Makoto Kobayashi
Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Health Sciences
Tsukuba University of Technology

If you ask persons with visual and hearing impairments, “What is the most important assistive technology device for you?” their answer may be “a smartphone” instead of monocles, Braille devices, or hearing aids.  It is no exaggeration to say that smartphones are becoming a part of life, or even a part of our bodies, now that it is becoming possible to read what others are saying by using the speech recognition function and by making full use of apps through screen readers.  I think that intergenerational disparities in the use of smartphones are getting smaller.  In this article, I would like to discuss the future of these assistive technology devices while looking back on the times before such convenient equipment appeared.

Assistive Technology Devices for People with Visual Impairments

It was in the latter half of the 1990s when I started working for Tsukuba University of Technology (a junior college at that time), now a national university for students with visual and hearing impairments.  It was when personal computers became familiar with the advent of Windows 95 and 98, and mobile phones (feature phones) became quite popular. Upon the introduction of new OSs, there was a concern that persons with visual impairments might be left behind in the world of PCs which was easily accessible then.  The trend of accessibility was beginning to attract attention with the questions such as, “Can software installed in personal computers read sentences aloud?,” “How about websites?”

In the 2000s, small dedicated devices designed to eliminate the inconveniences of daily life were discussed more often than before.  For example, “Color Talk (by Hokkei Industries, Co., Ltd.),” a mobile device that distinguishes colors, and “Monoshiri Talk (by Panasonic System Networks Co., Ltd.)” (Photo 1), which links RFID tags with voice information.  Monoshiri Talk is a device that can record the text information written on it as voice by attaching an RFID tag to a can or product box with a rubber band.  A small tag to be sewn on clothes was also included, which was excellent for checking colors and pairing socks.  For devices of similar size, a voice GPS tool called “Trekker Breeze (by Extra Co., Ltd.)” comes to mind.  Recently, such small dedicated devices are replacing smartphone software.  This is due to the increased accuracy of image and object recognition software due to the dramatic improvement in artificial intelligence technology, hardware performance, and network speed.

On the other hand, the “Braille display,” which is also useful for the Deaf-blind, has hardly changed since that time.  It can be said that the technology using the principle of pushing up the tactile pin with a piezo actuator that bends due to high voltage is “perfected” technology.  It is difficult to outperform this in terms of power consumption, reaction speed, mechanical properties, price, etc.  Therefore, we still continue to use it.  However, recently, a wristwatch-type “Dot Watch” (by Dot Incorporation, South Korea) that uses a solenoid and “Canute 360” ​​(by Bristol Braille Technology, UK) that enables multi-line Braille display, which is difficult with the current approach, have appeared, so we have to keep an eye on them.  It is considered easier now to produce hardware, thanks to the development of 3D printers, various modeling technologies, and physical computing.

Support Devices for People with Hearing Impairments

Next, I would like to discuss the means of support for people with hearing impairments.  In the days I mentioned above, mobile phones focused on call quality (it is natural because they are telephones).  Among such carriers, J-Phone, which was the first to develop a text communication service, was popular among the hearing-impaired.  I remember that many of our students also used J-Phone.  The finger alphabet “J” was even used as a sign language to mean “mobile phone.”  It turned out to be fortunate for the hearing impaired that text-based communication was useful for general users and that it was implemented and developed with general-purpose hardware and infrastructure, which young people in the current LINE/Twitter generation might take for granted.  Although it was already possible to communicate using sign language on a videophone at that time, it was very costly and the image quality was poor, and so research was conducted with the goal of achieving the image quality which enables people to understand.  I never thought that the time would arrive so quickly when high-quality video communication could be realized without worrying so much about cost.

At that time, speech recognition was far from practical, and I was laughing with my colleagues when we saw the results of speech recognition.  Practicality became feasible when the products such as AmiVoice (by Advanced Media, Inc.) and Dragon Speech Recognition (by Nuance Communications, Inc.) which predict recognition results based on context appeared on the market.  Recently, I feel that the recognition rate has really been enhanced.  However, I have a little concern about the results of a survey among the students, which I conducted in 2017 together with Professor Tetsuya Watanabe of Niigata University.  The survey was on the usage of ICT equipment and human support.  Many students chose speech recognition as a desired support tool, but the usage rate of the apps was low.  It can be said that they were not satisfied with the recognition rate at the time of the survey, but there might have been factors such as interface problems and scarcity of the use of apps.  It is also possible that the students themselves do not have enough opportunities to think about information support and information accessibility.  According to my colleague who teaches students with hearing impairments, when asked about information accessibility, a student who previously thought he had no problem with shopping was surprised at the amount of information hearing people can acquire from salesclerks.  For people with hearing impairments and difficulties in communication, it may be difficult to determine how much information they are missing out on.  People with visual impairments often compensate for the information gap with sighted people through conversation.  Therefore, those involved in the development of assistive devices for the hearing impaired need to be aware of this difference.

Recently, under the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of online lessons and events has increased and the opportunities for seeing subtitles in speech recognition have also increased.  With the increased number of opportunities whereby one can experience the technologies, I hope that both support providers and recipients will arrive at new levels of realizations.

Future Challenges

Assistive technology devices for persons with disabilities, as represented by smartphones and speech recognition software, dramatically develop and become widespread when these devices are used by sighted and hearing people.  On the contrary, the development and sale of dedicated equipment always come with difficulties.  As I mentioned above, advanced modeling technology has made the development of hardware easier, but it is really difficult to sell and support products.  It was not long ago when the production of Braille tape Tepra by King Jim Co., Ltd. was discontinued because it was so widespread among users that it would no longer sell.  Similarly, in the field of assistive device hardware, the sales of products such as Braille displays and Braille graphic displays (Photo 2) have been discontinued one after another.  They are good products that do not easily break; but the number of users is small.  I think this is the reason why sales cannot be generated.  I hope that the day will come when these issues will be resolved.

Photo. 1 “Monoshiri Talk” and various RFID tags by Panasonic System Networks Co., Ltd. (at that time).  Rubber bands and bags to be attached were also included.

Photo. 2: Braille graphic display DV-2 manufactured by KGS Corporation, which unfortunately is no longer manufactured.  We regularly use this in graphical programming classes in our department.