On Monday, June 9, 2003, at 10:24 AM, Jacob Joehl wrote:

> Hi all. I'm wondering if anybody would mind emailing me off list to
> tell me
> about talking ATM's. I've never gotten to see one, and I doubt I'll
> ever get
> to see one for a while because it seems my parents have other things on
> their minds. Not that they shouldn't, but they are both employed
> full-time
> and my father is switching jobs this summer. If one of you could just
> talk
> me through the process of working with a talking ATM, I'd appreciate
> it. I
> think I already know the purpose of an ATM but not the specifics of it.
> Thank you.
> Jacob

I've used several talking ATMs before.  An ATM lets you stick in a card,
and then punch in your "secret code" (usually 4 or 5 digits long) and
then
access your bank account.  You can choose which account to deposit
money into or out of, check your balance, and so on.  The information is
shown on a typically crappy little visual screen.

The talking ATMs I've used all had little plugs for sticking in a normal
audio headset plug (like you'd use on a computer or a walkman), and
signs in written English and Braille telling you how to use it.  Once
the
plug is active, you start hearing the directions at the same time they
appear on the screen, although the voice is very slow compared to
screenreaders and often quite wordy.  (The voice on my bank's talking
ATM is mostly recorded, not synthesized.)

The spoken instructions tell you where to find the various slots for
inserting cards and envelopes, as well as how to take out your receipt
and your cash.  They also help you locate the keypad if you can't
find it right away.  The keypads have numbers in Braille, and you
can access all the functions from the ATM from the keypad (there are
additional buttons next to the screen; visually displayed arrows will
direct the sighted user as to which to press for various functions, but
they are all described by sound as well).

You can pre-empt the spoken dialogues (as with voice mail) if you
know the right buttons to press.  The first time through it'll be very
slow, because the voice dialogues are very wordy, but once you get
the hang of it, I imagine you could do it about as fast as a sighted
user -- you'll just have to memorize the right routine.

--
Kynn Bartlett <[log in to unmask]>                     http://kynn.com
Chief Technologist, Idyll Mountain                http://idyllmtn.com
Author, CSS in 24 Hours                       http://cssin24hours.com
Inland Anti-Empire Blog                      http://blog.kynn.com/iae
Shock & Awe Blog                           http://blog.kynn.com/shock


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