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A Joint PWGSC / House of Commons Innovative Partnership A Joint PWGSC / House of Commons Innovative Partnership

Presented byPresented byMichel BoissonneaultMichel Boissonneault

Manager, Visual InterpretationManager, Visual Interpretation andand Closed CaptioningClosed Captioning

Voice-Recognition-Based Closed Captioning Voice-Recognition-Based Closed Captioning to meet the needs of theto meet the needs of the

Hard of Hearing, Deafened or DeafHard of Hearing, Deafened or Deaf

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Topics

•Overview

•Outcome

•Outlook

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Facts & Figures

• 10% of Canadians experience hearing loss• 750,000 in the Province of Quebec alone• Impairment increases with age:

– 44-54 years: 4%– 55-64: 9%– 65-74: 16%– 75+: 56%Source: 2001 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey

• Dramatic increase over next 10-30 years

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It ain’t easy!

• Verb Conjugation• Gender of Words• Accented Characters• Exceptions to the Rules • Pronunciation

La joie de vivre!

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Background

• CC provided in English ONLY by stenocaptionists since 1991

• Sign Language Interpretation ONLY in LSQ

• Scarcity of French stenocaptionists a problem

• Need to find alternate solution to

provide real-time French CC

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Mission Possible

• Assess maturity of Voice Recognition Technology (VRT)

• Involve target audience in evaluation/feedback process

• Achieve highest quality standards • Introduce service in 2007

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Start to Finish

• Phase I - Fall 2005 – Developed requirements with CHHA

• Phase II - Spring to Fall 2006– Tested solution on Parliamentary Television

Network and selected CC3• Phase III - Spring 2007

– Targeted improvement areas and awarded service contract

• Phase IV - Fall 2007– Launched French Language CC on CPAC

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Technology with a Human Touch

OTTAWA OTTAWA MONTREAL ACROSS CANADA

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Performance Evaluation

• Visual Enhancement

• Placement

• Delay

• Accuracy

• IN-TEL-LI-GI-BI-LI-TY

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Visual Enhancement Tools

• 3 line roll-up above graphic key • Display of numerals: 2007, 50 000 $, 20 %, C-101• Upper & accented lower case: Monsieur le Président

• Change of speaker: >> • Incomplete sentence / omissions: [---] • Punctuation: ? ! ,• Environmental descriptors: [APPLAUDISSEMENTS],

[BRUIT], [RIRES], [VOIX DE L’INTERPRÈTE]

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Proper Placement

Les questions concernant le financement des partis politiques ne sont pas acceptables sauf s’il y a des dépenses

Le gouvernement a mis en place des systèmes afin de veiller à ce que la recherche réponde aux plus hautes normes éthiques

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Too late!

Monsieur le Président. L'économie canadienne se porte bien, cela va sans dire. Le taux de chômage est le plus bas depuis

1974. Le taux d'activité est le plus élevé dans l'histoire du Canada. Nous remboursons la dette publique

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Fine Tuned System

• Software

• Shadow Speakers

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Shadow Speaker Accuracy

Date Words Omissions Insertions Subs SS • 2008/02/05 7137 8.4% 0.4% 1.2% 90.1%

• 2008/02/12 7028 6.5% 0.4% 1.8% 91.4%

• 2008/02/26 5906 3.7% 0.4% 1.2% 94.7%

Rate of words repeated vs words spoken on the floor

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System Performance

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

2006

/09/

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2006

/10/

10

2006

/10/

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2006

/11/

07

2006

/11/

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2006

/12/

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2006

/12/

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2007

/01/

02

2007

/01/

16

2007

/01/

30

2007

/02/

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2007

/02/

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2007

/03/

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2007

/03/

27Event

Co

rrec

tnes

s %

Shadow Speaker

SW

End to End

Trend

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Does it make sense?

• Word substitution to retain same meaning

• Rewording to “get around” unrecognizable proper nouns

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Overall Intelligibility

Floor (MP or Interpreter) Shadow Speaker

Shadow speaker Software

Software Caption Text

Software Errors

= 85-88% Intelligibility Rate

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Major Challenges

• Proper nouns

–People, ridings, companies, etc.

• Homonyms

–maire (mayor)

–mère (mother)

–mer (sea) Do you c, sea, see?

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Benefits

• Less than 3 week training for shadow speakers vs 3 years for stenocaptionists

• Recruiting of Communications, Translation & Language Studies graduates

• Overnight WebBot search capability • Software training by several shadow

speakers • Easy access to shared dictionaries

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Achievements

• Provided French CC as promised • Delivered People Oriented product • Received Translation Bureau’s

2007 Innovation Award

• Created NEW Visual Interpretation and Closed Captioning Service

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OUR Commitment to YOU

• Provide ongoing quality control • Help implement quality standards with Canadian

Association of Broadcasters • Keep abreast of CC developments worldwide• Extend range of services - ParlVu, Committees • Continue to work closely with target public

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Listening to People’s Needs

“It is pathetic when a person has sight, but no vision.”

Helen Keller

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Canada’s Leadership

“The launch of the new French language closed captioning service places the House of Commons among the leaders with regard to accessibility for those with special needs.”

Michael M. Fortier

Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada

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Listen/Écoute

•

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THANK YOU !

QUESTIONS?