Rhythm in your fingers
The BodyBeat is a new type of metronome: instead of having that annoying pendulum and ticker, it sends silent electronic pulses directly to your body. Beethoven would’ve loved it, and we’ll bet the Gallaudet Dance Company will be pretty interested, too.
She deafened me with science
Toshiba is introducing Dolby Volume, which automatically adjusts TV volume that’s too loud–or, presumably, too soft–to a level of the user’s preference. Also works with stereo equipment, for the listening pleasure of the ever-growing Bjork/Metallica fan base.
New patent Appleication
Apple has submitted a patent for a chat interface that appears to have capabilities for both videoconferencing and transmission of prerecorded video, both of which will be of interest to individuals with hearing impairments. To sweeten the pot, the patent also appears to have more sophisticated word prediction capabilities, which will benefit users with dexterity and cognitive disabilities.
Lynda blare
Lynda, a website with all manner of computer training videos, has started adding closed captioning to several of their vids, thereby making them usable by people with hearing disabilities. In addition, these captions will facilitate access by many folks with learning disabilities, both because they may benefit from simultaneous audio and text presentation, and because they–and everyone–can now search the video content using keywords from the captions.
Word to your search capabilities
Hitachi is creating an optical character recognition technology for use with captioned media, ostensibly to make it easier to find specific scenes. Of course, for this to work, captioning not only needs to be added more universally but also needs to meet reasonable quality standards…ooh, people with hearing and learning disabilities are going to like this.
Tech-On!: Hitachi’s New Technology Recognizes Characters in Video Subtitles
Limeys lock on lip look
Here’s another step towards automatic speechreading: a UK research lab has developed an improved algorithm for identifying fine lip movements (our favorite kind!) and making best-guesses about what’s being said. It’s like silent speech recognition. This may serve two disabled constituencies: deaf and hard of hearing people who want to communicate with speakers, and as an interface to computers and other gadgets for people who can’t use keyboards, and can’t produce reliable articulate speech.
Do you see what I’m saying?
Alltel Wireless now has a speech-to-text conversion service for voice mails; the resulting text messages can then be stored and/or forwarded. Multiple pricing plans are available to suit individual users’ needs. Let us know if you sign up; we’d love to know if the conversion is accurate or aggravate.