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From
Lost Remote:
Comcast announced a new feature to help the blind and visually impaired better watch television and use the Comcast X1 platform.
The “talking guide” will be released over the next few weeks to
Comcast customers. Customers don’t have to download anything or buy new
hardware; the feature is available just by tapping the A button twice
on the remote control. The “talking guide” is a female voice that reads
the guide, with program names, networks, and time slots, as well as On
Demand and DVR information. It will also read program information and
ratings that Comcast features from Rotten Tomatoes and Common Sense
Media. They plan to have search functionality included in future
versions of the talking guide.
Comcast hired a Vice President of Audience in 2012, Tom Wlodkowski , to specifically focus on increasing usability
for people with disabilities. According to Comcast and the United
States Census, about 19 million household include a person with a
disability, 8.1 million of those with a visual impairment. Cable
companies and Smart TVs are a good place to start innovating for them.
Wlodkowski said in a statement: "The talking guide is as much about usability as it is
about accessibility. We think about accessibility from the design of a
product all the way through production and this feature is the result of
years of work by our team including customer research, focus groups and
industry partnerships. For people like me who are blind, this new
interface opens up a whole new world of options for watching TV."
You can see how the guide works in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kky3i1MxxAY
