Changing the game

Bring together nearly 3,800 athletes from 80 different countries in one city for a world games event, and you're going to find yourself with a long list of logistics issues. But if those athletes and a good percentage of the staff that support them are deaf, providing cost-effective, readily accessible communication suddenly ranks right up there with venue capacity, transportation infrastructure and security concerns.

In response to the M-Taiwan project (link resides outside of ibm.com) initiated by Ministry of Economic Affairs, IBM and the Chinese Deaf Association (link resides outside of ibm.com) teamed up in 2008 to deliver a smarter communication solution in time for the September games at the 2009 Deaflympics (link resides outside of ibm.com) in Taipei, Taiwan. The result is an online, real-time sign language interpreting service based on IBM Lotus® Sametime® instant messaging solution and WiMAX wireless broadband technology.

In a nutshell, that means a person who is deaf or hard of hearing can access sign-language interpretation services from their laptop anytime, anywhere — even in a stadium filled with flag-waving fans. A person with hearing loss can install the Lotus application on their wireless laptop equipped with a Web cam and wireless Internet connection. When they are communicating or listening to people who don't know sign language, they connect to a Web-based service center where sign language interpreters are available. Using instant messaging and video chat, the interpreter can facilitate the conversation by signing to the person who is deaf or hard of hearing and when necessary, translating the sign language for the hearing person.

While video relay services can be obtained in many developed countries, it is not truly wireless and is often only available when communicating via public telephone lines. In general, Asia has been slow to adopt similar services because current broadband technology such as 3G and ADSL (link resides outside of ibm.com) delivers poor video quality and lacks the bandwidth to support two-way live video communication. However, IBM's implementation of the solution on WiMax, which supports high-quality video essential for this type of sign language service, enabled government officials to extend the scope of the project to the entire island nation, making it the first online sign language interpretating service platform in Asia.

That's good news for 200,000 people with hearing loss in Taiwan. But the WiMax component of the solution has potentially big implications for video interpreting services in the U.S. and other global markets. Its real-time video capabilities, combined with the ability to deliver much longer range, wireless high-speed Internet access than Wi-Fi, means companies like Sprint, Google, Android, and others could finally make video interpreting services available wirelessly even in rural areas worldwide. Now that's a smart communications solution that could be a game changer for everyone.