Title of the Paper: Situation and Experience with Transcribers and On-line Speech to Text Service for Hard

of Hearing and Deaf People in C ech !epublic The "a#e of the author$s%: &ng' (dene) *u#bale)+ &ng' ,artin "ova) -ffiliation $.niversit/0&nstitution+ Cit/+ Countr/%: Trans)ript online s'r'o'+ Prague+ C ech !epublic and C ech .nion of the Deaf+ C ech !epublic 1e/words: Speech to text service+ eSribe+ on-line+ trans)ript+ transcriber E-#ail: bu#bale)2trans)ript'c + #artin'nova)2cun'c

Abstract
The article deals with histor/ of si#ultaneous transcription for deaf and hard of hearing people in the C ech !epublic' Service as si#ultaneous transcription with ph/sicall/ present transcribers is offered b/ C ech .nion of the Deaf $C.D% in social situation+ as online version of transcription is provided b/ a new social co#pan/ Trans)ript online s'r'o' as social service in sphere of co##ercial institutions' Transcription services in educational do#ain are represented especiall/ b/ Teiresias Centre of ,asar/) .niversit/' Transcription services have a huge potential to increase 3ualit/ of life of hearing i#paired people' Expansion of these services re3uire education of transcribers and develop#ent of online tools for transcription services which reduce costs+ increase 3ualit/ of service and cover #uch wider areas+ than ph/sicall/ present transcribers'

1 Introduction
Speech belongs to the #ost natural #eans for sharing ideas+ infor#ation or feelings' However+ speech #a/ also beco#e a co##unication barrier for those not )nowing the language or unable to use it+ li)e hearing i#paired people or the foreign-language spea)ers' To overco#e this barrier there are generall/ two approaches - translation $sign language for the deaf people or native language for foreign-language spea)ers% or transcription $to written for#%' 4or those hearing-i#paired who lost hearing during their life+ transcription is a natural and often the onl/ wa/ of receiving infor#ation' To learn new wa/ of co##unication is especiall/ difficult for those people who lose their hearing in older age' -lthough si#ultaneous transcription is a standard service for the deaf in .S and west Europe+ the situation in the C ech !epublic is still different' Till 5667+ the hearing i#paired people in the C ech !epublic could choose onl/ between interpreting fro#0to C ech sign language and clear articulation with no sure results' "otwithstanding+ the C ech !epublic adopted a law 89: in 5667 guaranteeing the hearing-i#paired the right to choose a co##unication s/ste# that #atches their needs $si#ultaneous transcription including%+ no conditions were created or funds dedicated to fulfill this law' *ecause of lac) of govern#ent funding for si#ultaneous transcription+ C.D and social enterprise Trans)ript online are tr/ing to re#ed/ this state with help of volunteers+ private foundations and ES4 grants' "ew approach is to provide online transcription as a co##ercial service for large corporation+ which have a significant nu#ber of hearing i#paired people in their custo#er;s basis'

2 Overview of Current and Previous Work

2.1 Historical overview of text based communication (Zdenek Bumbalek) 4ro# the historical point of view+ the long-distance trans#ission of text without a ph/sical transport of letters+ )nown as telegraph/+ is older than telephon/' Telegraph/ was the first teleco##unication service which could have been used b/ the hearing-i#paired users for co##unication in real ti#e' &n the period of analog telephon/ $until the 9<<6s%+ hearingi#paired users could benefit fro# analog facsi#ile #essaging $fax%' &n that ti#e+ the first service designed for the hearing-i#paired+ )nown as TT= $Telet/pewriter for the deaf% 85:+ was established and operated' &n the nineties+ analog teleco##unication services were replaced b/ digital co##unication $telephone exchanges of the >th generation%' 4ro# the wide variet/ of digital teleco##unication services+ hearing i#paired people could use the TE?ETE@ 8A: service for text trans#ission and TE?EB!&T&"C 8A: for trans#ission of hand-written texts in real ti#e' Special digital text phones D TDDs $Teleco##unications Devices for the Deaf% 85: D were operated in Bestern Europe and .S-' The expansion of the &nternet had high i#pact on co##unication of the hearing-i#paired' E-#ail and instant #essaging were services helping to the hearing-i#paired to overco#e co##unication barriers' One of the #ost used services b/ the hearing-i#paired is the Short ,essage Service $S,S% 8A:+ which was introduced as part of the Clobal S/ste# for ,obile Co##unications $CS,% 8A: series of standards in 9<7E' Hearing-i#paired people often label S,S as the #ost i#portant discover/ after the invention of handwriting' !apid develop#ent of the &nternet enabled creation of a large nu#ber of #ulti#edia services+ so#e of the# focused on the specific needs of the hearing-i#paired people' ProFects and services )nown as total co##unication have appeared' - well-)nown software platfor# for total co##unication is S)/pe+ which was enhanced with videoconferencing in 566G' Special attention of the &T. resulted in the &T. T'9>6 8>: standard+ dedicated to co##unication of the hearing i#paired' &T. T'9>6 was standardi ed in 9<<7 and brings trans#ission of real-ti#e text $!TT% 8E: to &nternet telephon/ and "ext Ceneration "etwor)s $"C"% 8G:' Bith rapid growth of co#puting abilities s/ste#s that can s/nthesi e speech fro# text $TextTo-Speech $TTS%% or recogni e speech fro# voice $-uto#ated Speech !ecognition $-S!%% have recentl/ achieved re#ar)able progress' 2.2 Simultaneous Transcription !"#sicall# !resent Transcribers

