Developing accessibility multimedia services: The case of EasyTV

Abstract

People with various degrees of disabilities (e.g., visually or hearing impaired) often find it difficult to access mainstream products and services and thus they are excluded from enjoying audio-visual services on an equal basis as people without disabilities. These people feel marginalized in today's digital society and they are unable to reach their maximum potential personally, professionally and socially. EasyTV aims to address these issues by providing numerous services that not only ease the access of people with disabilities to multimedia services, but also enhance interaction with the media through a multi-language approach that adapts content based on user's preferences. In this work, the main EasyTV services are described in detail. Furthermore, an evaluation of the main services by end users is presented and discussed in order to highlight the importance of offering accessibility services to people with disabilities.