Ballad of the dork-o-phone: Towards a crip vocal technoscience. Issue 2 (1st October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sterne, Jonathan
• Is Part Of: Journal of interdisciplinary voice studies. Volume 4:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 179
• Page End: 189
• Publication Date: 2019-10-01
• Subjects: Voice -- Periodicals; Voice culture -- Periodicals; 808.5
• DOI: 10.1386/jivs_00004_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2057-0341

Abstract

This piece elucidates the related politics of vocal impairment and vocal prosthesis through a close analysis of the Spokeman Personal Voice Amplifier, a.k.a., the dork-o-phone. Drawing from voice theory, disability studies and phenomenology, I present an analysis of the dork-o-phone in use and challenge the boundaries between disability and impairment. In the process, I also show how vocal impairments and protheses ultimately give the lie to the idea that voices are self-sufficient and can exist without supplementation.