The i#pulse for a 3uic)er introduction of transcription with transcribers was given at the #eeting in the C ech .nion of the Deaf where the hearing i#paired participants did not )now exactl/ what the lecture was tal)ing about in spite of the good pronunciation of the spea)er in C ech language' &n ,a/ 566G+ ,artin "ova) tal)ed about this issue with Hera Strnadova who+ in Septe#ber 566G+ proposed to introduce the si#ultaneous transcription into the ?aw of Co##unication S/ste#s for the Deaf and Deafblind which was being e#ended at that ti#e' The si#ultaneous transcription was called Irecording a spo)en speech in real ti#eI 8J:' Her/ i#portant part of law is giving right to a free choice of co##unication support' Bhen Co##unication law was published in legal code boo)+ C ech .nion of the Deaf decided to #a)e special proFect for pro#otion of si#ultaneous transcription ever/where in the C ech !epublic for people who need this service' This proFect was supported b/ Hodafone 4oundation and was offered gratis for each institution+ organi ation and people where deaf and hard of hearing people are' Be still )now that we #ust #a)e still pro#otion about this new service'

-s an i#pulse fro# deaf and hard of hearing people+ C ech .nion of the Deaf was registration special social service Centre of si#ultaneous transcription #ediation $C(SP% and finished on 9Ath of -ugust 5696' Centre offers service as si#ultaneous transcription with transcribers and if it is possible on-line service' Do#inant service is si#ultaneous transcription with transcribers' During E /ears histor/ service was offered with #ore than G6 transcribers' &n spite of no support fro# ,inistr/ of wor) and social affair+ C(SP receive financial support fro# so#e regions+ organi ation+ ,inistr/ of education+ /outh and sports+ Depart#ent of Kustice+ foundation and so#e universities' &f student need si#ultaneous transcription and stud/ so#e universit/ in C ech+ he0she can contact coordinator of C(SP and give hi# all the necessar/ infor#ation about the subFect in 3uestion and the ti#e the transcription would be needed' Centre of si#ultaneous transcription #ediation of C ech .nion of the Deaf and Teiresias Centre of ,asar/) .niversit/ reali e special proFect "etwor) of Expert Centers Providing &nclusion in Tertiar/ Education $Expln% and part of that proFect have goal to train new transcribers and prepare #aterial for transcriber education' 2.$ eScribe % a eScribe %% Histor/ of eScribe & began in !DC laborator/ at 4acult/ of Electrical Engineering+ C ech Technical .niversit/ in Prague $4EE CT.% in 566<' Operation of e-Scribe & 87: was based on voice over &P trans#ission and displa/ing text on a web page' Transcription was carried out b/ speciall/ trained t/pists who used ,icrosoft BordL software+ due to historic and fa#iliarit/ reasons' The #ain drawbac) of eScribe & was the dela/ of the transcribed text between t/ping a character b/ the t/pist and displa/ing it on the user screen' &n 87: we have proved that the dela/ was caused #ainl/ b/ ,S Bord' &n the worst cases+ the dela/ was up to two seconds' Such a dela/ was contrar/ to an international reco##endation &T.-T'9>6 85E: for #ulti#edia application text conversation+ specif/ing that #axi#u# buffering ti#e #a/ be E66 #s $A66 #s reco##ended%' Be have also observed several proble#s caused b/ used t/pe of operational s/ste# and version of ,S Bord' To reduce these drawbac)s+ we have proposed a new cloud-based architecture for online transcription+ eScribe &&' The core part of eScribe && 8<: was deplo/ed in Coogle cloud environ#ent' Be have used Coogle Docs as a text editor+ as well as storage space for the transcribed texts' eScribe && was interconnected also with -S! s/ste# provided b/ "ewton Technologies+ partner of eScribe proFect' The -S! interconnection used the Coogle -pp Engine and the Kabber protocol' .sing Coogle cloud services brings several benefits such as lower develop#ent effort+ faster i#ple#entation+ #ini#u# re3uire#ents on own infrastructure and bac)ups' -lso a continuous i#prove#ent of services is provided fro# Coogle side' On the other hand+ cloud approach brings so#e ris)s represented b/ loss of control over the s/ste# and data or future lev/ing of charges for the services' Be have observed also several outages and unpredictable loss of s/nchroni ation of Coogle docs during our experi#ents' .sing Coogle docs as a #ain technolog/ was also hardl/ accepted b/ co##ercial custo#ers especiall/ because of securit/ reasons' These li#itations led us to develop own solution independent on A rd part/ SB for providing co##ercial service'

