Merged Live Audio Transformation for Hard-of-Hearing Meetings
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing assistive technologies for individuals with hearing impairments, such as speech recognition engines, fail to accurately convey the context of speech in virtual meetings, and live sign language translation is not feasible in remote settings, compromising the participation experience for those who are hard of hearing.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that dynamically integrates live sign language translation from a remote location within a virtual meeting, allowing selection of a live interpreter and presenting the translation in a companion window while obscuring the interpreter's presence from other participants, supplemented by real-time audio and text transcription.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If speech recognition engines are used for real-time transcription in virtual meetings, then automated transcription is provided, but the accuracy and context preservation of speech translation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges automated speech recognition with live human sign language translation by combining both systems in a single virtual meeting interface. The speech recognition provides automated transcription while the live interpreter provides contextual accuracy, creating a hybrid system that leverages the strengths of both automation and human expertise to achieve both efficiency and precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a live sign language interpreter as an intermediary between the speech and the hard of hearing participant. This intermediary translates the speech into sign language in real-time, bridging the gap between automated transcription limitations and the need for accurate contextual translation, thereby resolving the contradiction between automation and precision.
2Measurement precision
If live sign language translation is implemented in the same room, then translation accuracy is improved, but the feasibility for remote attendees deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical requirement of physical presence in the same room with a virtual communication system. The live sign language interpreter uses video conferencing technology to transmit their translations remotely, substituting the need for physical proximity with digital connectivity, thereby enabling both high accuracy and remote participation feasibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions the translation service from a two-dimensional physical space requirement to a three-dimensional virtual space solution. By using video and audio streams, the system creates a virtual presence that can accommodate both the interpreter and remote attendees in a digital environment, resolving the contradiction between physical feasibility and remote adaptability.
3Loss of information
If live interpreter is made visible to all participants, then translation transparency is improved, but the anonymity and comfort of hard of hearing participants deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the interpreter visible only to the hard of hearing participant rather than all participants. The interpreter's video feed is selectively displayed in the interface, ensuring translation transparency for those who need it while maintaining the anonymity and comfort of other participants who do not require assistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the communication interface into different visible elements for different users. The interpreter is presented as a separate, optional component in the meeting interface, allowing hard of hearing participants to access translation services without requiring the interpreter to be visible to everyone, thus preserving participant anonymity while maintaining translation transparency where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
The supplementation of an alternative form of audio in a communicative conference for the benefit of the hard of hearing includes first capturing audio in a communicative conference between different parties to the conference, and then transforming the captured audio into an alternative form so as to display the alternative form in connection with the communicative conference. The supplementation additionally includes invoking a companion window to the communicative conference with a view to a live audio interpreter. Finally, the supplementation includes merging the view to the live audio interpreter with the communicative conference and the alternative form, and transmitting the captured audio to the live audio interpreter while concurrently delivering the captured audio and the alternative form to at least one of the different parties of the conference.