How Alexa is Helping PWD Stay in Touch with Loved Ones

Date & Time

Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - 11:20 AM PST  

Location

Platinum 4 (AMAZON)  

Description

The Alexa for Everyone (AFE) team develops experiences for customers with all abilities, expanding the reach of Alexa across the spectrum of abilities for vision, hearing, speech, cognition, and motor functions. Juliana Tarpey (Product Manager for AFE and formally PM for Alexa Communications) will discuss the shifting communication trends seen over the past two years, and the role that Alexa plays in helping PWD stay connected with loved ones. Juliana will share changes in customer behavior and provide an overview of shifting communication mediums and technologies. We will then unpack how Alexa, most known for its voice forward experiences, is also providing real time accommodations during video calls for people speech impairments or are Deaf or HoH. Since last year, Alexa has released two new features (which we will showcase) that are providing real time on-screen accommodations to help customers communicate with out of group contacts; With Call Captioning, Deaf and HoH customers can see captions for their calls in near real time. RTT (Real Time Text) as a standard, enables customers with speech impairments to type text that is displayed live on the screen, while they see each other on video during the call. We’ll also explore how Alexa helps give remote relatives peace of mind, using tools for care givers to provide support from afar, which include the ability to reach emergency contacts.  

Audience

• Information & Communications Technology
• Disability Specific
• Research & Development

Audience Level

Beginning  

Session Summary (Abstract)

The past two years have shifted how we communicate with loved ones. Come and learn how Alexa is now providing real-time or near real-time accommodations in video calls for people with speech impairments or that are Deaf/HoH.  

Primary Topic

Digital Accessibility  

Secondary Topics

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML)
• Cognitive & Learning Disabilities
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing
• Product Demonstration

 

Session Type

General Track  

Presenter

• Juliana Tarpey
  Amazon

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