[LTA intro music]
LiveTextAccess.
Training for real-time intralingual subtitlers.
This is Unit 1. Understanding accessibility.
Element 3. Embedding accessibility in working environments.
This video lecture focuses on how to accommodate
hearing accessibility features in working contexts.
The information we provide
can be useful for accessibility managers,
event organisers or any institution
or person who wants to make an environment
easy to use for all and possible to use for persons with a hearing loss.
My name is Rocío Bernabé Caro
from the Internationale Hochschule SDI München, in Germany.
I have prepared this video lecture
in collaboration with the European Federation of Hard of Hearing,
in short, EFHOH.
On completion of this training sequence, you will be able to describe features
that can be embedded into environments to make them accessible.
These features or accommodations that we mention
will help you exploring the accessibility of working contexts
and classifying them accordingly.
We have selected features that are transversal to all types
of real-time communication situations.
We approach the topic from an end-user perspective.
To do so, we include information
from the Hearing Accessibility Guidelines
published by the International Federation of Hard-of-Hearing People
in 2021.
The agenda of this video lecture is very straightforward.
We will start by looking into the features one by one,
by describing how they contribute to making participation easier,
more inclusive and effective.
At the end, we will stress the main points in the summary.
Let’s take a look at some accessibility features
across real-time contexts.
Accessibility is an ability.
That is the ability of a product, a service, etc.,
to be reached, used or entered by people
with the widest range of abilities possible.
Real-time communication situations can therefore be defined and classified
by this ability, the ability to be accessible.
Since the Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities,
in short, CRPD,
embedding accessibility in general and in real-time contexts
has both, evolved and gained momentum.
As reported by Guozhong Zhang, in 2013,
before the Convention,
embedding accessibility into environments
often meant creating “separated solutions”.
For instance, accessible rooms or websites were separated
from the main building or the main website.
In this line, access was being provided;
however, the solutions were not necessarily inclusive.
With the CRPD and the acknowledgment of accessibility as a human right,
the approach became more holistic;
towards integration.
Integrated solutions take a wider stand on accessibility.
That means that
they include accessibility features already in the planning stage
and also aim at designing environments for all.
Improving hearing accessibility in real-time communication
starts by knowing the needs and preferences of target users.
This you have learnt in the previous lectures of Unit 1,
so we will not repeat it here.
Then, the next step is to realize
that hearing accessibility is more than providing
a linguistic solution, such as,
sign language, subtitles, or speaking loudly or using a microphone.
Hearing accessibility also means making a venue accessible
by considering features, such as lightning and acoustics,
and hearing assistive technology
to improve access to sound through loops or FM systems, etc.
The way content is presented also plays a key role.
This includes the communication skills of a speaker, of course,
but also the communication as a whole.
That is the program,
the announcements during a conference, etc.
Lastly, providing access through real-time subtitling,
which, as we have learnt already, is complementary
to hearing assistive technology and not a replacement.
Let’s take a closer look at these four categories now.
The set-up of a venue can impact the visual and aural fatigue
of participants or visitors significantly.
Some of them may seem obvious to you, like good lighting and acoustics,
but others, such as the seating position of the person with a hearing loss,
might be less known to you
and/or to persons without a hearing loss.
Aida, Marcel,
could you expand on this first 3 venue features, please?
[Aida] I think, in general,
the seating position of the person related the light
in the room and also the acoustics.
The light must come in from behind,
so that the light will brighten up everybody else's spaces.
This enables lip reading.
And also it really must be good acoustics.
There are different rules about acoustics from one country to another,
but where I come from, we say that
reverberation must not be more than 0.6 seconds.
And this is very important because it affects
the microphones in our HAs and also in our ALS.
[Marcel] Yeah, and sometimes the student is seating in front of the classroom,
so close by the teacher, so that it is easier
for the student to understand things,
easy to see the face of the teacher,
or reading the lips.
