A Laser Show Device Works in an Open Space for Hearing-Impaired Students

The paper proposes a new pointing device for education of hearing-impaired students. The device: Big Fat Wand (BFW) is developed from a conventional laser show device, however, is modified to a small enough one to be used at out-of classroom lectures. BFW is connected to a laptop PC, which provides character, symbol images, and/or animations with the device through a conventional one board microcomputer. This paper describes the educational objectives, basic principles, and preliminary experimental results of BFW. We conclude that BFW is a good gear to improve the methodology to educate and educate hearing-impaired students.