Simultaneous transcription of machine shorthand for the deaf
Simultaneous transcription of machine shorthand for the deaf
People with severe or profound hearing loss are unable to make use of hearing aids and must therefore rely upon visual methods of communication. A review of communication techniques and aids for the Deaf is given which shows that there is often a need for a simultaneous visual transcription of speech for the Deaf to read. This thesis describes the development of such a trancription system based upon Palantype machine shorthand, a shorthand system used for verbatim reporting in the U.K. The Palantype transcription system described in this thesis was developed in two phases. In the first, an investigation was made into transliteration techniques for converting the pseudo-phonetic Palantype shorthand codes into orthographic English. Two prototype systems were built and subjected to lengthy practical trials with highly-motivated post-lingually deaf users. Though very successful, these trials showed that a higher quality transcription was required for most deaf users. In the second phase, an investigation of a limited dictionary of common English words to supplement the transliterations was made. This showed that a dictionary of about 1500 words could provide a transcript of approximately 80% orthographic English, and reconstitute over 90% of word boundaries. Experiments were carried out to compare the readability of this Palantype transcription with English orthography, and to estimate the effect on readability of operator keying errors and the limited dictionary. A microprocessor implementation of this system was built, and several systems are now in regular use. A Palantype switch keyboard, which replaced the original Palantype machine in this application, was also designed. A series of comparative tests showed that this keyboard substantially reduced operator errors. Finally, some consideration has been given to further development of the system to provide automated transcription in commercial applications such as verbatim reporting.
University of Southampton
Downton, Andrew Corin
51019d7c-b647-4dc6-ba1f-97d6b90c120e
1982
Downton, Andrew Corin
51019d7c-b647-4dc6-ba1f-97d6b90c120e
Downton, Andrew Corin
(1982)
Simultaneous transcription of machine shorthand for the deaf.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
People with severe or profound hearing loss are unable to make use of hearing aids and must therefore rely upon visual methods of communication. A review of communication techniques and aids for the Deaf is given which shows that there is often a need for a simultaneous visual transcription of speech for the Deaf to read. This thesis describes the development of such a trancription system based upon Palantype machine shorthand, a shorthand system used for verbatim reporting in the U.K. The Palantype transcription system described in this thesis was developed in two phases. In the first, an investigation was made into transliteration techniques for converting the pseudo-phonetic Palantype shorthand codes into orthographic English. Two prototype systems were built and subjected to lengthy practical trials with highly-motivated post-lingually deaf users. Though very successful, these trials showed that a higher quality transcription was required for most deaf users. In the second phase, an investigation of a limited dictionary of common English words to supplement the transliterations was made. This showed that a dictionary of about 1500 words could provide a transcript of approximately 80% orthographic English, and reconstitute over 90% of word boundaries. Experiments were carried out to compare the readability of this Palantype transcription with English orthography, and to estimate the effect on readability of operator keying errors and the limited dictionary. A microprocessor implementation of this system was built, and several systems are now in regular use. A Palantype switch keyboard, which replaced the original Palantype machine in this application, was also designed. A series of comparative tests showed that this keyboard substantially reduced operator errors. Finally, some consideration has been given to further development of the system to provide automated transcription in commercial applications such as verbatim reporting.
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Published date: 1982
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Local EPrints ID: 460001
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/460001
PURE UUID: 5f186d54-3765-4e00-8bb1-06f30434bbb4
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 17:33
Last modified: 23 Jul 2022 00:58
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Author:
Andrew Corin Downton
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