Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing - Overall perspective and focus areas -

1. Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing- Overall perspective and focus areas - Shinyoung Lim (University of Pittsburgh) Tae-Hwan Oh (RIT) Helena Mitchell (Georgia Tech)

2. About the Speaker • Focused Areas in Computer Science for Assistive Technology and Rehabilitation Engineering • Home Networking • Pervasive Computing • Machine Learning • Information security • Cloud Computing and Smart Grid • 20 year research experience at ETRI, Korea • Joining 19 research projects • Transferring 12 cutting edge IT technologies to 27 companies • 17 registered intellectual properties • Selected 63 academic journal and conference papers KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

3. Emergency Communications • Definition • Means and method of transmitting and receiving voice, data, and video messages, information, and images critical to the successful management of an incident where communications infrastructure has been abnormally impacted or lost (FEMA* 2008) • Benefits • Preparation, Prevention, In-advance/On-time Awareness, Evacuation, Rescue, and Emergency Medicine  Establishing Emergency Plans *FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

4. FEMA’s Backbone of Emergency Response NRCC: National Response Coordination Center NOC: National Operating Center FOC: FEMA Operating Center JFO: Joint Field Office KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

5. Facts and New Act • Facts • Estimated average of 110 ‘home fire deaths per year’ who were had a sensory disability. (in US) • One-quarter of victims with physical disabilities were unable to act to save themselves. (NFPA, August 2009) • The deaf and hard of hearing (DHoH) are especially vulnerable in • on-time awareness of emergency alerts (i.e., 911 emergency notifications, • siren sound and voice notice/directions), • interactive communications between the DHoH and the first emergency responders (i.e., fire fighters, rescue staff, and emergency medical professionals) • Cause of fatal delays in their awareness, prevention, evacuation, rescue, and recovery from the disaster areas KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

6. Facts and New Act KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

7. Facts and New Act • New Act • October 8, 2010: WASHINGTON,D.C. -- President Barack Obama signed into law today sweeping new legislation authored by Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) • The 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (Rep. Markey introduced in June 2009) • Will enable Americans with disabilities to use a wide range of devices and services needed in the digital era, including smart phones for accessing the Internet, closed captioning for online video, audio descriptions of television programming, audible emergency alerts and other technologies KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

8. Barriers • Emergency preparedness • Environment Assessment • DHoH mobility to egress and their preparedness • Emergency awareness / prevention • Inaudible of siren and inappropriate placement of fire/smoke flash lights • TTY, Text messages, social networks, and text-to-Voice converter not working • Emergency evacuation • Estimated time to egress in dynamic disaster situation • Optimized route to egress • Rescue • Caught in fire/disasters due to delay in awareness • Location, disaster, and injury updates of the DHoH are inaccessible to rescue staff • Recover • Most first responders are unable to understand sign language • Voice communication is unavailable to the DHoH KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

9. Research Focus • Focus Area-1: Environment Assessment for Emergency Prevention and Preparedness KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

10. Research Focus • Focus Area-2: Reliable Emergency Message Delivery and Reporting KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

11. Situation: 911 Detects fire near Debby’s house and sends fire emergency message to Debby Debby’s Portable and rechargeable flash light on her bedside starts blinking Debby ‘s phone receives 911 message Bluetooth channel ‘Emergency Alert Receiver’ 911 Fire Emergency Message: Code 91100 i-EC Emergency Message Delivery  Activate ‘Emergency Messenger’ due to 911 Fire Emergency (House on the Fire!) ‘Emergency Messenger’ Debby’s Wrist Alarm Vibrator Wakes her up LED light Blinker Vibration Alarm Bluetooth channel KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

12. Debby is at the window side on the third floor Communication Interfaces Situation: Debby caught in her house and send rescue message to 911 first responders Voice-to-Text Converter Screen shot of ‘Icon-based Text Generator’ Text-to-Voice Converter Debby: I am at street view window on right side from your view on third floor 911 Fire fighter: We will send two men to get you out. Please, bend yourself down and stay two steps away from the window. Using 911 Fire fighter’s terminal Using ‘Icon-based Text Generator’ KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

13. Research Focus • Focus Area-3: Interactive Communication Method for Emergency Evacuation Temperature and Toxic Gas Distribution Map Decision of Evacuation Routing to Egress Space Sensing – Static and Dynamic Context Fire Spreading Estimation (Dynamic Context) Available Evacuation Routing Algorithms DHoH’s Walking Speed Estimation KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

14. Research Focus • Focus Area-4: Survival Rate Enhancement in Fire Emergency KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

15. Research Focus • Focus Area-5: Emergency Medical Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

16. Research Focus • Focus Area-6: Nonstop Network Devices for Emergency Communication Infrastructure 2.4G Wireless IP Camera (conceptual image, not fireproof) RadwareFireProof Application Switch I KOCSEA 2010 - Emergency Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing