Summary
Over 5% of the world’s population – or 466 million people – have disabling hearing loss. It is estimated that by 2050 over 900 million people – or one in every ten people – will have disabling hearing loss (WHO). Communication among the deaf community is predominantly through the medium of sign language. One of the key challenges on the community is to have independent access to information. Individuals with profound hearing loss or deafness are predominantly reliant on sign language and text/visual based communication methods of interaction. This use case focuses on developing an innovative solution to alert individuals with profound hearing loss or deafness about relevant information during emergency situations while commuting in public transport systems.
Target Users
Completed
User Journey
Maryam is 24 yrs old. She is unable to hear spoken word and key audible events and relies on visual and text-based communication to interact with others. Mayram is looking to securely and independently use the public transport system to commute from within the city in a safe manner.
1
Maryam is commuting by Doha Metro from Wakra station to visit DECC.
2
While the train is en route, an audio announcement is informing the commuters that due to technical reasons, the train will not be stopping at DECC station and will be alighting at the next station (Al Qassar Station) instead.
3
Maryam receives a haptic feedback on her smart wearable device informing her about an emergency alert being announced in the train.
4
Maryam checks her smartphone to view the announcement message in a visual format (e.g. sign language).
5
Upon arriving at Al Qassar Station, Maryam disembarks the safely fully aware of the situation and is able to catch the next train going back to DECC from her current station.
Potential Service Features
- Emergency alerts
- Haptic feature
- Closed Captioning App API
Touch Points
Issue Statement
As a person with hearing impairment, Maryam is unable to access adequate alerts and notification announcement conveyed in public transport systems as they are primarily audio based. She needs the information to be conveyed using alternative means like visual, haptic, and text-based systems.
Expected Key Benefits
Accessible Emergency Services Alerts
Make emergency services alerts accessible and delivered to mass audiences through multiple formats of communication.
Contextual Information Delivery
Based on the user’s live location, relevant contextual information (e.g. emergency notifications, alternative routes, etc.) can be pushed to the user through multiple formats of communication like visual and text-based notifications.
Audience Expansion
Businesses and public sector organizations can use the solution to broadcast contextualized information in multiple formats, thereby targeting a wider customer based that can be engaged through various advertising mediums.
Implementation Analysis
Implementation Timeline
Short
Medium
Long
Technology Commercial Viability
No
Investment Requirements
Low
Medium
High
Key Implementation Considerations
1
Capturing live notification alerts from public commuting system.
2
Accurate conversion of announcements in various formats.
3
Management of User Privacy information.
4
Intuitive User Interface.