ATU665 – Caption Companion with Margaret Downs

Hi, this is Margaret Downs. I’m the Founder and CEO of Premiere Visual Voice, and this is your Assistive Technology Update.

Hello and welcome to your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology, designed to assist individuals with disabilities and special needs. I’m your host, Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. Welcome to episode 665 of Assistive Technology update, it is scheduled to be released on February 23rd, 2024. On today’s show, we’re going to learn all about the Caption Companion from Margaret Downs. We have BridgingApps on, with an app worth mentioning and a story about AT in the K-12 environment. So let’s go ahead and get on with the show.

Folks, if you’re listening to this show, it’s obvious that you like Assistive Technology and you love podcasts. Well, if you like Assistive Technology and podcasts, have I got a treat for you, Assistive Technology Update is not our only podcast here at the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads, no, we actually have two others. Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions or ATFAQ, it’s a question and answer show, where we take your questions as well as questions that we receive through our other programs and do our best to answer those with our panel of experts. I use that word very loosely, but usually it’s myself, Brian Norton, and other members of our team, sitting in to try to answer your questions. This show relies on our listeners not just for our questions, but sometimes for the answers. Let’s not lie, we do not know everything that there is to know, so we always kind of try to throw those questions out and sometimes our listeners feedback, well, we get to learn stuff as well, which is always a great thing.

Or if perhaps you’re short on time, we also have Accessibility Minute. Now, Accessibility Minute is just a little taster. It’s going to give you just a little bit of information about a new piece of Assistive Technology, a new app, program or something else cool, that might be able to help individuals with disabilities and they give you some resources, where you can go and check out more about it on your own. So remember, if you like this show, if you like Assistive Technology and you like podcasts, check out our other shows, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions and Accessibility Minute to go along with Assistive Technology update, which you’re listening to right now. You can find those over at eastersealstech.com or anywhere you get your podcast. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and give us some comments and feedback, we always love hearing from you. And thank you so much for listening to this and all of our programs.

Folks for today’s story, we’ll talk about something that I think we’ve talked about on here a little bit before, but kind of just some of the things floating around in the K-12 environment, with students IEPs and with the use of assistive technology. So today’s story comes to us from edweek.org and it’s written by Allison Klein. It’s titled Using Technology for Students in Special Education, What the Feds Want Schools to Know. We won’t get into everything that’s actually said in this story, we’ll put a link so that you can go and check it out for yourself. But really what I like about this story is, it digs into how schools have really changed in the way that they rely on technology. So if we think pre-pandemic times, everybody remembers what those are, there was definitely technology in schools. Most students, at most schools, were provided some sort of device to work on homework, to access learning materials, to access of course, the Internet so they could do research and look for other things.

For most schools, this is a Chromebook, an iPad or a tablet style device, maybe a Windows or a Mac computer, but a lot of work was actually done on these devices. Then came the pandemic, and then that really changed a lot of things because a lot of schools had to go to remote learning. I’m sure everyone has horror stories or maybe success stories of how this kind of went. I mean, anything where you try to implement an entirely new way of doing things, without a whole lot of time for planning or testing, of course you’re going to have some hiccups and glitches. Some teachers, professors, educators are probably pretty good with technology and maybe made that integration a little more seamless. Others maybe aren’t as comfortable with technology and perhaps there were some issues and problems, of course for students, those problems also persisted. Those that were really good with technology probably moved kind of seamlessly into this learning environment.

For some folks, not having to sit in class and pay attention and being able to be online, probably helped with their learning, as well. But really what this story talks about is of course, the new guidance from the Department of Education, which we talked about on here before. Just ensuring that assistive technology is really part of the IEP process and really part of the planning in an individual who receives special education services and making sure that it’s front of mind and it’s really thought of. And as it says here in the story, this is really important because schools have come to rely so much more on technology for teaching and learning, and that’s for individuals with or without disabilities. The story also digs in, not so much into the assistive technology aspect, although that is very important, how folks actually access their device, are they able to access their device and the kind of other learning materials and things that may be needed. But also gets into probably one of the more important things, which is Universal Design for Learning.

Now, this of course has been a push of the Department of Education for quite a while, and kind of what Universal Design for Learning or UDL, is just making sure that everything I create as a teacher, be that my PowerPoints, my learning materials, my tests, my quizzes, my reading materials, that all these things are accessible. And what does that mean? Well, it means a lot of different things. Of course, if I’m doing a presentation with pictures, with text, with all that stuff, my text needs to be text and hopefully labeled correctly, headings, other important information, things are in the right place, titles and other information, so that if I’m using a screen reader or any other kind of text-to-speech software, it can easily identify what it is textually, that I’m getting from it. But then also the alt text behind pictures, so that if I’m a visually impaired individual or I need more information on a picture, that there is some text behind there that can be read back to me to explain what that picture is.

