 beta.

Decisions on which emojis can be launched are made by the California-based Unicode Consortium, a not-for-profit organisation which Apple approached to expand its library.

There are five new categories for the fresh designs – food, clothing animals, activities and people. New animals include a sloth, orangutan, skunk and flamingo, while ballet slippers, garlic and falafel also make the cut.

Equally, perhaps issued in light of the long drawn-out Brexit saga, there’s also a yawning face. A full list is available on the Emojipedia website.

Alongside the hearing aid, there is an emblem featuring a deaf person, as symbolised by a woman or man pointing at their ear.

 

So, what do the deaf community make of the new emojis?

On the one hand, of course, anything which increases the visibility of hearing loss, something which is, of course, invisible and often forgotten, is surely a good thing.

And maybe in some small way it will help boost pride in deafness.

Emoji’s aside, I was impressed by the gripping new Channel 4 drama, The Accident, in which a character’s deafness was not remarked on, just seen for what it was, a fact of life – she is treated in no way differently because of it. Her hearing loss certainly doesn’t stop other characters becoming furious with her when they have good reason.

Debbie (played by young deaf actor Genevieve Barr), is the widow of the only adult victim of the accident of the title, and is surrounded by suspicions at her husband’s part in the disaster.

The setting is a close-knit, small Welsh community, and perhaps the villagers have come to know the character and learned how to be deaf aware over many years, knowing to tap her shoulder to get her attention, for example.

Anyway, to me, portraying a deaf character in this way is worth a million yellow computer symbols. But it would be interesting to know what others think.

Photos: Emojipedia