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1.  

   

   dorpus, May 24th, 2004 @ 6:38am

   
   

   What if hearing loses much of its appeal?

   The population in the USA and other developed countries is growing older. As people grow older, they lose their sense of hearing, and also become less interested in music. Short of unexpected breakthroughs in stem-cell technology to regrow ear cilia in old people, deafness will become a major issue in coming decades, and therefore a major aspect of our culture.
   
   

    

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2.  

   

   data64, May 24th, 2004 @ 8:08am

   
   

   Not sure I believe this

   Given the number of people you seeing yapping away on their mobile phones all the time, I find it very difficult to believe voice communications are going away any time soon. Also, since a number of people seem to be willing to endanger their lives and those around them by talking on the cell phone while driving, it makes me think Voice is still king, for a while atleast.

    

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3.  

   

   Andy Abramson, May 24th, 2004 @ 8:28am

   
   

   Re: Not sure I believe this either

   Voice remains one of the most effective means of communicating in real time. Unless you are a super fast typist, chatting is not as effective. Nor is inflection, tone or humour easily communicated by texting, chatting or email. Secondly, mobile phones, landlines, IP telephony all now can interconnect with one another, making the world a smaller place. While I'll admit that in technology, especially programming, text is a preferable way to communicate, the world is not run by programmers. It is run by diplomats and executives who need interaction, feedback and verbal assurances that later can be reduced to writing. The growth of VoIP in the USA is only beginning. Services like Vonage and AT&T's CallVantage are providing PSTN like service, with high quality and features that further enhance voice communications. I've been using the AT&T call conference aspect of CallVantage since I started using the service last month. It has been a huge cost savings. In November, when I went to London and Paris I took my Vonage ATA and a Wireless Router with me. Working from broadband enabled hotel rooms in both London and Paris I had my USA phone number ringing there. When I left the room, the follow me aspects of the Vonage service, which is also offered now by CallVantage, let me point the phone number to either a UK or France Cell phone number. Sure, I could have used my USA cell phone number, and paid $.99 cents a minute. Instead I paid nothing when the calls came to the hotel room, as the USA phone number was ringing, and less than $.38 cents a minute to terminate to the UK or French cell. What's more, my calls to friends and business associates in the UK or France from the Vonage line were under five cents a minute. Voice over IP services provide more than just talk in benefits, but unless one experiences the power of providers like AT&T, Vonage or even iConnectHere, a service I used over my laptop, which allowed me to make calls to PSTN numbers, one really doesn't know how great it can be.

    

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