3 User evaluation
-lthough eScribe & and && was #ainl/ developed as a protot/pe proof of concept+ we have arranged several test events where eScribe provided speech transcription to the hearingi#paired people' Several lectures at the C ech Technical .niversit/ in Prague were transcribed using the ?ecture #ode $one spea)er D #an/ listeners%' C ech .nion of the Deaf also uses eScribe at their conferences or #eetings' .sing eScribe in the 4ace-to-face #ode was first de#onstrated in 4ebruar/ 5695+ in a cafe at Hodafone head3uarters in Prague and later at a Hodafone shop+ in co##unication between a shop assistant and a hearing i#paired client' The client later described his experience on his blog: 896: "The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet with 3G Internet connection was lying on the table and we had a normal chat with Mr. umbale! "rom #T$ and I was reading what he was saying. It is great that a microphone in the tablet is sensiti%e and it is not necessary to gi%e a wired microphone to the spea!ing person. &eople are o"ten ner%ous and tal! completely di""erently 'people ha%e stage "right or thin! they are actors() especially those not used to spea!ing with a microphone. *ithout wires) they tal! naturally. The tablet lies on the table and people tal! normally. +eally great) I ha%e experienced nothing li!e this "or , years-" -s s#artphones and tablets were identified as #ost suitable user e3uip#ents for the face-toface co##unication+ we have carried out a user surve/ 899: a#ong the target group to learn #ore about s#artphones+ tablets and #obile internet penetration a#ong the hearing-i#paired people' The results $see Table 9% were also used for discussion about deplo/#ent at the custo#er centers of the C ech #obile operators'

4 Commercial Proof-of-Conce t
&n the first half of 5695 we have carried out a pilot proFect in a pro#inent C ech ban) where we introduced eScribe at custo#er contact points' The pilot started in Kul/ 5695 at E representative ban) branches in Prague' -fter one #onth the pilot was extended to another A9 branches throughout the countr/' &t was decided that it will be operated using ban) e3uip#ent+ i'e' the voice connection is acco#plished through a fixed phone line with a headset+ and as displa/ device+ the co#puter #onitor of a ban) e#plo/ee $see 4ig' 9% is used'
Table 1. &ser Surve#. The results were collected between March 1, and .pril 1/) 0010) in all #1ech regions %ia se%eral web portals "ocused on the hearing2impaired people. 33 respondents '/3 4 "rom &rague region( participated in total. 30 4 o" respondents were men. 30 4 o" respondents were in the age o" 15 2 30 years) // 4 in 31 2 30 years) 01 4 were older than 31 years and 0 4 were younger than 15 years. 6uestion 9% Do /ou use a s#artphoneM 5% Do /ou use a tabletM A% Do /ou use an/ #obile data tariff M >% -re /ou considering to bu/ a s#artphone or tablet in the next G #onthsM E% -re /ou considering to bu/ a #obile data tariff in the next G #onthsM G% Bould /ou ta)e the opportunit/ to co##unicate with other people using an online transcription app in /our tabletM 78S 94: 4! 13 4! 4! 32 #% ;o 94 "4 #$ "4 "4 !# 11

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4ig' 9 &llustration of transcription at a ban) branch' 4or the ban) co#puters+ secure access was established to our re#ote server where the web application is operated' Bhen the hearing-i#paired person co#es to a ban) branch the welltrained ban) e#plo/ee starts a si#ple web application+ creating an online shared docu#ent and initiating a phone call to a transcriber' Then+ the #onitor is turned towards the hearing i#paired and the e#plo/ee;s voice is converted into text on the #onitor $which is read b/ the custo#er%' Be have obtained positive feedbac) fro# ban) custo#ers as well as fro# its e#plo/ees' Over a two-#onth period+ #ore than a hundred transcriptions were executed' ,ean duration over all the transcriptions was #easured to be < #inutes and E6 seconds'

