Expanding Access Through Captioned Radio - Part One

Presented by Stephen Foster

Steven Foster is the Founder and CEO of iMAT (iMobile Access Technologies), which focuses on providing media access to populations that are currently excluded.

This is part one of two parts.

For more coverage of this great convention, please point your browser to http://www.hearinglossweb.com/res/hlorg/alda/cn/2006/2006.htm

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I'd like to start by talking a bit about what we're doing, and then open the discussion so I can hear your ideas about how we can improve captioned radio.

Let's start by talking about Terrestrial Radio, which is standard AM and FM radio. Related technologies are things like CD players, tape players, etc.

Newer technologies include things like iPods, Internet Radio, Podcasting, and Satellite Radio. Apple has sold over 200 million iPods in the last four years. They use a format called MP3, which is downloadable from the Internet.

We also have streaming Internet radio, which is basically broadcast radio on the Internet. Podcasting is the ability to download entire programs and play them back when it's convenient for you.

There are two main players in the Satellite Radio world - XM and Sirius.

But despite the fact that radio is the largest entertainment medium, it remains inaccessible to people with hearing loss. Among the things on radio are talk programs, sports broadcasting, news, live weather, music, etc. Perhaps most important are emergency broadcasts. But note also that things like live traffic reports can save you a lot of time by telling you what roads to avoid.

IMAT (iMobile Access Technologies) is a company dedicated to bringing new audiences to media. About eighty percent of the population receive media broadcast (radio and television) with no problem. The other twenty percent, including people with hearing loss, people with vision loss, people with limited English skills, etc., have difficulty receiving one or more types of media.

For people with hearing loss, we are developing a technology called captioned radio. Our initial concept is a receiver about the size of an iPod. It receives traditional radio programming that includes captions that are synchronized with audio in real-time. Our system includes an eyepiece, similar to a military heads-up display, onto which captions are projected. This system provides for a portable, personal, and real-time radio that is accessible to people with hearing loss.

We consider this personal, because each person controls his own access. It's not like Rear Window captioning, with which a user has to check out a device to access the information.

Note that we are not a voice recognition company, but we access a captioning stream that will be broadcast with the audio programming.

Suppose you're stuck in traffic. It would be great to have access to the traffic report.

Accessibility design is very important. We'll be working with industrial design folks, of course, but we are also very interested in input from users. We currently have several designs that we are considering. We have some prototypes that include opaque screens, which means that we can block a small part of the visual field. With transparent screens we can use more of the visual field, because you can see through the display.

Content is the real crux of the issue. There are lots of companies that provide radio content, and the question we're trying to answer is what content members of the hearing loss community want.

I was talking to one of the industry leaders, and I explained that I represent the hearing loss market. He said that he wasn't really interested in that market, because most people with hearing loss are over 65, and that's not the important consumer segment. So one of the things we need to do is educate these folks that there are a lot of people with hearing loss who are in the prime demographic - 18 to 55. In the top 25 radio markets, there are over 14 million people with hearing loss in that age group.

So I'm hoping you can tell me what you want for content.

Keep in mind that radio is a non-mandated market. That means that radio providers do not have to provide captioning. That means that our first market will be early adapters, and they must be willing to pay to get the service they want. It's very similar to the satellite radio market. People pay $15 or so for access to about a hundred stations. I have talked to several small organizations that are interested in this project, and are willing to provide beta testing.

We have developed early prototypes that are based on the concepts we showed earlier.

We are looking at two different markets. The first is with the iMAT radio receiver. That has some advantages over other systems.

The alternate route is a plug and play model. That involves putting captions on existing wireless devices. The downside, of course, is that there may not be wireless service in emergency situations. Note that in national emergencies, the last communications system working is generally radio.

We're looking at the CapTel model, because we see a lot of similarities between that and our product. One of the issues is coverage. That's one of the advantages of using radio frequencies. That frequency penetrates much better than the frequencies used in wireless technologies.

One concept is a national hearing loss radio channel. Can you imagine having your own national radio channel that is focused on hearing loss issues?

Another concept is mobile television. I'm sure you've seen the video iPods.