The paper focuses on processes of normalization through which dis/ability is simultaneously produced in specific collectives, networks, and socio-technological systems that enable the construction of such demarcations. Our point of departure is the cochlear implant (CI), a neuroprosthetic device intended to replace and/or augment the function of the damaged inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which amplify sounds, the CI does the work of damaged hair cells in the inner ear by providing sound signals to the brain. We examine the processes of the CI's genesis as well as its specific uses by and interrelations to the different and divergent actors that the CI assembles. We argue that the technological device and the implicated normalization process mobilize complex effects in varying socio-technical arrangements. The CI is conceived as a Bboundary object^[89] or a Bquasi-object^[49, 83], i.e., a metastabilized medium of translation that coordinates social, cultural, and technological (inter)action. Although intended to transform non-hearing or hard of hearing people into competent and Bnormal^hearing subjects, the CI system reproduces the asymmetrical structures of the disability discourse [14] through its function of Bdeveloping and maintaining coherence between intersecting social worlds^ [89, 393]. Additionally, it initiates controversial discourses that have resulted in new forms of biosocial collectivities ranging from cochlear implantees with (restored) normal human hearing to (trans)human configurations who have passed through (post)human enhancement. Our approach is thus situated at the intersection of disability and media studies and tackles the particular conditions technological media configurations impose upon the (re-)production of dis/ability.

Against the backdrop of an aging world population increasingly affected by a diverse range of abilities and disabilities as well as the rise of ubiquitous computing and digital app cultures, this paper questions how mobile technologies mediate between heterogeneous environments and sensing beings. To approach the current technological manufacturing of the senses, two lines of thought are of importance: First, there is a need to critically reflect upon the concept of assistive technologies (AT) as artifacts providing tangible solutions for a specific disability. Second, the conventional distinction between user and environment requires a differentiated consideration. This contribution will first review James Gibson’s concept of “affordances” and modify this approach by introducing theories and methods of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Then, we present two case studies where we explore the relations between recent “assistive” app technologies and human sensory perception. As hearing and seeing are key in this regard, we concentrate on two specific media technologies: ReSound LINX2, a hearing aid which allows for direct connect (via Bluetooth) with iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and Camassia, an IOS app for sonic wayfinding for blind people. We emphasize the significance of dis-/abling practices for manufacturing novel forms of hearing and seeing and drawing on sources like promotional materials by manufacturers, ads, or user testimonials and reviews. Our analysis is interested in the reciprocal relationships between users and their socio-technical and media environments. By and large, this contribution will provide crucial insights into the contemporary entanglement of algorithm-driven technologies, daily practices, and sensing subjects: the production of techno-sensory arrangements.

In this paper an effort is made to describe the processes of technical stabilization of the epistemic thing cochlear implant in certain stabilized scientific environments and the way in which such stabilizations are fortified, discoursified and medially produced. Such technical stabilizations can only be accomplished by rigorously excluding attributes of the social. However, the cochlear implant is born out of the need to enable participation in “normal” social life and is thus a thoroughly social actor attributed with certain social attachments. With the translation into patient networks, the technical object cochlear implant is re-inscribed with attributes of the social and is thus subject to destabilization, remediatization and re-socialization again. Being transferred from the stabilized context of biological and medical science, the discourses of the cochlear implant are accumulated with elements of ethical or judicial discourses in which social issues are in the foreground. This will be illustrated by analyzing certain scientific viscourses and images which are used as illustrations for the successful communication between implanted children and their parents in practical guides for parents with deaf children.

Audio games highlight audio as the major narrative, ludic, and interactive element in the process of gaming. These games enroll the players in the process of gaming and distribute agency by translating auditive cues into interactive “pings” and provide a potential for an auditory virtual space. Designed for either blind persons or as “learning software” for hard-of-hearing people, audio games dismiss graphical elements by using the auditory ludic elements and foreground auditory perception as a main condition for playing the game. Spöhrer demonstrates this by using the example of 3D Snake, which needs to be played with headphones or surround speakers. The game uses verbal instructions and different sound effects to produce an auditory image of a snake that can be moved with the computer keyboard. In this auditory environment, the relation of both human and non-human elements (e.g., controller devices, the arrangement of speakers, cultural practices of gaming, aesthetic devices, and software configurations) produce and translate a specific mode of auditory perception.

This paper explores the possibilities of ANT as an approach to Production Studies. On the basis of a detailed production log written by producer Paul Lazarus, the coming-into-being of the film Barbarosa (1982) is described. By using ANT, the assemblies of the film production, the hybrid networks and interconnections, which are established by human and non-human actors alike, are dealt with. Production is not a one sided process of inscriptions by humans on non-human actors. Rather, it needs to be understood as a reciprocal process of inscribing and acting. Finally, the “effects” are discussed which are produced by approaching film with ANT and conclusions are drawn as to how the theoretical scope of Production Studies needs to be modified: Films can be understood as “epistemic things” that are produced and produce themselves in reciprocal processes. They translate themselves into other networks after postproduction and are thus constantly subject to translational processes and not endlessly stable.