Remote Note-Taking Service Coming for Hearing-Impaired

The National University Corporation Tsukuba University of Technology, Softbank Mobile Corp., the non-profit Nagano Summarize Center, and Gunma University together launched the experimental introduction of a Mobile remote information assuring system for the hearing impaired on April 6, 2009. The experiments are being conducted under conditions in which the system will likely be used by organizations, such as corporations and educational institutes, with subsequent commercialization and dissemination as the goal.

The Mobile remote information assuring system enables a hearing impaired person to receive summary text of spoken information, such as a school lecture, from transcribers who input text on a computer from a remote location and then transmit the information back via mobile phone.

A conventional transcription service requires the transcriber to be physically present, while this system uses a mobile phone to transmit the speaker's voice to a transcriber in another location, who will then send typewritten text back. This allows those with a hearing impairment to receive written summary text of a lecture or presentation without having a transcriber in the same room with them. The system enhances the opportunities available for the hearing impaired to access information even in locations where an Internet connection is unavailable.

The four organizations are planning for this system to be used on the advanced mobile iPhone 3G platform of U.S.-based Apple Inc. They plan to publish a system user's manual, and offer various types of tips and information on their websites, aiming to promote the system to improve corporate information accessibility for the hearing impaired.

Softbank Mobile Corp. official website
http://www.softbankmobile.co.jp/en/index.html

Posted: 2009/08/31 06:00:15 AM

TAG Manufacturing industry , Other , University/Research institute