ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER IN SO{LEAD}OME NONJUDICIAL settings across
the country, people with hearing problems no longer have to depend solely on
interpreters, thanks to "real-time" technology.
Kelly Short, an honor student at Roanoke's Patrick Henry High School who
has been deaf since birth, recently learned a new way to communicate.
Using a computer, she can talk with people without a sign-language interpreter.
Roanoke Valley court reporter Lori Ballard introduced Short to courtroom technology that was used in the O.J. Simpson trial and in preliminary hearings for the Oklahoma City bombing trial.
The "real-time," high-tech equipment takes the spoken word and converts it into written form, providing a quick transcript of court proceedings.
The technology also is being used to help those who are deaf or hearing-impaired. In some classrooms and other nonjudicial settings across the country, people with hearing problems no longer have to depend solely on sign-language interpreters.
Ballard brought the technology to Short's attention after reading a recent letter in The Roanoke Times from the student's mother complaining about problems with school interpreters.
As a person talked to Short, Ballard typed the words into a stenographic machine connected to a laptop computer. A software program translated the words verbatim and displayed them on the screen in front of Short.
Short, 16, replied by typing on the laptop keyboard. The person talking with her read her comments and responded. Ballard typed the reply into the machine, serving as an intermediary in the conversation.
Ballard said the time lapse between the spoken words and their appearance on the screen is one to three seconds - faster than an interpreter could translate them.
Short had heard of the technology but had never used it.
"I would say this could be better than sign because some interpreters aren't very good," she said.
"There is a chance that sign [language] can get mixed up, because there are some words that have the same sign," Short said. "With this technology, you can be sure of the exact words."
Short said her interpreters don't always understand the teacher. And interpreters are absent occasionally because of illness or other reasons.
"I think this could help in some classes," she said. "It would also be a good backup if an interpreter were absent."
The technology would eliminate the chance of Short's missing something by looking away at a blackboard; the teacher's words still would be on the computer screen when she looked back.
Short, a junior, commutes from Botetourt County because Roanoke operates a regional program with sign-language interpreters for students in six school systems.
Short would like to become a writer. She has won international writing contests for the deaf and hearing-impaired.
Roanoke has a dozen interpreters who work with children from preschool through the 12th grade.
Robert Sieff, director of special services for city schools, said the real-time technology is new and has not been used widely by Virginia schools. School officials would have to consider cost and other issues before replacing interpreters with the technology, he said.
Ballard said the technology probably would never replace interpreters in schools because separate software programs would be needed for math, foreign languages and other courses.
"I would think this could serve more as an adjunct for an interpreter," she said.
Ballard said the computer technology is beneficial for large rooms or auditoriums, where the deaf and hearing-impaired can read the words on a large computer screen at the front of the room.
The technology package costs about $10,000. The stenographic machine and computer each cost about $3,000, and the software costs $4,000, Ballard said.
She uses the equipment in her court work because it speeds up litigation and saves time, she said.
She can provide a printout of a transcript almost immediately, she said. It usually takes two weeks to get a transcript from a court reporter who uses a conventional stenographic machine.
Ballard also provides services to the deaf and hearing-impaired. She said a number of other court reporters in the Roanoke Valley have the new technology.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: LAURA M. KLEINHENZ/Staff. Court reporter Lori Ballardby CNBworks with Kelly Short on a system that converts the spoken word
into written form. color.