+1. Accessibility is in huge demand right now and setting up a consultancy could be very interesting for you as you get to see issues and patterns across companies. Most, if not all, Fortune 500 companies are interested accessibility.
+1 again but it's not just the Fortune 500. My employer (15 employees) hired a blind technology consultant when we were designing a kiosk for a major US Airport. We invited a blind user from a local non-profit advocacy group to come try our product and talk to us about our choices of tactile controls, audio feedback cues, etc... From that one engagement, we received immensely valuable insight into the average blind user's fears and expectations when it comes to dealing with kiosks in public. There's a definite need for expertise in this space.
In my experience it is not one or the other. You can experiment first and then document, or vice versa. The point of documentation is "writing is thinking". The act of writing forces you to think through your ideas in ways that other modes of thinking do not. This is especially important when you are working on a team and need to share your ideas.
I agree that sufficiently detailed design documents are indispensable from code and should be avoided. However, clearly documenting the why, what and how of your work helps align everyone clearly. It also helps an individual clarify their ideas to themselves. It is hard to write clearly & succinctly. It takes time & practice, but I find it essential.
Whilst Pet Sounds was the response to Beatles Rubber Soul. Brian was obsessed with Rubber Soul, that's why he went into this crazy project at all. He hired the very best studio musicians, the Wrecking Crew and worked on it for a year. His band was not able to play it live.
This. A big problem with office work is office cube design. I'm old enough to have had a closed door office in the 90s and it was the best. I also worked in large cubes which had moveable partitions as walls where you couldn't see your neighbours. They were also good, not great, but better than today's cubes. They even had large book shelves where you could keep your reference books!
At home, I can close my door and it is much superior for my personal productivity than an open office cube plan.
That is amazing, thank you for sharing. Given you had experienced sound before your hearing deteriorated, is it possible to describe the difference in sound with a cochlear implant? I always thought with the limited number of electrodes in an implant, the sound would be "buzzy" (less rich), but the brain is quite malleable and maybe adapts to the new sounds.
Yes, "buzzy" or "tinny" is a good way to describe the sound I have in my implant ear. But I don't usually notice it with my other ear which has almost normal hearing up to 1500 Hz.
Definitely agree that the brain is quite malleable. I think it was an unexpected result at just how malleable the brain is in adult implant recipients.
FWIW I participated in a post-op research study and IIRC was told that more electrodes wouldn't necessarily improve the quality of the sound. I think what's much more important is the algorithms in the over-the-ear processor. (I have the Nucleus 7: https://www.cochlear.com/au/en/home/products-and-accessories...)