And that also goes for graphs, charts, all those kinds of things. Don’t just assume that students can see the graph or even if they can visually see it, perhaps they cannot comprehend it because of a cognitive impairment. So just some more information kind of behind there, just to ensure that individuals of all abilities and all kinds of learning styles can access and get that information and that’s just on the digital side. On the technology side, of course, Universal Design for Learning also is your classroom, your environment, all these other things are very, very important as we look at making learning and education a lot more accessible to all students. Story does dig down a little bit more into the guidance from the Department of Education. It gets into bullet pointing some of the important things. So it makes it clear that the district needs to show parents and students how to use their assistive technology, it’s not just up to the family and the student to figure this out.

It also clarifies, if a student’s allowed to use AT on class assignments, then it should be used for state assessments and standardized testing, as well. It also distinguishes between two terms, that even I hear used interchangeably a lot, and that’s accessible technology and assistive technology. So accessible technology would maybe fall more on that UDL, the Universal Design for Learning. This is tech designed to support many different users and be able to be accessible to many different users. Whereas assistive technology, is a piece of technology specifically, to help a particular child or student, manage different aspects of their disability. And then probably the biggest thing that kind of comes out of this is, it really emphasizes that AT can be used for kids before they ever get to elementary school. So infants, toddlers and their families, to really help with the child’s development and not just the child’s development, but also getting them used to the assistive technology.

If you walk into elementary school and you already know how to use these tools to access the things you’re going to have to access, the learning curve is much smaller, you’re not learning another thing. So I’ll put a link to this over in the show notes so you can go check it out and I’ll try to make sure that I’m not talking about it too much. But it is definitely a big push and a big important thing, just to ensure that our students, those in the K-12 environment and even before, have the tools that they need to access their learning environments, their learning materials, and just be able to get the most out of their education, while still ensuring that we’re doing Universal Design for Learning, so that all students have the opportunity to really succeed, to grow and to thrive. So if you want to read more about this, we’ll put a link to the story over in the show notes. Next up on the show, please join me in welcoming back Amy Barry from BridgingApps with an app worth mentioning.

This is Amy Barry with BridgingApps, and this is an app worth mentioning. This week’s featured app is Otter Transcribe Voice Notes. Corporate meetings are an essential part of business operations, but they can often be exclusionary for employees with disabilities. By making meetings more accessible, businesses can create a more inclusive and supportive work environment for all employees. Otter transcribes all your meetings, interviews, lectures, and everyday voice conversations in real-time, get automated notes for in-person, Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams. All notes are searchable and shareable. Otter is marketed as an efficient and accessible way to turn conversations into smart notes. There are many possible uses for a tool like this from a productivity standpoint, including education. The app is available for iOS, Android and it’s also on the web. It’s free to download with optional in-app purchases. For more information on this app and others like it, visit bridgingapps.org.

Listeners captions are maybe one of the most recognizable accommodations out there. Many folks are used to seeing these on their television sets, but today we’re welcoming Margaret Downs from Premier Visual Voice, and she’s going to tell us how to bring those captions with you everywhere you go, with the Caption Companion. Margaret, welcome to the show.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. I am excited to get into talking about the technology, but before we do that, could you tell our listeners maybe a little bit about yourself and your background?

Yeah, well, as I said, I am the Founder and CEO of Premier Visual Voice. I am a registered CART provider, also trained in court reporting, so that’s been since 2012 and that is actually when Premier Visual Voice became a company. So yeah, primarily we’ve been doing live captioning with the company for over a decade, and I am also blind to low vision, and so I’m also a user of assistive technology every day. So I would not be able to do what I’m doing without assistive technology. So I do understand the importance of it, the need, and I also understand the frustration when it’s not available.

Well, and we were talking a little bit about this kind of before the show, but I’m sure we’ll get into it as we go, but talking about something that’s not available that you do kind of need. I think that brings us into jumping right into the technology and the really cool new thing that you all have there, and that is called the Caption Companion. What is that?

Caption Companion, we’re very, very excited about it. It is an 8 inch, portable tablet device, free unlimited AI captioning, fast and accurate. It is a take anywhere you go solution, and it is a cutting edge solution for captioning.

Very cool. And Margaret, what kind of scenarios is the Caption Companion kind of beneficial in?

