New technology is coming to the aid of the millions of deaf and hard of hearing people who are currently prevented from using the telephone.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) is working with a number of international organisations to perfect a system that translates voice communication into a screen image “talking face” that enables lip reading.
Synface, short for Synthetic talking face, provides a computer-generated talking face that recreates the speaker's lip movements on a screen linked to the phone.
Neil Thomas, technology development manager from RNID said: “Potentially, this innovation could help millions of people to use the telephone. This is crucial if we are to prevent the isolation faced by many deaf and hard of hearing people as they get older.”
RNID has been running trials with hard of hearing people, and the feedback to date has been extremely positive, with 84% of the testers saying it helps them make phone calls.
A demonstration of Synface, plus further information, can be found at www.rnid.org.uk/synface .
There are more than 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK – a number that is predicted to increase by a further million over the next decade as the population ages.
“Too often, developing technology fails to take the needs of deaf and hard of hearing people into consideration,” said Thomas. “As a result, they face many barriers in their day-to-day lives that could be greatly improved with the help of new technology.”
Development of Synface is funded by the European Union and has been carried out by institutions and companies in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands.