From: empower@smart.net
Subject: Presentation of latest research on Talking Signs technology
Did the participant need (request) assistance in knowing when
the walk phase began?
  * Talking Signs 0%
  * No Talking Signs 24%
Did the participant need assistance in safely completing the
crossing (either participant's request, or at the initiative of
the experimenter when participant was endangered)?
  * Talking Signs 3%
  * No Talking Signs 19%
Knowledge: Did the participant know the general shape of the
intersection (plus, T, or irregular)?
  * Talking Signs 86%
  * No Talking Signs 46%
Did the participant know the nature of traffic control at the
intersection? (traffic light, stop sign, or uncontrolled)?
  * Talking Signs 84%
  * No Talking Signs 50%
Results show that Talking Signs at intersections significantly
improved safety, precision, and independence in street crossing,
as well as knowledge of intersections, for good, frequent,
independent blind travelers, using a long cane or dog guide,
including those with hearing loss. Talking Signs also resulted
in improved street crossing for persons who considered
themselves relatively poor travelers, and who did not normally
travel in unfamiliar areas.
Automated Teller Machines and Fare Machines:
Location and effective use of ATMs and other public terminals
(vending machines with displays, kiosks, hi-tech public
telephones, and ticket and fare machines) is a significant and
rapidly increasing problem for those with visual impairments. An
ATM which cannot be located is not an accessible ATM. Perhaps 7%
to 14% of all legally blind people read Braille. Of this group
who do read Braille, many do not read Grade II Braille, the
abbreviated form of Braille specified by the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA). Therefore, in this application the
number of actual customers helped by a Braille instructions are
very small. Even if the majority of blind or print handicapped
persons did use Braille, the instructions for any transaction
are, in our opinion, to complex to memorize and therefore must
be read while on the street at the ATM. Without feedback from
the display, users have no indication as to whether the ATM has
accepted the PIN code as being proper. Similarly, there is no
indication that subsequent entries are operating under the
desired menus (i.e.. are the key presses and expected responses
synchronized?) If the withdrawal amount exceeds the account
balance, the user has no indication as to the error that has
occurred. If the ATM cannot issue "a transaction record" at that
particular time and requires a response in order to proceed or
abort, the user is left to wonder what went wrong and where he
or she is in the sequence. Long, silent pauses during
transaction processing leave the customer guessing as to what
went wrong. Operating the machine in this "open-loop mode" is
similar to asking a blind person to drive a car from Point A to
Point B based upon a list of performed instructions. In summary,
an interactive machine cannot be operated by a set of rote
instructions. Furthermore, it is pointless to provide the
instructions in a code understood by perhaps only 7% to 14% of
the target market.
Therefore, access to these terminals includes: 1) finding them,
and, once they are found, 2) reading the printed information on
the screens as well as 3) rapidly identifying the location and
functions of the various controls; again, normally accomplished
with labels.
We feel our prototype Talking Signs solution to accessing ATMs
accomplishes the goals stated above: The first is to simply
indicate the existence of and location of the teller machine.
This function is provided by a moderately high output emitter
above the ATM which is aimed in the approaching directions.
The second provides a spoken equivalent of the information
appearing on the ATM display. This allows the transaction to
occur in the "interactive mode" -- the mode in which the machine
was designed to operate. This information is provided by a
moderate output emitter which is received whenever the user
approached the front of the ATM.
The third provides clear labeling of the physical features of
the machine such as "card slot," "deposit slot," "receipt
dispenser," and "cash >dispenser" -- features with which the
visually-impaired customer must interact. Because infrared light
transmission is highly directional, each component of the teller
machine is labeled with a low output infrared emitter to
identify that component. The customer "scans" the face of the
teller machine with the receiver to locate the appropriate slot
to accomplish that phase of the transaction.
Acknowledgments:
This report was developed with assistance from The
Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute's Rehabilitation
Engineering Research Center, the Federal Transit Administration,
Project ACTION of the National Easter Seal Society, the National
Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research and the City
of San Francisco Department of Public Works.
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