Video Devices Benefit the Deaf
From: San Jose Mercury News - May 8, 2003
By: John Fortt

The are strong indications that wireless Internet is taking off among the 20
million hearing-impaired Americans in the United States, rather than leaving
them behind. Sales of T-Mobile's wireless service using Danger in Motion's
SideKick text-messaging device, which allows hearing-impaired people to surf
the Web and send instant messages, are soaring. One of the device's biggest
selling points is its screen, which can show more detail than standard
cellular telephones. The chief communications method for the deaf or
hard-of-hearing, TTY, only became available for the Internet in 2002, notes
Mike Ligas of Sprint's relay service. But even more useful is Web-based video
relay, in which a hearing-impaired caller signs to an operator over a
Web-linked video camera; the operator relays the message to the hearing
person on the other end and translates that person's reply for the deaf
caller. TTY-based relay still dominates the hearing-impaired market, partly
because enabling oneself for Internet relay requires a sizeable investment in
equipment and broadband Internet access, which is still not ubiquitous. IBM
Worldwide Accessibility Center director Shon Saliga remarks, "Many companies
have taken the view that there are niche markets...often relatively small,
and the price of the product that is produced is often extremely high." He
says the key is bring such technology to the mass market; closed captioning
on TV is one such successful example. While hearing-impaired users wait for
the emergence of voice-to-text technology, two-way paging, instant messaging,
and other technologies are enabling them to participate in the communications
revolution. 

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/5813249.htm