Talking bank machines speak to needs of the blind
Steve Makris
The Edmonton [Alberta] Journal
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
Photo CREDIT: John Lucas, The Journal
Photo caption: David Parnell, who has been blind since birth, uses
the special
needs ABM at the Oliver Square Royal Bank branch.
EDMONTON - Automated banking machines that can talk are being rolled
out across the country after four years of trials in every major
Canadian city, including Edmonton.
The RBC Royal Bank announced plans Monday to install 250 talking
ABMs across Canada, including 12 in Edmonton and one each in St. Albert,
Leduc, Spruce Grove and Morinville in the next 12 months.
The talking feature works by plugging in headphones, provided by the
bank, and following audio instructions while using a Braille key pad.
"I had memorized the timing of the older ABMs to take out cash with
no assistance, but I had to use phone banking for all my other
transactions," said Dave Parnell, who has been blind all his life. "But
now, I can do all my banking using this machine," said Parnell, on hand
to demonstrate one of the machines at the Royal Bank Oliver Square
branch.
The screen can be turned off for privacy while an artificial male
voice talks to the user, confirming and guiding every step.
"Everything is done on computer, making things more efficient," said
Bill Donnelly, a representative of NCR Canada, the company that provides
and maintains the ABMs for several financial institutions.
"The voice quality is not as good as the older recorded voice-coil
technology used in the first Royal Bank talking ABM in 1998," he said.
The new machines use IBM's Via Voice text-to-speech technology.
The Royal Bank has another talking ABM in its downtown branch and
plans to install others in Old Strathcona, Manning Centre, Kingsway,
Meadowlark, Telus Centre, Bonnie Doon, Mayfield Pointe West, Tawa
Centre, Northgate, Southgate and Heritage Mall.
"This gives blind people more independence, something most people
don't appreciate until they experience a disability themselves," said
Bill McKeown, executive director for the Canadian National Institute for
the Blind in Alberta, NWT and Nunavut.
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce uses similar technology in
two audio-access ABMs in Edmonton, Riverbend and Whitemud Crossing.
"We plan to install audio as well as easy physical access features
in 600 branches nationwide by this September," said CIBC spokesperson
Joe Heim.
But the $1 million Royal Bank talking-ABM technology is not being
pursued by all financial institutions.
Scotia Bank, Bank of Montreal, Capital City Savings and Alberta
Treasury Branch have no plans to have the audio feature installed in the
near future. Most cite the relatively high cost and low client demand
for such services.
CNIB officials said there are 100,000 blind or visually impaired
clients in Canada, 2,600 in Edmonton. © Copyright 2003 Edmonton Journal
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