4ig' 5 "u#ber of co##ercial transcription provided fro# 5' J' 5695

" &ranskri t - 'ocial (nter rise

&n October 5695+ the social enterprise Trans)ript online s'r'o' was established as a spin-off co#pan/' Cofounders were recruited fro# core developers in !DC laborator/ and C.D representatives' This partnership ensures close cooperation with 4EE CT. and C.D' The #ission of Trans)ript is to help reducing co##unication barriers of their clients' The #ain activit/ of the co#pan/ is to provide a professional online transcription services' -s part of its co##ercial activities+ Trans)ript focuses pri#aril/ on corporate clients with a large nu#ber of custo#ersN a#ong the# are also people with hearing i#pair#ent' Past experience has shown that online transcript significantl/ shortens the operation ti#e+ prevents #isunderstandings and increases satisfaction with deaf clients' -ll these benefits result in decreasing total costs on serving deaf clients' Professional online transcription also significantl/ increases the attractiveness of brands in the Deaf co##unit/' Currentl/+ Trans)ript offers professional online transcription at 7E $see 4ig' A% contact points in the C ech republicN JA of the# are branches of Era PoOtovnP spoQitelna and 95 of the# are selected Hodafone shops'

! Conslusion
Online transcription centre at Trans)ript using a #obile device such as a tablet or s#artphone is still being under develop#ent to #atch in the best wa/ the re3uire#ents of our potential clients and to provide the best perfor#ance in a user satisfaction' Be are conducting negotiations with several corporations about a si#ilar pilot proFect to extend the range of services available to the hearing-i#paired people' -lso+ we are tr/ing to address the public authorities' &n the future we plan to provide our services at public culture events li)e sightseeing tours' Be also intend to focus at its application at #edical or assistance centers etc'

4ig' A Contact points with professional online transcription

Education of new trancribers in proFect Expln helps to i#prove nu#ber of transcribers+ 3ualit/ and de#and for services fro# clients' &n the /ear 569A has started a co##on proFect of C ech .nion of the Deaf+ Career Counseling -genc/ for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People $-PP"% and Trans)ript online' This proFect is led b/ co#pan/ AGE o'p's' and its goal is to transfer )now-how of well established co#pan/ HerbaHoice C#bH+ which provides professional online transcription and online sign language interpretation services in Cer#an/' This proFect is supported b/ ES4 grant' -ll these concepts of si#ultaneous transcription will #a)e better life for deaf and hard of hearing people in the C ech !epublic and give the# correct and clear infor#ation' )eferences
89: C ech law no' 9EE09<<7: Co##unications s/ste#s for the hearing-i#paired as a#ended b/ -ct no' A7>05667 85: ?ang+ H'+C': - phone of our own: the deaf insurrection against ,a *ell+ Callaudet .niversit/ Press+ 5666 8A: Hic)re/ Han Cleve+ K': Deaf histor/ unveiled: interpretations fro# the new scholarship+ Callaudet .niversit/ Press+ 9<<< 8>: &T.-T reco##endation T'9>6: Protocol for #ulti#edia application text conversation+ &T.-T+ 9<<7 8E: Proposal !9 for &#ple#entation of !eal-Ti#e Text -cross Platfor#s' 8Cited 566<-95-69:+ available online on: http:00trace'wisc'edu0docs05667-!TT-Proposal0 8G: http:00www'itu'int0en0&T.-T0gsi0ngn0Pages0default'aspx 8J: "OH-1+ ,artin' Experience of Providing Si#ultaneous Transcript to .niversities and Sa#ple of So#e Other Options+ &ncluding On-line Tranfers' &n .niversal learning design+ &nternational conference+ *rno 799 4ebruar/ 5699+ C ech !epublic+ 5699' s' <A-<<' 87: *u#bale)+ ('+ (elen)a+ K'+ 1encl+ ?': E-Scribe: .bi3uitous !eal-Ti#e Speech Transcription for the Hearing-&#paired' &n: &CCHP 5696+ ?"CS G976+ pp' 9G6-9G7+ 5696 8<: (' *u#bale)+ K' (elen)a+ &' 1util: eScribe &&: O"?&"E PREP&SOH-CS CE"T!.,+ &n: Proceedings of &"SPO 5699+ Prague+ 5699 896: http:00www')ochlear'c 899: http:00c sp'cun'c 0dota ni)/0testovani-trans)ripce0dota ni)-for#ular'ht#l