Reaching Out More: Relay Services in Total Conversation Jim Kyle & Chris Coleman Centre for Deaf Studies University of Bristol 2011

Telephones for over 100 years but most Deaf have no means of remote communication in their own language Text messaging is asynchronous & clumsy & foreign Interpreters difficult to book & expensive No direct emergency service access Inclusive World?

REACH112 – Total Conversation Choose video, voice or text or any combination – new definition of telecoms

REACH112 (Responding to all citizens needing help) a three-year project partially funded by the European Commission under the ICT PSP CIP programme. 22 partners from 8 countries, including user organisations and major global telecommunications companies – Vodafone (Spain), Siemens, France Telecom, Nokia. Large scale: €8.8m UK component: €2.4m

Project Aims Deployment of Voice, Video and Real Time Text –Total Conversation (TC) – to all end users who have difficulty with voice telephony Person to Person TC Telecoms Service Provision of TC relay service Access to Emergency Services through TC network Monitor and report on key performance indicators Evaluate service and propose a business plan for trans-Europe Service

UK partners & roles Aupix Ltd – infrastructure creation & technical support to users, personal data registration & management, software implementation and updates RNID (now renamed Action on Hearing Loss) – Deaf and hard of hearing users support, dissemination, interface to Government, and RTT applications & interface to TC services Avon Fire and Rescue Service – emergency call centre TC implementation, advice, training, interface to emergency services Avon and Somerset Police - emergency call centre TC implementation, key training developer & provider for relay service Centre for Deaf Studies – UK pilot lead, meetings, support to partners, user recruitment, consultation & personal, home and online support, relay service development and project evaluation

for information on project

website for download – Sign language explanation Text captions for hard of hearing Feature list for software

Available applications  Fixed line videophones to TC standard  Free download for PC, laptop  Specially adapted netbooks – for ease of use and portability  myFriend mobile on Android smartphones  Inter-operability with Real Time Text clients  Inter-operability with existing textphones and relay

Relay Service Models in use in REACH112 UK Models are reversible – ie hearing voice caller to Deaf end-user Relay agents can see/manage all incoming calls 24 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 REACH112 UK national pilot Relay Centre : sign language or text or speech myFriend mobile (smartphone) or myFriend (PC) Centre-based relay agent To voice phone users

Sign-Relay Grid Model REACH112 UK national pilot Relay Central Relay agents in different locations Multiple TC callers

Independent Sign-Relay Grid Model Relay Central Open client base – shares resource; can be agency Closed client base – uses resource Free agent

Emergency service access  Major European priority is access to 112 … for ALL  REACH112 is testing different models  With partners in police and fire services  And discussions in appropriate emergency service forum

Emergency access: UK Model 1 UK National pilot Relay Centre: sign language 250 PSAPs in UK National voice call handling Despatch PSAP call takers

Emergency access: UK Model 2 Local emergency centre(fire, ambulance or Police) with TC capability UK National pilot Relay Centre: sign language Lip-speech; speech to text Voice, text, gesture - signing HoH text or speech Relay service invoked as option controlled by PSAP – advantages – much faster response time; direct sight of incident

Emergency access: UK Model 3 TC call handling centre with a deaf operator (sign & text) and a relay agent(TC) signer Hoh – text. speech

Must engage with existing professional bodies Appropriate preparation (a) establishment of code of practice for work in a distributed relay network (b) establishment of the code of ethics of operation (c) provision of training to relay agents for generic relay (d) advanced training for emergency service call taking (e) training for emergency service call handling staff Relay Service Issues for REACH112

Persuade Deaf and hard of hearing users to embrace a new technology and to become so familiar with it that it becomes part of daily life – non-trivial – we need to remove cost barriers Manage expectations and develop a code of behaviour and etiquette in end users Provide appropriate help and support – online and onsite Ensure access to all information especially terms and conditions in sign language and text Actions incorporating ethical issues

detailed monitoring and evaluation programme across 5 countries This examines all traffic, effective use, case studies, user responses The purpose is to establish the evidence base for governments and commercial bodies to implement TC Evaluation Phase ( )

Progress in REACH112 Over1300 registrations (software/hardware users) Over 3,000 calls per month on myFriend network Upward trajectory in all areas – P2P, relay services … in line with planning Emergency service training underway for relay agents and call takers Online resources in BSL and in English text – Help presentations in speech, sign and text

“Great to have this facility that does not need a special set number before the actual phone number. Myfriend has now become my friend! Type talk? No more- I hope.” “My mother said this is much better, more straight forward to have a conversation instead of Type talk. She prefers to use this from now on” “The clear background used by the interpreter makes communication lovely.” “Wow! The picture is crisp clear. I am excited about this becoming a permanent service.” “Beautiful communication – So lovely!” Structured quantitative and user qualitative data collection

Continues to extend user access (for all) Tests and evaluates a number of models for relay and emergency services access Provides training to end users, relay agents and call takers Measures benefits in a wide ranging evaluation programme Provides reports and results to EU public bodies REACH