Accessibility of services in digital television for hearing impaired consumers.

This paper deals with the issue of the utilization of digital television for hearing impaired consumers. The necessity and different possibilities in providing of watching television services for people with the special needs have risen with the occurrence of digital television. Various access services, such as subtitles and sign language, are described in this paper. This preliminary study included a focus group of 30 deaf and hard-of-hearing respondents. The results from a discussion with subjects from a focus group through questionnaires shed light on how they address the new implications brought by digital television. The goal of this survey is to identify their attitudes toward digital television and to explore factors pertaining to their use of access services in television environment. The examination results concerning hearing impaired consumers about advantages and accessibility of the corresponding services are presented in this paper. The research presented in this paper constitutes an initial step toward a better set of facilities for deaf or hearing impaired users with the purpose of minimizing digital and social exclusion.