Currently, many devices/apps have voice-to-text capabilities, such as iFlytek’s “Hearing” app, Yinsong, and Sogou’s “Voice-Text Conversion”. However, hearing-impaired individuals often encounter many issues during use, and the answers found online are scattered and hard to find. To help everyone achieve effective barrier-free communication, below are communication techniques and methods from the personal experiences of hearing-impaired sign language users, using the iFlytek series apps as examples.
1. Recreating Barrier-Free Communication Scenarios
1. Offline Meetings
Li was fortunate to participate in a training course for disabled individuals as a hearing-impaired person. The training content mainly focused on the work of and for people with disabilities. There was no barrier-free support at the meeting, but it was not a challenge for him. He used a tablet with the “iFlytek Hearing” app to convert voice to text and understand the training content, learning and reflecting on how to improve the work for disabled individuals and the future development of disability services. The environment was relatively quiet, and the instructor’s voice was clear, making the translation process very smooth. During the graduation speech segment, encouraged by his fellow group members, Li completed his speech draft overnight, using sign language while reading the script aloud through the “iFlytek Voice” app, successfully completing the offline meeting task.
2. Online Interviews
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Beijing has unilaterally restricted entry, disrupting Xiaohong’s job search plans. After receiving an interview invitation email, she communicated multiple times online with the relevant university and was allowed to conduct the interview online. Xiaohong was overjoyed but suddenly fell silent in thought, as she needed to showcase her abilities and strengths using PPT and the iFlytek series apps without online subtitles in the “Tencent Meeting” app. She went through several mock interviews, seeking various solutions. Ultimately, during the online interview, Xiaohong used the iFlytek series “split-screen” feature to achieve barrier-free communication, employing voice-to-text to understand the interviewer’s spoken information and text-to-voice to complete her self-introduction, presentation, and interview responses, earning the interviewer’s favor.
3. Making and Receiving Phone Calls
When encountering problems or requests, the first thought is often to call the 12345 hotline. Xiaojian once called the 12345 hotline to communicate about the issue of using a third-generation disability certificate from another province for free bus rides in Beijing.
When dialing the 12345 hotline, Xiaojian first input text on the interface to express that he is a hearing-impaired person needing assistance and requires text-to-speech translation, asking the other party to be patient. Then, he conducted a question-and-answer exchange in text form for text-to-speech translation—he typed in text, which was converted to speech for the other party to hear; then, when the other party spoke, their speech was converted to text for him to view, and he continued to reply, repeating this process. Finally, the phone communication was completed, and he received a satisfactory response.
4. Daily Communication
Currently, most people wear masks, which creates obstacles for communication for hearing-impaired individuals. Xiaohuang recently went to her workplace and first needed to communicate with the security guard at the reception, who spoke with an accent. She used the “iFlytek Hearing” app to communicate and found that the translated text was inaccurate. Xiaohuang then tried to piece together the content using context clues, guessing and understanding just enough to solve the communication problem.
2. Techniques and Methods for Barrier-Free Communication
By organizing, refining, and summarizing different communication scenarios, and considering the characteristics of the hearing-impaired sign language user group, several focused and representative techniques and methods are proposed.
1. Learn to Use the “Split-Screen” Feature
The “iFlytek Hearing” and “iFlytek Voice” apps are functionally independent. When using one electronic device (either a phone or tablet), it is necessary to learn to use the “split-screen” feature. “Split-screen” does not refer to a physical screen split operation but rather involves first opening the “iFlytek Voice” app and then enabling the floating subtitle mode in the “iFlytek Hearing” app to achieve barrier-free communication.
2. Improve Text Input Speed
It is essential to prepare adequately in advance, familiarize oneself with and master the methods of use, to make barrier-free communication more efficient. Not only this, but it is also necessary to improve text input speed to shorten the audience’s waiting time for information. Especially for hearing-impaired sign language users, who cannot express their intentions through pronunciation, the input speed for ordinary people is about 50-80 words per minute, while hearing-impaired individuals, due to frequent typing, may exceed 100 words per minute. However, they can never keep up with the normal speaking speed of healthy individuals, which is about 150 words per minute. The small size of mobile phone keyboards makes it inconvenient for quick text input, so it is advisable to use an external Bluetooth keyboard.
3. Cultivate a Sense of Written Language
The linguistic characteristics, meanings, and expressions of sign language differ from written Chinese. Hearing-impaired sign language users sometimes struggle to express a complete thought or sentence, and even when using a “text-to-speech” app for barrier-free communication, the audience may not fully understand. Therefore, hearing-impaired sign language users need to cultivate their sense of written language by reading more, watching subtitled movies and TV series, news, etc., to learn and understand various dialogues, which can effectively improve their comprehension and use of written language.
4. Communication Secrets of “Brilliant Insight”
Due to limitations of voice-to-text apps caused by dialects and environmental factors, it is inevitable to encounter incomplete content and inaccurate phrases during translation. In such cases, hearing-impaired individuals need to learn to reasonably infer word meanings based on the context of the translation. The ability to guess word meanings depends on the individual’s vocabulary and reading comprehension skills. The larger the vocabulary, the stronger the comprehension ability, and the more accurate the guessing ability, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of the information obtained.
3. Preparations for Barrier-Free Communication
The use of the iFlytek series is divided into the following parts: hearing-impaired user certification, real-time translation, floating subtitles, text input reading, etc.
1. Hearing Impaired User Certification
(1) Search for the “iFlytek Hearing” app in the respective app store and download and install it.
(2) Open the software. Click “Login” and choose from various login methods including “One-click Login”, “WeChat Login”, and “Other Login Methods”, and check to agree to the iFlytek Hearing agreement and privacy policy.
(3) Click the three-line icon in the upper left corner, scroll down to the bottom, click “Hearing Impaired User Certification”, and in the “Rights Application for Hearing Impaired Individuals” section, click “Apply for Certification”. Follow the prompts to upload ID and disability certificate photos, submit for review, and wait for a notification SMS of the review result within three working days to use the iFlytek Hearing app services for free indefinitely.
2. Real-Time Translation
In conversational scenarios, hearing-impaired individuals can “hear” what the other party is saying by clicking the “microphone” button on the page to start voice recognition, which will display the spoken content in real-time text on the screen. During the translation service, related photos can be embedded, and the recorded content can be marked. The translation supports multiple languages including Chinese and English for online real-time translation. To end the real-time translation service, click the “✅” icon.
3. Floating Subtitles
The iFlytek Hearing app has launched the “floating subtitles” feature, which is very important as it makes barrier-free communication more convenient, especially when there is only one electronic device (phone or tablet) available. In the real-time translation interface, clicking the floating subtitle button will display the results of voice recognition as a semi-transparent subtitle bar floating above the software, converting the spoken content into text in real-time and automatically scrolling.
4. Text Input Reading
(1) To address the issue of unclear pronunciation among hearing-impaired sign language users and to better express themselves through sound, thereby allowing listeners to effectively receive information, a text-to-speech app can be used. Search for the “iFlytek Voice” app in the respective app store and download and install it.
(2) In the input box, enter text and click the “One-Click Listen” button to convert the entered text into speech and play it automatically.
In addition to the iFlytek series products, there are many other related apps that can be chosen based on personal preferences and habits.
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