Making Captioned Radio a Reality - Part Three

By Cheryl Heppner

Editor: Here's Cheryl's coverage of a presentation on Captioned Radio by Mike Starling. It's really pretty amazing what's going on with radio these days!

This is part three of three parts.

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Part One

Part Two

Part Three

What's Next

Our user assessment research that will begin this fall will try to evaluate the efficiency of reading and comprehension with different presentation modes, as well as consumer preferences. We'll look at the fatigue that they experience over periods of watching the captions. We'll assess captioning mode, typeface, and presentation styles.

The ideal goal is lots of flexibility for consumers to pick the presentation style that works best for them. We don't expect there to be "one size fits all" captioned radio service. Maybe there will be a one transmission standard service, but lots of flexibility for the users to control their receiver's presentation. So smart defaults and easy to find consistent menus are absolutely critical.
If it's one thing I've heard time and time again during the last two days, it's that finding how to turn on captioning and consistency and presentation is absolutely critical. So we hope to get that right. And with the proprietary technology, we may have odds that are a little better than dealing with dozens of different manufacturers trying to differentiate their products.

We will need help. Most of the testing will be done in the Washington-Baltimore area to keep costs down. But we will also be sending out supplemental questions for specific input and distribute that survey widely via the Internet as we did with the last fall's survey. So if you have an interest in providing guidance to us on these matters, we would greatly appreciate your help. And now I say thank you, and welcome any questions that you would have. This is always the best part of the presentation for me.

Questions and Answers

Q: I'm a user of Braille notepad. I'm wondering if it's similar to a pad that would be built into the radio for a blind person to hear, one who is not deaf. Somebody could use it like closed captions. Would that person be able to read it? Does it come out on a Brailling type of apparatus?

A: For visually impaired consumers, our goal is that the specialized digital radio reading services I have mentioned would simply be different information that is transmitted across a special multicast channel. You may be aware there are over 100 analog radio reading services around the country that broadcast special information to the visually impaired. We're simply making a new communication channel with the better quality of digital We hadn't thought about the intriguing application of converting captioning to Braille. But it's an interesting idea.

Q: I guess the product that you're going to come up with will have prototypes. Is there going to be someone with the financial commitment to provide seed money to make enough units of these? It may not be massive demand, though I'll be one of the first in line to buy.

A: That is the $64,000 question, as they say, because in our work with the receiver manufacturers, orders talk. We did hard work and we got very lucky with digital radio in general, but the specialized application is likely to be order dependent. So the fact that one company has said they will cheerfully build prototypes for us is encouraging. But it will take good luck and first and foremost an excellent user experience to provide the confidence level for them to commit the hundreds of thousands of dollars that it would take to get the initial quantities typical in container lots, maybe 2,000 units per container. That's about the smallest size that they will go into production with. It's a great question that we don't know the answer to, but we're reasonably confident and optimistic that there will be seed money to help stimulate the initial manufacturing activity. After that, it will really depend on user responses whether or not the manufacturers will maintain product flow.

Q: You said that the technology is included in the chip. So basically any regular manufacturer that can implement that technology is going to do HD radio, right?

A: Any licensed HD radio receiver manufacturer could provide this technology. And that is not all manufacturers, but I think there are probably about 40 different manufacturers now licensed to produce HD radio products.

Q: I was trying to make a comparison with what happened in the past where the closed captioning chip became universal. All televisions now have that captioning technology built in. Do you think that maybe one day all the radios will have that captioning built in?

A: The short answer is yes. They should all have that captioning capability and it will be included within the chipset. How many companies successfully port it to the display for our use is an open question that will take some time to answer, several years, because it is currently so much cheaper to use a small display. There will still be manufacturers squeezing pennies out of their cost that will stick with the smaller displays longer than we would like. But in general, there's substantial movement towards the larger displays because the costs are coming down. The reference receiver design by iBiquity's is actually at the heart of 80 percent of the digital radios that are being made. That display is about to take a big step larger this coming year. So we're cautiously optimistic that we will get there, but it won't necessarily be universal across all HD radio products or all radio products for many years.

Q: Didn't you say that the earliest captioned radio is more likely to show up in car radios than the smaller portable units?
A: : I think that due to their larger displays we will see that immediately in the car radios. And then the tabletop sets and others based on the reference design should follow along. But they will be somewhat smaller than what we see in the cars. So probably the very initial prototype will be with tabletops and Radiosophy equipment. But my suspicion is that the very first widespread manufacturing would be in cars, and then follow along with other products as the larger displays are incorporated. There is a tricky sequence here, and I don't necessarily have the ability to predict precisely how it will unfold.

Q: What will be the initial area for your trials?
A: It will be primarily in the Washington, D.C. area initially, first on our experimental test station at NPR and then WAMU, our American University member station, which is likely to be the first to carry regular transmissions as we fine tune the transmission protocols. 88.5 on your FM dial.

Q: Will you ask people in the area to evaluate the prototype?
A: Absolutely yes. There is no way to make this product without a long series of feedback on how these prototypes are shaping up from a consumer's standpoint. It will take us the next two years of the NIDRR grant to make substantial progress towards getting the initial deployment in the manufacturing community.

Q: How can we keep informed about this project?
A: Keep an eye on the website that tracks the NIDRR grant progress.

Comment: I remember meeting you in Las Vegas many years ago and I did speak to you. I really feel it's important to have a hand generated radio. But I want to just really wish you good luck and thank you for helping us having this access. It's really fabulous.

Response: Well, judge our success by the final product. We're all excited right now by the prospects, and energized by it. But there's so much work to be done we should keep our eye on the prize.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three