---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 18:22:56 -0500
From: H. Field <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet NFB-Talk Mailing List
<[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Money Talks--and so should ATMs
Money Talks -- and So Should ATMs
BusinessWeek Online
Daily Briefing: ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY
By Suzanne Robitaille
Phil Dyson sure hopes he's pressing the right buttons. He's
blind, and when he goes to his bank's automated teller machine,
he must rely on memory to extract cash. Even though banks have
put Braille labels on ATM keypads, this doesn't help him much.
``I don't read Braille,'' says Dyson, a teacher for students with
disabilities in upstate New York. ``I had to ask a bank
representative to come out and show me how to use the ATM, and
now I have to remember [the] sequence.'' While the ATM's
convenience has revolutionized banking for most Americans, blind
and visually impaired people feel left out. Dyson and others are
pushing for ``talking'' ATMs that would provide speech as well as
text at menus and screen prompts, and recite specific
information, such as a record of a customer's transaction. DUAL
DELAY. The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act requires that
banks eventually make their ATMs audio-enabled. The requirement's
details probably won't be finalized until later in 2002, and
banks will then have one year to adopt the new regulations.
However, the industry is arguing that a longer period is
necessary, given the technological challenges and the expense.
Financial institutions own the bulk of existing ATMs in the U.S.,
and they argue that they don't make enough money on each
transaction to warrant costly changes such as equipping all
machines with audio capability. Since the ADA has not yet
finalized the rules, the banking industry doesn't want to
implement sweeping changes, only to find that the ADA requires a
different set of functions. ``We support audible ATMs for blind
users,'' says Nessa Feddis, general counsel for the American
Bankers Assn. [ABA]. ``However, it has limitations with regard to
dynamic information such as error messages and account nicknames.
The [technology] is promising, but it's not clear whether it
works, and it would require major changes to the systems.``
``USELESS.'' From the disability community's perspective, the
banking industry is moving too slowly. Even though ATM keypads
feature Braille, that's not enough, disability advocates argue,
since only one-fifth of the nation's 1.1 million legally blind
can read Braille. ``If you can't follow the screen, Braille is
useless,'' Dyson says. A few big banks like Fleet and Bank of
America have installed some talking ATMs over the years in select
states, but ``there's a long, long way to go before the blind can
walk up to any ATM and take for granted that it will talk to
us,'' says Curtis Chong, technology director at the National
Federation of the Blind [NFB]. In the meantime, the visually
impaired community has turned to another venue of electronic
banking -- stand-alone multimedia cash dispensers that are often
found in supermarkets and shopping malls and charge at least $1
per transaction. Because everyone is hit with a fee, these
dispensers are the envy of banks that provide free cash ATM
withdrawals to their own customers. YOU WANT FRIES? These ATMs
``talk'' to anyone who prefers an audio alternative to the
screen. And the money-making opportunities are huge. Eventually,
according to their manufacturers, talking ATMS will distribute
many goods and services, such as movie tickets and postage
stamps. Perhaps someday, fast-food restaurants will take orders
this way. These more dynamic machines also provide dozens of fee-
income opportunities, such as audio ads that play while a
transaction is being completed. Says Stessa Cohen, a technology
analyst at Gartner Research: ``Everyone will benefit from
accessible ATMs -- whether or not they're disabled.'' As it turns
out, it's less costly for manufacturers to build speech
capability into these stand-alone ATMs than the ones found at
banks. Bank ATMs are continuously connected to far-away host
processors [the computer network that receives customer requests
and executes transactions]. Less expensive, off-premise ATMs use
cheaper dial-up connections to access a host processor for the
minimum time needed to perform a transaction and then hang up.
``This self-sufficiency gives off-premise ATMs certain advantages
when it comes to speech technology,'' says Bill Jackson, chief
technology officer of Triton Systems, a unit of Dover Corp.
Triton's goal is to build products that the blind can use, but
the company believes talking technology also has mass appeal. It
just rolled out the Triton 9700 series in consultation with the
disabled community. These ATMs use text-to-speech technology and
sell at $5,000 and upward. DIFFICULT SPEECH. Current ATM talk
technology does have some shortcomings. Most ATMs don't use text-
based software, so all the information has to be prerecorded for
each screen in what's called a .wav file, which works by
digitizing recordings of real human voices. To ``speak'' a simple
balance amount, for example, the .wav processor strings together
prerecorded files for each digit of the number: ``one,''
``thousand,'' ``three,'' ``hundred,'' ``and,'' ``forty,''
``two,'' ``dollars.'' Reliance on .wav-file technology requires
that either the ATM or the host processor must maintain a
complete set of recordings for every possible number, every
transaction option, and every instruction on every screen shown
on the ATM terminal -- a risky, expensive, and time-consuming
process with a wide margin for errors because ATMs would have to
be individually reconfigured. Banks are more likely to embrace
text-to-speech technology, the ABA's Feddis says. Text-to-speech
``reads'' any string of text. It doesn't have to be prerecorded,
and it runs on common platforms such as Windows 2000. NEW
IMPETUS? One event that may get the ball rolling on talking ATMs:
The Access Board, an independent federal agency devoted to
developing and enforcing accessibility standards for the
disabled, is preparing to issue standards for electronic and
information technology covered by section 508 of the 1998
Rehabilitation Act Amendments. Section 508 sets requirements on
technology that's developed, procured, maintained, or used by
federal agencies and employees. The NFB's Chong hopes that once
these guidelines are published, banks will move more quickly
toward equipping ATMs with voice technology. However, what may
really quicken the pulse of banks is the appeal of additional
profits if they equip more machines with smart audio technology,
thus enabling ATM transactions beyond cash withdrawals. Buying
movie tickets or getting concert tickets at these improved
machines, with their attendant transaction fees, will make this a
more attractive proposition for banks. With the lure of
convenience and accessibility for customers and the potential for
profits, talking ATMs may be the wave of the future -- and not
just for the blind.
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