Many, it’s for schools, colleges, universities, workplace of any kind, vocational rehab, churches, retirement communities, clubhouses, museums, tours, conferences and conventions and events.

Yeah. And I think we could probably go on for half the rest of the day just kind of talking about all the different places it could kind of be. Well, with the Caption Companion, I know you said it’s got the 8 inch screen, the captions and everything, what all comes with it, whenever I would purchase it?

It comes with the accessories. We all know that good captions, accurate captions, it’s all about audio, whether it is provided by AI or a human captioner. So we’ve designed Caption Companion to have very good audio and to be able to connect in different scenarios. So the accessories that come with it, there is the SmartMic. It does of course, come equipped with an onboard microphone. There are custom cables, where Caption Companion can connect to computers, can connect to phones. The SmartMic can connect to soundboards within large rooms, to have a direct audio feed, does come with the charge cable and the power brick. There’s a lanyard that connects, you can put the SmartMic onto the lanyard and the speaker, say if they’re giving a presentation, they can wear the microphone, so that it’s very audible.

Nice. And I love that you thought to include the SmartMic because like you said, I know that, oh, the audio picked up, really has a great effect on the captions, and I’m sure many of us have seen that in captions in some way, shape or form, before.

Oh, yeah.

And I love that it’s not just a mic, well, I mean it is, but the way you can actually hook it into a soundboard or something. So if I’m at a large event or a large presentation or something, I can get that information straight from there, as opposed to, I don’t know, if I can’t get close enough to the speaker, have them kind of wear it. You have that extra option, so that is-

Right. And we at Premiere Visual Voice, this is what we do and we offer the 24/7 customer service tech support, so we’re always here to help. That’s what we need to do.

… Margaret, I think we talked about this a little bit before we started recording, but an issue that myself and some members of my team have run into with some accommodations with captioning and things, are really privacy concerns. Where does this information end up? Where does it go?

Right.

So for folks that work in a hospital, a medical setting, legal, anything like that, a lot of tools that are out there, they’re not able to use. So is the Caption Companion able to keep their information private and these conversations private?

Oh yeah, totally. Which something I forgot to mention. There is no need to connect to the Internet. So Caption Companion, the AI captioning runs totally offline. And the text that is gathered, it will be held for 24 hours, but then it’s automatically deleted. So there is no data collection, nothing. But if you would like to keep the transcript or upload it to a computer or another device, you do have that option with the custom cable, so you can save it, but there is nothing that is saved.

That is awesome. And that is exactly what I wanted to hear because that’ll get rid of some of those concerns sometimes, whenever an accommodation like this is needed.

Right.

Margaret, what if I were to need a human captioner, as opposed to using the artificial intelligence, is that a possibility?

Oh, yeah. Yep. It’s just literally, tap and you’re connected. So the human captioner would be on there, and of course, they’re hearing the audio from whatever mic is active on the Caption Companion. So if you activate the SmartMic or the onboard microphone on the Caption Companion. Yeah, and it’s very, very simple, it’s just literally, tap it and that’s it.

Awesome. That is really nice. And I know you said that I could connect it to a computer and stuff, so this is just me thinking some different stuff, but can I kind mirror the captions and information to a larger screen or device or something, if maybe I’ve got a group or some other folks that might need those?

Yes, you can do a full screen on a large screen, say in the front of a room. You can also mirror that same thing and you can place the caption box around, on a different area of the screen. So yeah, it’s very versatile. It can do just about anything.

Nice. That is really good. And now Margaret, just while I’ve kind of got you here, I know that the Caption Companion is not all that you do it at Premiere Visual Voice. Can you tell us a little bit about the company and some of the other service offerings?

Sure, yeah. We have professional captioners on-hand at all times, to cover any event that you may need. We also do video captioning, so post-production captioning. We offer audio description for the blind or for anyone else who may find it useful. We do language translation, global subtitling, video remote interpreting, we also offer transcription services. So that’s the bulk of what we do.

Nice, a little bit of everything there, for all your transcription captioning and really needs all along there. Well, that is awesome. Do you have a story about someone’s experience utilizing the Caption Companion and maybe kind of how it helped them out?

Yeah, we do have a number of them, but the one that really stands out to me, is a gentleman who is deaf, uses hearing aids and had a Caption Companion, took it into a restaurant. He was with his wife and daughter, and the restaurant was so noisy, and you know how a lot of times it gets that way and noise everywhere, can hardly hear anybody at the table. I mean, even if you’re a hearing person, sometimes it’s difficult. So his hearing aids became totally useless and he put Caption Companion at his table with his wife and daughter, and he was able to communicate efficiently with them. Caption Companion did its job and it just overtook the hearing aids.

