1. 1 A Joint PWGSC / House of Commons Innovative Partnership Presented by Michel Boissonneault Manager, Visual Interpretation andClosed Captioning Manager, Visual Interpretation and Closed Captioning Voice-Recognition-Based Closed Captioning to meet the needs of the Hard of Hearing, Deafened or Deaf Hard of Hearing, Deafened or Deaf

2. 2 Topics O verview O utcome O utlook

3. 3 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

4. 4 It ain’t easy! Verb Conjugation Gender of Words Accented Characters Exceptions to the Rules Pronunciation La joie de vivre!

5. 5 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

6. 6 Mission Possible Assess maturity of Voice Recognition Technology (VRT) Involve target audience in evaluation/feedback process Achieve highest quality standards Introduce service in 2007

7. 7 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

8. 8 Technology with a Human Touch OTTAWA OTTAWA MONTREAL ACROSS CANADA

9. 9 Performance Evaluation Visual Enhancement Placement Delay Accuracy IN-TEL-LI-GI-BI-LI-TY

10. 10 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]

11. 11 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

12. 12 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

13. 13 Fine Tuned System Software Shadow Speakers

14. 14 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

15. 15 System Performance Trend

16. 16 Does it make sense? Word substitution to retain same meaning Rewording to “get around” unrecognizable proper nouns

17. 17 Overall Intelligibility Floor (MP or Interpreter) Shadow Speaker Shadow speaker Software Software Caption Text Software Errors = 85-88% Intelligibility Rate

18. 18 Major Challenges Proper nouns –People, ridings, companies, etc. Homonyms –maire (mayor) –mère (mother) –mer (sea) Do you c, sea, see?

19. 19 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

20. 20 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

21. 21 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

22. 22 Listening to People’s Needs “It is pathetic when a person has sight, but no vision.” Helen Keller

23. 23 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

24. 24 Listen/Écoute

25. 25 THANK YOU ! QUESTIONS?