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http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/13412094.htm
University officials and a communications company have collaborated to bring public videophones to the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.
The phones allow deaf and hard-of-hearing people to easily communicate with one another or those who can hear.
The university will demonstrate the phones, which are available for public use, at an open house Friday.
"These are the first public stations in the Northland," said Nancy McFarlin Diener, UMD Disability Services/Resources coordinator.
"There are some deaf people who have them in their homes, but you need to have high-speed Internet," she said.
"If you live, like I do, in Lakewood, you don't have access to high-speed Internet. You have dial-up and it doesn't work. So, this way we're providing a service to the community."
The videophones include a TV monitor and camera, which allow people to converse using sign language.
"The advantage of using videophone is that you get to see your friends or workers face-to-face," Elee Vang, a hearing-impaired UMD student, wrote in an e-mail interview. "Since deaf people are visual people, it works best for them. Using e-mail seems unemotional compared to using the videophone, where you can express your emotions and feelings."
Videophones also allow for communication between deaf and hearing people who are using a telephone. In those cases, the person using the videophone signs to a video relay interpreter on a second videophone. The interpreter translates and relays the spoken message to the hearing person over the telephone line.
Likewise, the interpreter translates the hearing person's spoken words into American Sign Language for the deaf person on the videophone.
"I've used it before and it's an awesome technology that will bring deaf people closer together, as well as hearing people," Vang wrote.
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division of the Minnesota Department of Human Services estimates that there are about 67,000 people who are deaf and 430,000 who are hard of hearing in the state.
"I think that it's about time that something this accessible is available at UMD," she wrote. "It will make things easier for the deaf community or anyone else who wants to talk with deaf people. Now UMD can have the first accessible videophone opened to the public."
Diener helped obtain the videophones for UMD. She works with deaf and hard-of-hearing students, teaches American Sign Language and works as an interpreter.
"I was aware of this new technology that was going wild in the deaf community, and we didn't have it here yet," she said.
Diener contacted Sorenson Communications, which came into existence in 1995 as a video compression technology company. But CEO Jim Sorenson Jr. had a deaf brother-in-law, which inspired the company to develop products and services for the hearing-impaired.
In April 2003, Sorenson Communications introduced the first videophone designed for the deaf community, company spokeswoman Lisa Harrison Tate said.
"There are tens of thousands of videophones now being used by deaf individuals across the nation," Tate said.
Sorenson installed two videophones at UMD earlier this month -- one in the library, the other in the Multicultural Center. The phones and phone service come at no cost -- the service is paid for by a federal surcharge on phone bills.
University officials and a communications company have collaborated to bring public videophones to the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.
The phones allow deaf and hard-of-hearing people to easily communicate with one another or those who can hear.
The university will demonstrate the phones, which are available for public use, at an open house Friday.
"These are the first public stations in the Northland," said Nancy McFarlin Diener, UMD Disability Services/Resources coordinator.
"There are some deaf people who have them in their homes, but you need to have high-speed Internet," she said.
"If you live, like I do, in Lakewood, you don't have access to high-speed Internet. You have dial-up and it doesn't work. So, this way we're providing a service to the community."
The videophones include a TV monitor and camera, which allow people to converse using sign language.
"The advantage of using videophone is that you get to see your friends or workers face-to-face," Elee Vang, a hearing-impaired UMD student, wrote in an e-mail interview. "Since deaf people are visual people, it works best for them. Using e-mail seems unemotional compared to using the videophone, where you can express your emotions and feelings."
Videophones also allow for communication between deaf and hearing people who are using a telephone. In those cases, the person using the videophone signs to a video relay interpreter on a second videophone. The interpreter translates and relays the spoken message to the hearing person over the telephone line.
Likewise, the interpreter translates the hearing person's spoken words into American Sign Language for the deaf person on the videophone.
"I've used it before and it's an awesome technology that will bring deaf people closer together, as well as hearing people," Vang wrote.
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division of the Minnesota Department of Human Services estimates that there are about 67,000 people who are deaf and 430,000 who are hard of hearing in the state.
"I think that it's about time that something this accessible is available at UMD," she wrote. "It will make things easier for the deaf community or anyone else who wants to talk with deaf people. Now UMD can have the first accessible videophone opened to the public."
Diener helped obtain the videophones for UMD. She works with deaf and hard-of-hearing students, teaches American Sign Language and works as an interpreter.
"I was aware of this new technology that was going wild in the deaf community, and we didn't have it here yet," she said.
Diener contacted Sorenson Communications, which came into existence in 1995 as a video compression technology company. But CEO Jim Sorenson Jr. had a deaf brother-in-law, which inspired the company to develop products and services for the hearing-impaired.
In April 2003, Sorenson Communications introduced the first videophone designed for the deaf community, company spokeswoman Lisa Harrison Tate said.
"There are tens of thousands of videophones now being used by deaf individuals across the nation," Tate said.
Sorenson installed two videophones at UMD earlier this month -- one in the library, the other in the Multicultural Center. The phones and phone service come at no cost -- the service is paid for by a federal surcharge on phone bills.