You can say that a Hard-of-Hearing (HoH) person will not look into the light,
because when you are sitting near the window,
and an HoH person is in the other side of the room,
sitting in front of you,
and he looks to you, and you are sitting behind the window,
then it is very difficult to see your face,
and that makes very difficult to lip-reading,
and also for the non-verbal communication.
[Aida] You can see at the picture here on the slide
that there's an indication where the windows are.
And you can also see where the crosses [are]:
that is where the pupil with HL should be seated,
with the back towards the windows.
And also looking out to the other classmates,
because that makes it faster to lip read and know who is in fact speaking
in this classroom when you have a debate going on.
Venues can be equipped with hearing assistive systems
and systems that convey visually
information that is communicated via a loudspeaker.
Some examples are loops.
Hearing loops or equivalents are often used in venues
with big rooms such as theatres, cinemas,
conference venues, concert halls.
Users of hearing aids or cochlear implants
with telecoils can receive the sound transmitted through the loop
with less background noise.
The drawbacks of loops remain the fact
that the sound cannot be provided in stereo
and their sensitivity to interferences.
Other types of loops are, for instance, neck loops, that a person can wear
and use with personal devices such as mobile phones
or audio-guidelines in museums.
Desktop loops are another example.
Desktop loops cover smaller surfaces
and can be installed at information points or desks.
Venues can also be equipped with wireless connections through Bluetooth.
This type of connection enables
a quick and easy connection
with hearing aids and relay ambient noise.
This feature comes very handy at conferences to understand the speaker
or at classrooms when other students are talking.
Another wireless connection are Infra-red systems, IR systems.
Here the main issue is that the IR system needs
a direct connection to the receiver.
So, it is very important where the system is placed in the room
and where the person with a HL with the receiver is sitting.
The problem is that there must be a direct line,
which cannot be interrupted.
One advantage of IR systems, however, is that they do not cross walls.
This means that the same frequency can be used in several rooms,
and that the information stays in the room
and is only available for the persons in that room.
Lastly, visual alarm or information systems should be installed to provide
a written version of information that is presented through loudspeakers,
for instance, fire alarms
or notifications at theatres or at airports.
The written information can appear on a screen in a common area
or can be sent to a personal phone.
These were just some examples of equipment features
for hearing accessibility.
The International Federation of Hard-of-Hearing,
in their accessibility guidelines,
describe many others and their functionality.
Lastly, a feature that concerns the health of the real-time subtitler.
That is their working conditions at the venue,
be it a work station at a conference, an event, or in the classroom.
Subtitlers work long hours under very stressful conditions.
Therefore, organisers should provide them with a small but adequate workplace
that includes a table to put their equipment,
their bands, and notes, and bags,
and also with a good quality chair.
Organisers should ask the subtitler in what part of the room
they would like to sit.
Many subtitlers prefer sitting close to the speakers,
if they are not going to be working in the booth.
This way they can see well the speaker and the slides
and they can be more aware of their non-verbal communication.
Of course, of utmost importance is that
organisers provide subtitlers with a good and stable audio connection.
Some of the features that we have just discussed are
as valid for online as for face-to-face contexts.
However, there are also differences.
We will discuss these differences in part 2
of this video lecture together with Aida.
We will also discuss aspects
that organisers, participants and speakers
can implement to improve hearing accessibility.
OK, see you in part 2, then. Bye!
[LTA outro music]
LTA - LiveTextAccess.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
SDI - Internationale Hochschule.
Scuola Superiore per Mediatori Linguistici.
2DFDigital.
The European Federation of Hard of Hearing People - EFHOH.
VELOTYPE.
SUB-TI ACCESS.
European Certification and Qualification Association - ECQA.
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Erasmus+ Project:
2018-1-DE01-KA203-004218.
The information and views set on this presentation
are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion
of the European Union.
Neither the European Union institutions and bodies
nor any person acting on their behalf
may be held responsible for the use
which may be made of the information contained here.