The Challenges of Deaf Internet Users

This is the second post in a series about the challenges of persons with disabilities in using the Internet. Previously, we talked about the challenges blind people are facing when trying to access web sites.

Here, we’ll focus on a disability group which most people think doesn’t have any problems surfing the Net. I’m talking about persons who are deaf and hard of hearing. Many people think that since deaf people can see the contents of a web page, they wouldn’t have problems accessing any site.

Let’s find out if that is true. Our friend Peter, who shared with us A Day of a Deaf Person, joins us in this post.

Videos on the Internet

You may have experienced the following situation before. If not, try to picture yourself in it.

You go to YouTube and search for a particular video. You’re very excited to watch this video because it’s the latest and most juicy interview of your favorite celebrity. Then when you opened the page, you could see the video but you can’t hear anything. Frustrated, you try to check if your computer’s volume is turned up but there is no problem with your PC.

This can be a very upsetting situation to you, but for people like Peter, this is a problem which they face in almost all video sharing sites. Peter has tried to access countless documentaries, shows, interviews and other videos online. But sadly, the same thing happens. He won’t enjoy them since he can’t understand what is talked about in the videos.

You can nonetheless help persons like Peter enjoy the same videos as the rest of the world does. YouTube has provided an option for you to upload captions for your videos. Captions enable the user to read the conversations in videos as well as audio events such as laughter, sounds of nature, and explosions.

Captioning a YouTube video is easy. So if you have a YouTube video or if you know someone who has one, create captions for the video and make a difference in the viewing experience of millions of users.

Podcasts

Peter finds out that he can earn extra money by setting up a site focused on Internet marketing. He browses several pages and stumbles on a tutorial explaining the steps to create a profitable Internet marketing site. He reads the introduction and is convinced that the tutorial is for him.

He continues reading and finds out that the tutorial is contained in a podcast. Hoping that there’s something he can read in the downloadable files, he proceeds to check their details.

But no, all he saw was a set of mp3 files. Peter would have really wanted to learn from the tutorial, but he reluctantly decided to find another one. For the creator of the tutorial, this in turn resulted to another prospective customer lost.

Situations like this can be avoided by providing text transcripts for audio content. There are many companies that provide fast and inexpensive audio transcription services. Transcripts enable persons such as Peter to understand and enjoy the audio information you are providing. It also benefits people who prefer reading the information while listening to it.

Audio CAPTCHA

Peter finds a social network site which interests him. He tries to sign up. At the end of the registration form, he finds a CAPTCHA consisting of distorted characters he has to read and enter.

Like most of us, he finds the CAPTCHA hard to read. So he tries to load a new image but alas, it’s even more difficult to read. He looks for other options and finds that the only alternative is an audio CAPTCHA he can activate by clicking a button labeled “Listen to the code”. This option is generally known as an audio CAPTCHA. But this won’t be useful to Peter now, will it?

There are site owners who provide these audio CAPTCHAs as an alternative, so that people who can’t see the code can listen to it. But audio CAPTCHAs are not exactly the best alternative. This is because most users find audio CAPTCHAs hard to understand. Even blind people, who are its main target users, find it hard to understand audio CAPTCHA. You should also be aware that if you use audio CAPTCHAs as an alternative, deaf people won’t be able to use them.

To provide a solution, web experts have found a number of alternatives to CAPTCHA. Although these alternatives have their own advantages and drawbacks, you can still pick one that would be suitable for your site.

Sound Alerts

During his free time, Peter loves to chat with his family and friends online. He uses an application that lets him enter his messages and receive instant messages from others. Once, he decided to browse a web site while chatting with his friend.

He became so amazed at the site that he forgot about the chat application for several minutes. Suddenly he remembers that he was in the middle of an important online conversation with his friend. Peter saw several messages from his friend. At the last message, Peter’s friend told him that she had to go.

He wonders why he didn’t notice the message alerts and then finds out the reason later on. The chat application only provides sound alerts when someone sends a message. Since Peter can’t hear these alerts, he won’t know if someone has sent a message while he is working on other things.

This issue can be solved by providing both visual and sound alerts. For instance, while the sound alert for a new message is played, the window can change color or blink. This lets all users see the alert regardless of whether they can hear it or not.

Conclusion

These are just a few of the challenges faced by Internet users who are deaf. But if you find these issues in your site and correct them, you would be contributing a lot in the accessibility of information on the World Wide Web.