Real-Time Transliteration of Speech into Print for Hearing-Impaired Students in Regular Classes

The theoretical basis for real-time graphic display (RTGD) was first presented at the 1978 Lincoln Symposium, and the technology for practical classroom applications became available in 1982, when it was introduced in selected mainstream classes with deaf students at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The system uses a court stenographer sitting in class and entering speech sounds in phonetic shorthand into a minicomputer which regenerates English. This is then displayed in the classroom on a television display. Hard copy of a lecture and student discussion can be printed out for student use immediately after class. To date, RTGD has been used to cover over 500 hours of instruction in 10 undergraduate courses in which approximately 50 deaf students have been enrolled.

Attention in the first year of research and development has focused primarily on improving verbatim accuracy of transliteration from speech into print (up to 95%) and on factors that add to or reduce delay in converting from speech to print (3.5 to 5 seconds). Subjective data from deaf students who have used RTGD have also been gathered and are discussed.

Extended applications of this system for other deaf children and adults are discussed in the context of limitations and refinements needed in the system.