Testing of a mobile accessibility solution for the deaf and hard of hearing started in early October in cooperation with the Hungarian National Association of Deaf and Hard of hearing (SINOSZ), and other civil organisations. At the end of the three week test period, focus group users gave positive feedback about the services of the mobile application.

During the test, information in sign language was available through the mobile phone about various POIs of the square, like statues, museums, institutions etc. Taking advantage of the location awarenes of the mobile phone, the application displays the image of the closest POI. By selecting this menu item, the information in the form of sign language video is streamed to the user’s mobile from a central server.

Mobile accessibility – a first in genre solution
„As of today, the Kossuth square in Budapest is the first public outdoor area made accessible using ICT devices“ said Andras Kovecs, Director of BD. „Current research aims the development of a system for indoor use, deploying indoor location technology. Further plans point in the direction of extending the services to other institutions and public areas in Hungary and in a second stage at international level.

International markets
„There is a significant international potential in this application. We are working on finding the best international partner for extending the services.“ said Gabor Lemak, manager of Mobility and Multimedia Cluster. Artklikk, teaming up with other cluster members, has already achieved significant results in the field of mobile and multimedia applications. The R&D company’s other products, among other Hungarian hi-tech innovations, can be tested in live in the Innovation TechShow 2010 organized by the MM Cluster.

„Today there are more than 360 thousand deaf and hard of hearing individuals in Hungary. These people cannot access several public services, beacuse these are available only in spoken language“ said Ádám Kósa, member of the European Parliament. He draws attention to the fact that despite Hungary‘s ratification of the UN convention about the rights of persons living with disabilities in 2007, there are still no professional or design guidelines avaliable for ICT and audio-visual accessibility solutions. „This initiative“, added Kósa . „might be a very good start.“

Kossuth square – Accessible!
Anyone interested can take part in the testing by downloading the application to her/his smartphone having a 3G mobile data connection.
Thanks to continuous development, the application will soon become suitable for indoor accessibility solutions. In the near future this will enable to introduce the solution to further public spaces (touristic points of interest, districts of Budapest) and institutions (museums, local governments, health care facilities).
The system was designed with easy dissemination in mind. The mobile client has to be downloaded only once, and after that constantly updated. By this way, a growing amount of accessibility content becomes available, even across borders.

About Artklikk
Artklikk is a privately held Hungarian company specialized in mobile RD. Artklikk has participated in several mobile RD projects with other members of the MM Cluster and has a strong research background provided by the cooperation with the Technical University of Budapest. The company’s main focus are video based mobile content services with contextual targeting, culminating in its proprietary mobile platform called "fullXS™"

Source: ArtKlikk