Discussion: Deaf Orienteerers - vs - SI-Unit Red Indicators

Some of the deaf orienteerers and myself are profoundly deaf that unable to hear the sound of beep when epunching the SI-unit. Of course, we always look at the SI-unit red indicator while epunching to make sure it receive to the dibber. Several of us were frustrating with some of SI-unit control number label that cover the indicators. We had to put the dibber in unit longer to make sure its receive. It may be frustrating for hearing orienteerers also if they were right behind the deaf o'ers while put the dibber in SI-unit too long. It would be kindly to put the control number label properly place away from the red indicators.

An excellent suggestion.. We (MNOC) are going to be working with a school for the deaf soon and we'd like to know any other small things like this that will make a big difference for deaf orienteers.

Hi Ian, I do remember you at Laramie Daze last month. Let you know that we, USA Deaf Orienteering team, developing our webpage. Right now, it is under construction but you may browsing it. The URL is www.usadeaforienteering.com.

I am deaf enough that I can't hear the beep. This past weekend the control number label covered the indicator on several SI-units. I put the SI-card in, didn't hear anything, didn't see anything, then left. I then found myself worrying that maybe it didn't register and I was mentally composing my protest in case I was disqualified. :-)

There is no way a control number should cover the indicator, this is a major mistake on the makers part, as from what I understand SI units will always flash but the beep is not guaranteed. I for one always look for the indicator (but I have never seen the problem of a cover over it) as in a situation where there is a spectator control, you can not always hear the beep.

I agree the beep seems to be absent or very quiet in a small proportion of cases. Unfortunately many normally-hearing runners have come to rely on the beep, and when it's not there it takes a significant time to interrupt pace and repunch. There was a quiet control next to the grandstand at the Oz Sprint Champs and the hesitations were noticeable to spectators. Is this a design fault or a battery problem?

i guess its a battery issue. an LED consumes only a very small amount of energy, while the energy consumption of an accustic beeper is orders of magnitude larger. so if the battery is low, there is not enough power for the beeper, but the LED is still working.
anyway, this is just a sophisticated guess, I don't know exactly how it works.