The Story of Vojtěch with Hearing Impairment ****************************************************************************************** * Vojtěch Srdečný: The Future Belongs to Hearing Aids ****************************************************************************************** He loves gadgets, enjoys solving problems, and believes that one day everyone will wear he Vojtěch Srdečný has needed them since childhood—he was born with a hearing impairment. Tha student at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University, he focused on imp that convert spoken language into written form. “I try to live up to my surname,” says the shy but charming young man with a smile at the meeting. Srdečný means “kind” or “cordial” in Czech. True, at first he seemed a bit reserv wouldn’t be when a photographer forces them into awkward poses and expressions, or insists public toilets or against corrugated metal? Once everything settled, Vojta opened up. He w 95% hearing loss in both ears. Fortunately, the disability was detected early, so he has u since a very young age. Thanks to them—and especially to regular speech exercises with his no major difficulties integrating into social groups, whether in kindergarten, elementary school. As for academic accommodations, he only needed slight adjustments in grammar schoo front row, usually an unpopular spot. Today, he doesn’t dwell on his disability; he says h and lives with it: “I don’t stress about it—I can’t change it,” he comments optimistically Once everything had settled, Vojta opened up. He was born with a 95% hearing loss in both Fortunately, the condition was detected early, so he has worn hearing aids since he was ve Thanks to them—and especially to regular speech exercises with his parents—he had no major integrating into social groups, whether in kindergarten, elementary school, or high school accommodations, he only needed minor adjustments in grammar school: sitting in the front r unpopular spot. Today, he doesn’t dwell on his condition; he says he has accepted it and l don’t stress about it—I can’t change it,” he comments optimistically. According to this student from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, modern hearing aids benefits: “They’re controlled by microprocessors, which allow them to connect to other aud Without disturbing anyone, I can watch videos or make phone calls from my mobile,” he expl He even shares his vision of the future: “I imagine that in 20 or 30 years, we’ll all be u aids. There will be wireless sound transmission from phones, noise reduction, voice amplif more features. Time will tell if I’m right.” Currently, Vojtěch is in his first year of a master’s program in Informatics and Software Charles University. He jokingly calls himself a “mild dilettante”—though he’s not formally computational linguistics, that’s where his interests lie. During his bachelor’s degree, h services of the Carolina Centre [ URL "https://centrumcarolina.cuni.cz/CAENG-105.html"] (w students with special needs at Charles University) to get lecture transcripts in written f he launched his own initiative: automated captioning of recorded lectures. How does it work? Imagine taking a film or audio recording, inputting it into a computer, moments it generates a transcript in text form. Thanks to Vojta, subtitles from Newton Tec now available for many recorded lectures—and they’re not just used by students with hearin There is a catch, though: lectures are often filled with thousands of abbreviations, formu terms, and other “tricky” elements. Standard systems don’t recognize them; they’re trained Czech. As a result, transcription errors are common. That’s why Vojta dedicated his bachel exploring how to teach speech recognition and machine translation systems to “understand” expressions. “In practice, this means feeding the systems with massive amounts of data. Fo articles filled with commonly used terms and phrases. But that vocabulary isn’t enough for lectures. So I explored how to teach the systems new, domain-specific terms,” he explains, “humanized” summary of his thesis. Vojta continues working on this topic through the ELITR project [ URL "https://elitr.eu/"] Translator), which focuses mainly on speech recognition and machine translation into multi plans to keep contributing to the project during his master’s studies. Like many other students with hearing impairments, Vojta appreciated online learning durin “I didn’t have to sit in a crowded lecture hall and try to focus on the lecturer. Lip-read conditions isn’t easy—intense concentration tires you out very quickly. And trying to unde on top of that! If I got lost during the lecture, I might as well go home,” he says. But the online format allowed him to access recorded lectures anytime. If he didn’t unders he could simply replay it—over and over, as needed. You’ll likely never see Vojta without even on vacation. Which makes sense, since programming is his passion. He especially enjoy world problems. That’s why he spends much of his free time debugging and improving the afo speech-to-text system. When he needs to relax, instead of heading into nature, he retreats den,” where he enjoys playing board and card games. “You don’t know Magic: The Gathering [ magic.wizards.com/en"] ?” he asks in surprise. He was also helping solve real-world proble the pandemic. As part of the Food Not Bombs [ URL "https://foodnotbombs.net/new_site/"] (F he and other volunteers distributed unsellable supermarket food to people in need. “Unfort current pandemic restrictions no longer allow us to continue… It’s too difficult to meet a requirements,” Vojta comments. Author: Marcela Uhlíková [ URL "https://www.ukforum.cz/marcela-uhlikova"] Photo: Vladimír Source: https://www.ukforum.cz/rubriky/studenti/8102-vojtech-srdecny-budoucnost-patri-sluc "https://www.ukforum.cz/rubriky/studenti/8102-vojtech-srdecny-budoucnost-patri-sluchadlum"