IDEAL Group Launches Free, Game-Changing, Communications App for Deaf and Hard of Hearing

HILLIARD, Ohio, March 27, 2018 - IDEAL Group today announced the release of a speech to real time text (RTT) communications application designed to help more than 45 million Americans with hearing loss and speech disabilities. Speech2RTT® is an Android application that enables people who are deaf, hard of hearing, and non-verbal to communicate with anyone using their Android smart phone.

Speech2RTT® works across all wireless networks. It transcribes and then streams the text of what is being said, in real time, between individuals. If a user cannot speak, or opts not to speak, they can type what they want to say, in real time. Speech2RTT® is available on Google Play and accommodates transcribing any one of 68 languages. Communications are 100% private. No live communications assistants (CAs) are involved. No limits are imposed on the length of a communication. Best of all, it is being offered for free until October 1, 2018, at which time a $12 annual fee will be assessed for continued use.

According to Steve Jacobs, President of IDEAL Group, "Speech2RTT will impact the telecom market by increasing competition, reducing cost, and offering consumers more choices." Jacobs went on to say, "Our mission is to increase the communication independence of individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, and non-verbal… and Speech2RTT takes the market a giant step forward in that direction.”

Robert Felgar, CEO of RAZ Mobility, stated, “Federal and state governments currently spend over a billion dollars a year for live operators to transcribe speech conversations. Speech2RTT’s automatic transcription capability holds the potential to save these governments a substantial amount of money.”

Speech2RTT® received funding support from the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Community Living, Health and Function (LiveWell RERC), which is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). Mike Jones, co-Principal Investigator of the LiveWell RERC emphasized Speech2RTT’s critical contribution to enabling people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have speech impairments  to communicate independently, with anyone, using standard Android smart phones. According to Jones, “Speech2RTT is an easy to use solution that brings mobile communications to a much wider user base who until now has had to rely on Telecommunications Relay Services, which are expensive to provide and more complicated to use.”

More information about Speech2RTT:
http://speech2rtt.com/2018/03/25/more/

About IDEAL Group

IDEAL Group, a 2002 spin-off from IDEAL at NCR Corporation, is an internationally recognized provider of technology solutions in support of people with disabilities. IDEAL draws its strength, in part, from three subsidiaries that are very different from one another. These businesses focus on developing and marketing: 1) Android accessibility apps; 2) Advanced optical character recognition software that translates image-based scientific documents into accessible formats; and, 3) Knowledge mining solutions focused on anticipatory intelligence.

Press Kit:
http://speech2rtt.com/press-kit/

Contact Information:

Steve Jacobs, President and CEO
IDEAL Group, Inc.
steve.jacobs@ideal-group.org
http://ideal-group.org
Cell: (614) 777-0660
Fax: (614) 522-1031
TTY: (800) 750-0750