[xOakley]

Not sure what section to post this in but I need to modify some gear and this seems like the place to post.

Recently my friend who is deaf has been coming up to the field and playing some woodsball. He actually dose surprisingly well and has a lot of raw talent. He's itching to let lose, shoot a ton of paint, and do some bunkering. So my team has been discussing how can we get him on the airball field when a huge part of the game play has to do with communication?

We came up with the idea of mounting a LED or some light in his mask that's hooked up to some sort of wireless receiver. Then we have some transmitter that we can press a button and the light will light up to get his attention.

We have a bunch of hand signals worked out and a dedicated group of guys who will put in the time to learn them. All we need now is a way to get his attention.

So my question is, how do I go about making this light up device? I'm not to sure where to start. I'm willing to spend a little money to help give him the chance to play airball.

Thank you in advance for any input!

[wiswarsniper]

this sounds like the cheap and crappy route, but just get the cheap toy walkie talkies and wire up an LED to where the speaker should be. That way when you key it, itll light up.

or throw pods... gently of course

[basementN3k0]

there's a team that played EPL this year, and they're all hearing impared. they did pretty well for 3man. none of them used any comms or anything like that.

[pball72008]

I've seen teams at psp back in the day the coaches would hold up signs saying "d1" "s1" etc. That could be an option but he'd have to look at the side lines a lot.

[pball72008]

Also try the new player help section. Someone there might know something.

[ArchAngelIon]

[pball72008]

Isn't there a deaf paintball team actaully?

Edit: Found it

[xOakley]

Thanks for the input guys! I didn't realize that there was a pro deaf player. I showed him the video so he knows that it's possible to be out on the field.

As for the walkie talkies, this is the idea that we first came up with too. That's what led me to think there has to be something out there that is more compact then the walkie talkies. So I reached out to yall!

[Jedihippie]

laser pointer... as long as you can point it at the bunker where he can see it... and he doesnt start running around the field like a cat chasing it

[teamcaution1234]

my brother is deaf and paintballs. he doesnt have a problem because I usually just sign to him. when my brother swam in highschool, we made this light that flashed to tell him when to go. so you could make something like that and have it flash off the break to let him know where to go. but as for signs go, you would have to make those up with him. or you could have someone stand on the side lines holding up signs just like pball72008 said. hope this helps.

thanks.

[tvise]

Originally Posted by xOakley

Not sure what section to post this in but I need to modify some gear and this seems like the place to post.

Recently my friend who is deaf has been coming up to the field and playing some woodsball. He actually dose surprisingly well and has a lot of raw talent. He's itching to let lose, shoot a ton of paint, and do some bunkering. So my team has been discussing how can we get him on the airball field when a huge part of the game play has to do with communication?

We came up with the idea of mounting a LED or some light in his mask that's hooked up to some sort of wireless receiver. Then we have some transmitter that we can press a button and the light will light up to get his attention.

We have a bunch of hand signals worked out and a dedicated group of guys who will put in the time to learn them. All we need now is a way to get his attention.

So my question is, how do I go about making this light up device? I'm not to sure where to start. I'm willing to spend a little money to help give him the chance to play airball.

Thank you in advance for any input!

How deaf is your friend?

Most people that are deaf can still hear...

My point being is maybe you could have very loud headphones or something like this...

Just a thought

[Jedihippie]

if you get a small enough battery for somethings like this:

http://www.focalprice.com/ERT81B/Hig...Q#.UKqBpOTAcok

you could use something like that but with a smaller led light, lol

[Damonwill]

Hey, Email or PM me directly and I will help you build what you need or build it myself for you guys... No problem making it happen...

Damon

[Jtown_Hero]

i can prolly wire up a board with a couple leds for him, let me know the mask he uses and i can mod it to the mask. kinda like the eye exam things in the driver test. right light flash left light flash etc. you could also go to a hobby store that does rc cars and get a chip for a certain uncommon used frequencies so he doesnt get interference. shouldnt be hard at all.

[ShotS]

Originally Posted by ArchAngelIon

I was just about to post this video, lol.

[xXBloodLustACXx]

Originally Posted by Damonwill

Hey, Email or PM me directly and I will help you build what you need or build it myself for you guys... No problem making it happen...

Damon

Let this guy help you out. He seriously knows what he's doing.

Another idea I can think of is to use a piezo buzzer (found in your cell phone and video game controllers for vibration) to get his attention. Have a little receiver hooked up to a battery and a buzzer and have him keep it in his pocket.

If you insist on building this yourself then you'll want to check sparkfun.com for parts. You just need a simple wireless transmitter which can send an "on" signal to a receiver which will close an electronic switch and cause the buzzer to vibrate for a desired amount of time. I could help you in theory but Damon can surely make it reality.

[nv38baller]

where does he play back front or middle? if hes in the back it might be best just to sign with him since the front and mid players will be up in the midst of things and might not have much choice when it comes to pressing buttons for lights. if hes mid or front that Damon has a very good idea with helping mod some lights in a mask. this is just my opinion but i would almost think the team would need to get a lot of practice in for a little while when he first comes on the team, and that the team would almost need to be some what based around him and how he plays. otherwise there might be some communication problems that might accure here and there that might lose a player or so in the game, just like every team has some here and there that costs them a game or so. But basing them team on him (and i dont mean solely on him) would be a great advantage over most other teams. thats just my opinion though and it might not be the best thing to do lol. hope it brings some good ideas and helps though.

[Xp1ozion]

The LED idea seems pretty darn good.

Maybe have 3 LED's mounted in the mask, each representing a direction (Left, Front, Right) so that he won't actually have to turn around to see what you're talking about.

Just my 2 cents


EDIT: If money isn't an object, and someone is able to program, this could be a great option:
http://www.reconinstruments.com/prod...ads-up-display

[cpt_crunch]

Originally Posted by wiswarsniper

this sounds like the cheap and crappy route, but just get the cheap toy walkie talkies and wire up an LED to where the speaker should be. That way when you key it, itll light up.

Best idea I've heard. Take the walkie talkie apart. unsolder the speaker, solder on an led. take it out of the crap, plastic housing and install it in his mask. do the same for your walkie talkie and install it somewhere reachable and convenient

[xOakley]

Sorry it's taken me a while respond back to this thread. I will be pming some of you very shortly. Thank you for all the support and responses!

We got him out on the field the other weekend and he did great! It is defiantly something he will be wanting to peruse! It was awesome the amount of help people offered after we explained his situation out on the field.

To clear up some questions he is 100% deaf. When he was born he had most of it but it slowly degraded until he was 20 and lost it all. So he can read lips like a champ and talks 100% normally. When you talk to him most of the time its like having a normal conversation, you couldn't even tell he was deaf.

The walkie talkie idea is what we originally came up with but we would like something more compact. Also all of our awesome friends would just find out what channel were on and mess with it.


Oh ya and just on another note, were not trying to make the next pro team or make him into a pro player. Just trying to get our friend out on the speed ball field for some fast paced fun! Being able to have him play with us in a tourney would be an awesome accomplishment for him personally. We could careless if we lost every point!!

[Rancid1845]

Seems like a worthwhile cause. This will be getting some thought.