Polygraf Online – a System for Accessible Communication during Face-to-face and Online Events
Field:
Challenge:
Persons with hearing impairment as participants in face-to-face and online lectures, conferences, classes, team meetings, etc. face a communication barrier in verbal communication; persons with visual impairment have difficulty seeing visual documents projected on a central projection screen. In these meetings, spoken speech can be made accessible to the first group of people through speech-to-text transcription by a professional transcriber or through interpreting verbal communication into sign language. For the second group of people, the presented image can be made available by sharing it in real time on the users' individual devices.
At the same time, practice shows that both measures are also beneficial to other participants in the meeting who do not belong to the target groups mentioned above: the text transcription of spoken speech is beneficial, for example, to non-native speakers of the language; the possibility of viewing the projected material on their own devices is welcomed by all participants, for example, in poor lighting conditions or in the case of inappropriate presentation formats. The two technical services thus not only ensure the necessary communication standard for participants with aforementioned disabilities, but also accommodate majority participants, thus ensuring the universal design of the meeting.
At the same time, the technical means applied in the provision of these services must take into account the recent transformation of conference and training events into an online form.
Tech overview:
Thanks to its complexity, the Polygraf Online system is able to provide the technical background for the mentioned accessibility services, in the conditions of both face-to-face and online type of meetings. The system was created by interconnecting two applications earlier developed by the Masaryk University Teiresias Centre: Polygraf and CoUnSiL. The resulting integrated system Polygraf Online is a set of interconnected applications:
- Polygraf Writer: in this application, which is a special text editor, a professional transcriber makes simultaneous text transcriptions of spoken speech;
- Polygraf Broadcaster: an application running in the background of the computer from which the speaker projects the presentation material, provides sharing of the presentation image over the network (alternatively, a hardware device with certain features and functions can be used for the same);
- Polygraf – mobile applications for iOS and Android systems, in which users can watch simultaneous text transcription and shared presentation image;
- the Polygraf Online web app: in addition to the usual videoconferencing features, the app allows receiving simultaneous text transcription (taken by the transcriber in the Polygraf Writer app) and provides video transmission with a sign language interpreter in enhanced quality for better visual clarity of the interpreted speech for the signing participants.
Benefits:
Key benefits of Polygraf Online:
- One system is able to provide the technical background for several communication accessibility services simultaneously;
- users of any of these accessibility services use the same multi-purpose mobile application;
- the system is applicable in both face-to-face and online environments (or hybrid ones);
- the user interface of the videoconferencing features of the system provides the videoconferencing user with superior comfort and flexibility in the display of simultaneous text transcription and the layout of the videoconferencing workspace in general;
- the web application (or its backend) serves as a communication hub in situations when the speech transcription provider or sign language interpreter is not present in an otherwise face-to-face meeting and provides the service remotely
Applications:
- commercial sphere: Czech and foreign production companies providing conference technical service;
- academic sphere: service providers for students with special needs;
- non-academic sphere: service providers for people with hearing impairments
Commercial opportunity (seeking):
- selling user licenses
- a partner for cooperation on the distribution of user licenses
- investment partner for further development
IP protection status:
Protected by copyright law