July 2012Gloucestershire Deaf Association and Deaf

Studies TrustSupported by University of Bristol Centre for Deaf

Studies

It is very simpleTake the 2.5 million (or so) users of voice phones

(mobile and fixed line) in the area and connect them to all the people who have difficulty in hearing

Introduce all the Deaf and hard of hearing people to a new form of video telecommunications which allows them to speak, lip-read, read/write the text and see the other person during the call

Remove the cost barriers to use, so that the development will be truly enabling

And THEN we have a truly equitable society

The Pilot ProjectREACH112 (Responding to all citizens needing help)

a three-year project part funded by the European Commission under the ICT PSP CIP programme. 22 partners from all over Europe, including user organisations and major global telecommunications companies – Vodafone (Spain), Siemens, France Telecom, Nokia.Large scale: €8.8m UK component: €2.4m

Now myFriend Network is taking this forward.

www.reach112.eu

In a nutshellover 1700 home or personal installations of TC and

around 400 RTT TC installationssupplied equipment or free downloads to PC, laptop,

netbook or Android SmartphoneTC relay service – free to users during the project triala new telephone system installations of TC in contact centres for direct calling interface to textphones & text relay & 999no 3G mobile services? - reverts to text

communicationfeedback by calling 55117788 or by email to

support@myfriendcentral.com training for relay agents – sign language interpreters,

lip-speakers and speech to text operatorsEvaluation and business plan

What it looks like

Total Conversation Infrastructure

Total Conversation is inEmergency services – Gloucester Tri-Service,

Avon & Somerset Police, Avon Fire & RescueBlaenau Gwent Contact CentreBridgend Council – walk in serviceNeath one-stop shopSoonWelsh Ambulance – through ABM Health

Trust and Audiology (Bridgend)Welsh Blood Service

website for download – www.myfriendcentral.com

Sign language explanation

Calendar for relay availability

Feature list for software

What REACH112 delivered in the five pilots in Europe in 12 months

Nearly 7,500 registered end usersover 970,000 Total Conversation calls over 124,000 relay calls were made that is, more than 100,000 hearing people were

impacted as well as Deaf and hard of hearing people

Significant progress was made in access to emergency – in training, in awareness, in protocols – over 70 real calls processed

Voices

I phoned the doctor to make an appointment and the surgery had to call me back. Before TC I wasn’t able to make an appointment via the telephone but was able to call them directly, receive a call-back and book an appointment for the same afternoon. With TC the barriers to communication were gone.

A Deaf man visited a friend at the Hospice who was dying of cancer. He brought his smart phone and connected with a friend who lived far away. His dying friend was very pleased to see her friend on the video screen and communicated in sign language. It may be the last time for them to see each other. This Deaf man was moved to tears.

When I was at the leisure centre with my children, I received a video call from a friend. We instantly communicated using sign language on a face-to-face basis. It was amazing as I felt very equal with hearing people who speaks naturally on their mobile phones. Other hearing people who were with me were amazed and really thought it was innovative.

Case Studies

Sven got a TC device for home use and one for his hearing sister and her family. He bought a TC license for his parents. Sven uses voice with his family, has sign from his mother & sister but lipreads his father. Sven used textphone in the past – OK, but TC gave the extra dimension facial expressions & sign language

Cases – not all easy

Mary has a severe hearing loss and a sight problem. She also is a slow learner. After trying a videophone, we gave her a larger screen laptop. Never having had a computer, she did not understand how the mouse moves a pointer on screen. She called friends but was upset that they did not call her back. When introduced to the relay service, she could not follow what was going on. It became clear that she was not actually understanding the signing but trying to lip-read and to speak to the interpreter.

No breakthrough yet.

Relay Service Models in use

Models are reversible – ie hearing voice caller to Deaf end-user – the greater impact is the number of hearing people contacted through relay – 5 times the number of active Deaf users

Relay agents can see/manage all incoming calls24 hour service – defaulting to text relay

(a) when out of reach of 3G and (b) when no TC agent available

Models also tested for speech/lip-reading and speech-to-text agents

Simple Sign-Relay Model

Relay Centre: sign language or text or

speech

myFriend mobile (smartphone) or myFriend (PC)

Centre-based relay agent

To voice phone users

InterpretersBristol, Cardiff, Gloucester, N Wales

Relay CentralRelay agents in different locations

Multiple TC callers

NHS Direct

GP

Make appointments

Enabling health access in the community

Remote access - VRI

Deaf person and health professional in same location

Relay Centre: sign language

Interpreter hears, speaks and signs – or uses speech to text

A&E access

A&E case notes through interpreter

Relay Centre: sign language

Lip-speech; speech to textVoice, text, gesture - signing

HoH text or speech

Cost Savings – Efficiency gains

CostsDepends on extent of application – various

options shown in the documents

Council-wide model – Around £500 per month – on-demand relay service

Individual user model - £9 per month for support for less able adults

Friends and family use free TCphone version