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Connected: Interpreter service keeps the lines open for deaf patients
There are times when you can use technology to solve a problem and times when humans might be able to do it better. But what about those applications in which technologies can empower humans to get the job done?
Bob Fisher, of Mt. Lebanon-based DT Interpreting (formerly Deaf-talk), figured how to use technology to get an important human job done -- providing translation services for deaf patients who walk into hospitals with a problem.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires hospitals to be able to offer disabled patients timely, effective and reasonable communication, which previously meant bringing in an interpreter familiar with American Sign Language (ASL). But not just any ASL interpreter is suitable. That person needs to be certified as an interpreter of ASL and be medically qualified. There's a shortage of those people -- if you're looking for a career -- and it's expensive to bring them to the hospital three to four times a month even if you can get somebody there quickly enough to help handle a patient's problem.
Mr. Fisher and his partners decided they could offer American Sign Language interpreting services from afar -- with the right technology. So he devised a method to use remote conferencing to connect hospitals to translation studios set up around the country. He can man them 24 hours a day, seven days a week and provide the services to hospitals from coast to coast.
DT Interpreting uses Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) lines that directly connect the hospitals to the studios. The administrators at the hospitals spread the system throughout their buildings by using their local area networks and special high-end conferencing systems produced by Sony.
The Sony systems, called IPELA, are portable monitors that are like a heavier and nicer looking intravenous monitor. They have built-in cameras, speakers and microphones so that when they are positioned in front of a patient, the doctor can ask questions from off-screen and be heard by the off-site interpreter who then uses ASL to convey the question to the patient visually.
Since the camera is pointed at the patient, he subsequently can answer the question in ASL, allowing the interpreter to provide the answer so the doctor can hear it through the IPELA system.
The remote interpreter can change the angle of the camera lens on the IPELA system to make sure she sees the patient's full signing, and the entire unit can be connected to a wireless access point so it can be connected to the hospital's network wirelessly. That allows it to be used in almost any room in the hospital.
You might ask why Mr. Fisher decided not to use PCs and the Internet. He said he chose the high-end Sony system because it allows him additional security that might be compromised by a standard PC -- an important factor given the laws governing patient privacy.
But it's the ISDN decision that's particularly intriguing, because most people have given up on ISDN as an antiquated broadband technology that has been replaced by the Internet with cable modems, DSL and other fast connections. Mr. Fisher says, though, that doing point-to-point communications with ISDN is not fraught with the performance problems of transmitting video over the Internet. He recognizes the pitfalls, but knows that they are overcome quickly after installation.
He's also one of the few people who doesn't work for a cable or telephone company who is in favor of a multitiered Internet, in which content companies can pay for faster Internet performance. That type of structure may change the performance of the Internet to allow his company to comfortably use it instead of ISDN. "I'd gladly pay the price," he says.
There are times when you can use technology to solve a problem and times when humans might be able to do it better. But what about those applications in which technologies can empower humans to get the job done?
Bob Fisher, of Mt. Lebanon-based DT Interpreting (formerly Deaf-talk), figured how to use technology to get an important human job done -- providing translation services for deaf patients who walk into hospitals with a problem.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires hospitals to be able to offer disabled patients timely, effective and reasonable communication, which previously meant bringing in an interpreter familiar with American Sign Language (ASL). But not just any ASL interpreter is suitable. That person needs to be certified as an interpreter of ASL and be medically qualified. There's a shortage of those people -- if you're looking for a career -- and it's expensive to bring them to the hospital three to four times a month even if you can get somebody there quickly enough to help handle a patient's problem.
Mr. Fisher and his partners decided they could offer American Sign Language interpreting services from afar -- with the right technology. So he devised a method to use remote conferencing to connect hospitals to translation studios set up around the country. He can man them 24 hours a day, seven days a week and provide the services to hospitals from coast to coast.
DT Interpreting uses Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) lines that directly connect the hospitals to the studios. The administrators at the hospitals spread the system throughout their buildings by using their local area networks and special high-end conferencing systems produced by Sony.
The Sony systems, called IPELA, are portable monitors that are like a heavier and nicer looking intravenous monitor. They have built-in cameras, speakers and microphones so that when they are positioned in front of a patient, the doctor can ask questions from off-screen and be heard by the off-site interpreter who then uses ASL to convey the question to the patient visually.
Since the camera is pointed at the patient, he subsequently can answer the question in ASL, allowing the interpreter to provide the answer so the doctor can hear it through the IPELA system.
The remote interpreter can change the angle of the camera lens on the IPELA system to make sure she sees the patient's full signing, and the entire unit can be connected to a wireless access point so it can be connected to the hospital's network wirelessly. That allows it to be used in almost any room in the hospital.
You might ask why Mr. Fisher decided not to use PCs and the Internet. He said he chose the high-end Sony system because it allows him additional security that might be compromised by a standard PC -- an important factor given the laws governing patient privacy.
But it's the ISDN decision that's particularly intriguing, because most people have given up on ISDN as an antiquated broadband technology that has been replaced by the Internet with cable modems, DSL and other fast connections. Mr. Fisher says, though, that doing point-to-point communications with ISDN is not fraught with the performance problems of transmitting video over the Internet. He recognizes the pitfalls, but knows that they are overcome quickly after installation.
He's also one of the few people who doesn't work for a cable or telephone company who is in favor of a multitiered Internet, in which content companies can pay for faster Internet performance. That type of structure may change the performance of the Internet to allow his company to comfortably use it instead of ISDN. "I'd gladly pay the price," he says.