Yeah. And I know that’s a story you hear a lot just because sometimes depending on the hearing aids, sometimes it just seems to turn up all the volume, which when there’s tons of background noise, that’s not really a big help.

Yeah. And I guess, his hearing aids are very specialized, so supposed to kind of, I guess diminish the background sound somehow. But yeah, Caption Companion, it was really a help, he said.

Nice. And I like how you touched on, whenever I think of captions, I think of course video and stuff like that, but I think of events and conferences and things, where you have a large group of people, but you don’t think about those tiny little day-to-day important interactions with family-

Right.

… with friends, with colleagues, with all these things and those little areas that it might be able to assist in. So that’s really awesome.

Right.

Margaret, if our listeners want to find out more or maybe even get their own Caption Companion, what’s the best way for them to do that?

They can just go to premiervisualvoice.com and there is a tab for Caption Companion, right at the top on the homepage and on that page you’ll find everything you need, description of the tablet. There are instructional demo videos that are captioned, that we have created. It’s just everything about the tablet, the use cases, accessories, they’re all explained. And then toward the bottom, there is a form, it’s a request form. You put in your order, place your order, and then one of our team members will contact you. It’s not that you’re paying for them right up front, you’re just ordering and then we would contact you for that kind of stuff.

Cool. Yeah, just making sure people aren’t just getting on and filling out forms for fun? So I definitely-

Yeah.

… understand that part. Well Margaret, we’ll definitely put a link down in the show notes, so that people can easily find that and kind of check it out. I definitely recommend folks go over and check it out. As I brought up a few times during the show, this is a need that at least on our clinical side, we’ve run into a few times, I mean, especially that kind of privacy part of it and having that as an available accommodation, can make just a giant difference. I mean understanding or kind as you explained with the gentleman in the restaurant, just getting more information, making sure you’re getting everything that’s kind of coming in around you, and it’s not being muffled out by just too much noise, kind of around there.

I mean, we just feel that Caption Companion, well captioning, I mean it should be accessible anywhere, as a person with a disability, it would be nice to just walk in somewhere and you don’t have to ask for an accommodation. It should just be there. And this is what Caption Companion is for, it’s the cutting edge solution, and it’s breaking down barriers, physically with the solution itself. And then even the cost, it’s a one-time cost. And I mean, you can literally use the AI captioning, I mean, for hours, it’s just unlimited. We’ve been providing over a decade, the live remote services and we know what obstacles we’ve run into. So we eventually brought in a tablet and then the AI came in. So we just kind of put it all together because we thought, “There’s got to be a better solution for this.” Everybody has a different computer, everybody has a different this, a different that, well, you have Caption Companion, we know how it works, we put it together and there it is. It’s just an all-around solution.

Yeah, and that’s great because I know sometimes, those ongoing costs can kind of make things unattainable for individuals.

Right.

Some funding sources won’t kind of cover those. And then yeah, if you’re doing out of pocket, sometimes it’s a little hard to budget something for long-term. So that is great. And Margaret, I’m with you, I wish that every place was just fully accommodating and accessible and no one had to ask, I’d be out of a job, but I’d be okay with that. I would be totally okay with that. I think one of the goals if you work in a nonprofit, is that someday you can say, “Well, that was solved and you’re done.”

Exactly.

So I mean, we can always kind of hope that happens. I don’t believe it’s going to make it in my lifetime.

Right.

But we can always kind of hope. Well, Margaret, thank you so much for coming on the show today, for telling us about Premiere Visual Voice and most of all, for telling us about the Caption Companion and just all the great things that it can do. We can’t wait to start seeing it in more places. And we’ll make sure to put links in the show notes, so folks can get over and check it out for themselves.

Thank you so much. We really appreciate you. Thank you.

Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on an Assistive Technology Update? If so, call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org, or shoot us a note on Twitter at INDATA Project. Our captions and transcripts for the show are sponsored by the Indiana Telephone Relay Access Corporation or INTRAC. You can find out more about INTRAC at relayindiana.com. A special thanks to Nikol Prieto for scheduling our amazing guests and making a mess of my schedule. Today’s show was produced, edited, hosted, and fraught over by yours truly. The opinions expressed by our guests are their own and may or may not reflect those of the INDATA Project, Easterseals Crossroads, or supporting partners or this host. This was your Assistive Technology Update and I’m Josh Anderson with the INDATA Project at Easterseals Crossroads in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We look forward to seeing you next time. Bye-bye.