SAN ANTONIO – Podcasts have increased in popularity over the last several years. But, they have limitations for members of the deaf and hard of hearing community.
“Everybody was coming at me, ‘Have you heard this podcast?” Gallaudet University student Leigh Ann Cowan said. “’Have you heard this podcast? You should listen to this.' And I’m like, ‘I physically cannot.’ Like the most I can hear on a good day is vowels and that’s with hearing aids.”
Podcasts are solely an audio-based entertainment platform. They’re easy to use for most; but not for the deaf and hard of hearing.
That’s what inspired four graduate students at St. Mary’s University to start their own version of a podcast.
It’s called, “the Modcast.”
“We were talking about modified podcast,” St. Mary’s graduate student Carrie Villarreal said. “We also wanted to do mini podcasts because we wanted these to be bite-size.”
“And so, we came up with a modified mini-podcast, which is 'the Modcast,” Villarreal said.
The Modcast episodes are focused mainly on English literature and language, topics familiar to these English majors.
The thing that makes their podcast more accessible is each episode comes with a transcript to help those hard of hearing follow along and so deaf listeners can still enjoy the conversations.
The four Modcast founders also manage a website with book recommendations and blog posts from site creators and guests.
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the hot topics being discussed in the Modcast.
“We have asked a lot of people, teachers, that sort of thing,” St. Mary’s graduate student Lane Riggs said. “So, during lockdown, what kept them busy? If they took up new hobbies.”
The Modcast is going strong and so far, the reaction has been positive.
“I would say its been pretty successful with my deaf community,” Cowan said. “[With] people that I socialize with.”
Modcast founders said they’re adding new material all the time.
And, they’re looking forward to making their site even better for the deaf and hard of hearing community.
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