In Japan, real-time captioning for deaf students at mainstream schools is being piloted on iPhones as a substitute for note-takers sitting with students.
Primary schools in the Nagano region near Tokyo are to be the testbeds. The system will be tested through March 2010 by a consortium made up of Tsukuba Institute of Technology, Mobile Softbank, Gunma University, the University of Tokyo and non-profit organisation Nagano Summarize Center.
Deaf students in classes use the “Mobile Type Remote Captioning System” to access their teachers’ words by reading a PC screen in real-time. In these latest tests, the viability of using speech-to-text software will be investigated instead of two interpreters operating the system, as in its first incarnation.
