Increasing the autonomy of deafblind individuals through direct access to content broadcasted on digital terrestrial television

Abstract

ABSTRACT Digital terrestrial television currently incorporates accessibility elements for the deaf (closed captions, CCs) and for the blind (audio description and audio navigation), however the deafblind population has particular accessibility needs that to date have not been met. This work presents a technical aid (a mobile application called GoAll) developed to increase the autonomy of deafblind individuals, allowing direct access to content broadcast on digital TV through the reading of CCs either with a mobile device or a Braille display. The information in this study is based on the data generated by the application server during the 5 months it was in operation in Spain as well as data from a usability survey conducted on nine deafblind individuals. The results show that 55% of the people used the application between 5 and 7 days a week and did so in the most popular time slots; those surveyed watch news, movies, documentaries, reality shows, and entertainment shows. Noteworthy is fact that all survey respondents said they felt they had greater autonomy with this application. The limitations of the proposed solution involve two elements: Braille reading (knowledge and speed of reading) and the constraints of CCs, since they are used as an input for technical assistance.