Published on Nov 27, 2002

A new telephone with typing capabilities promises to help people with hearing disabilities stay in better touch with the world.

Though they live in a quiet or even silent world, people with hearing and speech disabilities don't have to miss out on communicating. Thanks to new technological developments, they are beginning to converse with the outside world with something hearing and blind people have long used with ease - the telephone.

Traditionally of little use to the hearing impaired, the telephone is being redefined, and developed in Thailand and elsewhere to bring new communication possibilities to the hearing impaired.

The telephone for the deaf, though, is not designed for talking, but for typing.

As deaf people - even those proficient at speaking, sign language and lip reading - cannot always easily communicate with others, the phone has been developed to allow communication just by typing, says its developer, Kietikul Jearanaitanakij.

Now the project manager at the Embedded Systems Lab, King Mongkut Institute's of Technology at Lat Krabang, Kietikul spent almost two years turning the special telephone concept into reality. Ten prototypes of the phone are in an advanced stage of development.

One particularly promising prototype looks like an electronic dictionary. It's no coincidence: the developer modified an electronic dictionary to include new communication features. "Since the electronic dictionary device has a keyboard and display screen, we can use its basic function to develop a typing phone," Kietikul says.

By basically adding a modem to any normal phone, a type-capable phone is created. A hearing-impaired user can then dial the desired telephone number through a keyboard to place a call and communicate during a call.

To "talk", users just type the words they want to say on the keyboard, which pop up on a display screen.

Communicating by using such a device is quite similar to using an online chatting program.

A flashing light indicates an incoming call.

Kietikul has also developed a Thai messaging program, which he put into the prototype phone so deaf users can chat over the phone as they would on a PC.

Like the popular ICQ and other instant messaging programs, the telephone for the deaf can also keep records of sent and received messages for reference. The phone can store a message history equivalent to around 10 A4-size pages.

If a call is not received, the phone can automatically pick up the call, so the caller can leave a message.

Besides facilitating communication between deaf people, the device allows the deaf to communicate with people who don't understand sign language.

Even though technology like short message services on mobile phones has been used among the deaf community, the technology has not yet been specifically designed to serve their needs. And the cost of using SMS is still high at Bt2 to Bt3 per message.

Kietikul says the telephone for the deaf should be much cheaper, with a Bt3 charge for which users can stay connected as long as they want.

The project received Bt600,000 in funding from the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, which in return will get to use Kietikul's 10 prototypes in further tests in cooperation with the Deaf Association of Thailand.

"We will use the testing process to receive responses from users so we can make more improvements to suit their needs, keeping in mind commercial and mass-production considerations," says Kietikul, who hopes that his telephone for the deaf will be on the market by the end of next year.

Kietikul says that the cost per phone terminal - which now at the prototype stage is about Bt5,000 with needed keyboard/screen device and modem - will be around Bt2,000 or Bt3,000 by the time it goes on sale.

Ultimately, the phone terminal should allow for text message communication that is easier and cheaper than comparable PC chatting programs and the MS features on a mobile phone.

Kietikul hopes to see his technology integrated with both home and public telephones, to make any phone terminal to do much more than carry voice calls.

"Imagine if we integrate such technology with the public telephone and then people can send messages and chat with friends," Kietikul says. "It would be great if people can do such things from any telephone terminal."

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation