Press Release
>>>
>>> Source: Harris Corporation
>>>
>>> NPR, Harris Corporation and Towson University Launch Global Effort To
>>> Make
>>> Radio Accessible to Hearing and Sight Impaired
>>>
>>> Tuesday January 8, 12:00 pm ET
>>>
>>> First Over-The-Air Transmission From Special CES Station
>>>
>>> LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (LVCC S227) -- NPR, Harris
>>> Corporation and Towson University today announced a new initiative to
>>> make
>>> radio
>>> more accessible to the hundreds of millions of hearing and visually
>>> impaired
>>> people around the world.
>>> At a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the
>>> three organizations announced the global accessible radio technology
>>> initiative
>>> and provided the first live demonstration of the accessible radio
>>> technology. The group also announced a new research center for
>>> developing
>>> future technologies
>>> on the campus of Towson University near Baltimore, MD. Additional plans
>>> call
>>> for the establishment of an international consortium of equipment
>>> manufacturers,
>>> broadcasters and other organizations to help foster broad adoption of
>>> the
>>> initiative.
>>> The initiative will be spearheaded by the three founding organizations
>>> and
>>> will leverage cutting-edge HD Radio(TM) technology to enable
>>> hearing-impaired
>>> people to "see" live radio content on specially equipped receivers by
>>> applying television closed-captioning processes to radio broadcasts. The
>>> technology
>>> also will provide audio cues and voice prompts, as well as advanced
>>> radio
>>> reading services, for those visually impaired and blind.
>>> "Digital radio technology makes it possible -- for the first time -- to
>>> serve the sensory impaired," says Mike Starling, vice president and
>>> chief
>>> technology
>>> officer of NPR. "Beyond developing the technology, this initiative will
>>> ensure the accessibility of these radio services at minimal costs."
>>> During the press conference, the organizations showcased the first over-
>>> the-air transmission of the accessible radio technology using a signal
>>> from
>>> WX3NPR,
>>> a special temporary station authorized by the FCC for the live
>>> broadcast.
>>> Attendees at the press conference watched the text transcript of the NPR
>>> flagship
>>> morning news magazine "Morning Edition" on the HD Radio receiver's
>>> viewing
>>> screen, which is what a hearing-impaired listener will see using the
>>> technology.
>>> Additionally, the demonstration carried a digital radio reading service
>>> that
>>> will assist the visually impaired with daily readings of current books,
>>> newspapers
>>> and magazines.
>>> Following the demonstration, the participating organizations unveiled
>>> details for the International Center for Accessible Radio Technology
>>> (ICART), which
>>> will be headquartered at Towson University in Towson, MD. Towson will
>>> house
>>> the primary administrative and academic research office for the
>>> initiative,
>>> with NPR Labs in Washington, DC, providing technology R&D and software
>>> development, and Harris Corporation supplying transmission and research
>>> support
>>> at its radio broadcast technology center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
>>> Members of the global initiative went on to detail plans to further
>>> study
>>> and understand the challenges faced by the sensory-impaired population
>>> in
>>> accessing
>>> radio broadcasts, and develop methodologies to address those issues
>>> through
>>> cutting-edge technologies. To ensure that the effort represents the
>>> widest
>>> range of participants and fosters the broadest possible adoption,
>>> organizers
>>> said they will work to bring together policymakers, broadcasters,
>>> transmission
>>> equipment companies and receiver manufacturers from around the world.
>>> Presently, the initiative has more than a dozen members, representing
>>> virtually every
>>> aspect of the "microphone to loudspeaker" chain: broadcasters, network
>>> content providers, infrastructure and transmission equipment companies,
>>> and
>>> receiver
>>> manufacturers. In addition to founding members NPR, Harris and Towson
>>> University, supporting organizations include iBiquity Digital
>>> Corporation,
>>>
>>> elphi,
>>> NDS, Radiosophy, Helen Keller Institute, Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family
>>> National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH(NCAM), Northern Virginia
>>> Resource Center
>>> for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons, and the G3ict, an Advocacy
>>> Initiative
>>> of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development.
>>> NPR, Harris and Towson will jointly determine strategic direction of the
>>> organization, with assistance from the initiative's full membership. NPR
>>> will provide
>>> much of the content, Harris will provide much of the transmission-
>>> related
>>> technologies, and Towson will provide research into the needs of the
>>> sensory-disabled
>>> population and will house the primary ICART facility on its campus.
>>> "We're working very closely with radio stations around the world to
>>> ensure
>>> they have the right technical infrastructure in place for this
>>> initiative,"
>>> said
>>> Howard Lance, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Harris
>>> Corporation. "The new HD Radio transmission systems we're installing are
>>> tailor-made
>>> for this effort, as their digital capabilities will make it relatively
>>> easy
>>> for stations to transmit live textual transcripts to HD Radio
>>> receivers."
>>> "There is tremendous need for accessible radio for sensory-impaired
>>> people,
>>> including the deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, visually impaired, print
>>> impaired,
>>> deaf/blind, and mobility impaired," said Dr. Ellyn Sheffield, assistant
>>> professor of psychology at Towson and co-director of ICART. "There is no
>>> question
>>> this initiative will have a profound impact on the quality of millions
>>> of
>>> people's lives. Finally, sensory-disabled individuals will have access
>>> to
>>> all
>>> radio programming, as well as radio emergency alerts and vital disaster
>>> recovery information."
>>> HD Radio enables station operators to split their broadcasts up into
>>> multiple channels, providing several CD-quality channels for their
>>> audiences. Through
>>> this accessible radio initiative, a small amount of the total data
>>> capacity
>>> will be used to carry textual data that will be shown live on a screen
>>> on
>>> new
>>> versions of HD Radio receivers, essentially providing a closed-
>>> captioning
>>> transcript of live broadcasts for the deaf. Initially, the closed-
>>> captioning
>>> text will be created by live, court-reporting-type captioners at
>>> individual
>>> stations and networks. Ultimately, the initiative is hoping to leverage
>>> advanced
>>> speech-to-text translation software applications that one day allow
>>> expansion of captioning across the radio dial. Specially equipped HD
>>> Radio
>>> receivers
>>> are in development with several features to provide the visually
>>> impaired
>>> audience with better access to broadcasts, such as audio prompts that
>>> notify
>>> which direction the tuner is going, what channel the radio is on, and
>>> larger, easier-to-read text on the radios.
>>> More than 1,500 radio stations are currently broadcasting in HD Radio in
>>> the
>>> United States. Over half of the CPB-qualified stations have been awarded
>>> HD
>>> Radio conversion grants by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
>>> According to current estimates, by 2010, all 825 public radio stations
>>> should be broadcasting
>>> digitally.
>>> More information on the initiative can be found at
>>>
www.i-cart.net.
>>>
>
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