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Development of ICT-Based Assistive Technology for Minority Languages

Promoting ICT-based assistive technology for minority languages to overcome limited products, high costs, and low support for users with disabilities. Projects include screen readers and mobile phone accessibility. Learn about the challenges and solutions in developing AT for minority languages. Contact: mamoru@bfp.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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Development of ICT-Based Assistive Technology for Minority Languages

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  1. Development of ICT-based Assistive Technologyfor Minority Languages Mamoru Iwabuchi Kenryu Nakamura Paul Blenkhorn RCAST, University of Tokyo, Japan

  2. Main Theme • Promoting the use of ICT-based assistive technology (AT) including in countries where minority languages are used

  3. Present situation of AT • Small number of users • Limited range of products High cost → Challenging situation for industries

  4. Many countries, particularly developing countries, have not yet reached widespread use of AT • Financial difficulty • Language barrier (OS, text-to-speech) • Low support for people with disabilities Present situation of AT

  5. Our projects Use of existing and generally available mainstream technology as a form of AT • Development of AT, e.g., screen readers, for minority languages • Teaching people about AT • Promotion of the use of accessibility features of PC • Use of mobile phones for PWD

  6. (%) 2.7 Development of screen readers for minority languages 1.0 0.3 0.2 • Development cost in general: from US$100,000, or over US$1 million Screen reader is particularly Important for developing countries 4.0 2.7 0.3 0.2 Ratio of people with visual impairment in India, Nepal, Japan, and the UK(%)

  7. Basic structure of screen readers

  8. Front-end of screen readers • Sends on-screen text to the text-to-speech engine • Includes phonetic adjustment e.g., 2: do: → dui 6: che → cha • Requires additional feature according to each language • Can handle Unicode in recent years → Applicable to many languages in the world • Can be free for basic functions

  9. Text-to-speech engine It is desirable to provide TTS engines as a basic function of OS. • This is true for English environment. • It promotes the use of speech/reading software for PWD. But TTS engines do not exist for minority languages yet. Existing TTS engines also has a barrier for end users. The engines are bundled in other application packages. • License problem • High cost • Non-standard interface (non-SAPI)

  10. Development of screen readers for minority languages • Collaborative research with UK • Hindi text-to-speech • Thunder(free screen reader for Windows) • Phonetic adjustment using regular expressions • Collaboration with a graduate Nepali student who is blind • Infrastructure procurement • PC reuse → A model case of developing AT for minority languages

  11. Demonstration of Nepali screen reader

  12. Joint workshop • Held with the Nepal Association for the Welfare of the Blind (NAWB) in July 2010 • Contents • Nepeli screen reader for Windows • Text web browser (WebbIE) • Windows accessibility

  13. Toward promising practices • Development of assistive technology using existing technology • Teaching people about AT • Collaboration network → a good scheme to reach a widespread use of AT

  14. Contact address: mamoru@bfp.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp

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