Several consumer groups representing the hearing impaired want the...

Several consumer groups representing the hearing impaired want the FCC to reconsider rules governing user interfaces and video programming guides that allow closed captioning and other accessibility features to be activated with a voice command or gesture, according to a petition filed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1irq9mr). The groups had asked the FCC to compel manufacturers to build devices that use a “button, key or icon” to activate those functions, but in the order last year, voice commands and gestures were also listed as acceptable options. “This leap from tactile controls to voice and gesture controls lacks any justification or support under the CVAA [21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act], and there is no evidence that Congress intended to allow voice and gesture controls to satisfy these accessibility obligations,” said the petition for reconsideration by groups including the National Association of the Deaf, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Technology Access Program at Gallaudet University. Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people don’t speak or may have difficulty speaking clearly enough for speech recognition technology, the filing said. “These individuals are unable to use voice controlled technology and will be shut out of any digital apparatus or navigation device where voice commands are the only way to activate the closed captioning control,” said the filing. “Allowing voice controls to satisfy accessibility obligations will effectively deny millions of deaf and hard of hearing people access to closed captioning and/or other accessibility features.” The commission may not have included enough information about the use of voice controls in its proposal for implementing the rule, the groups said. “A review of the NPRM shows that the Commission never proposed a rule nor raised questions regarding whether voice or gesture controls should be acceptable compliant mechanisms for providing legally mandated access to closed captions for people with disabilities,” said the filing. The groups “strongly urge” the FCC to reconsider the rule, the filing said. CEA didn’t comment.