FaceToFace Offers a New Communications Solution for the Disabled

FaceToFace, a portable communications solution for individuals with vision and hearing problems, was released by Freedom Scientific. The solution enables the users of the PAC Mate™ BX and QX accessible Pocket PC who have vision or hearing disabilities to converse with someone, without the assistance of a trained interpreter.

FaceToFace introduces a powerful method, with mobile technology and Bluetooth™, for the individuals with vision and hearing disabilities to communicate with anyone in the vicinity—anywhere and at any time. The application works similar to a wireless TTY call. If the disabled individual uses the PAC Mate’s QWERTY or Perkins-style keyboard to write messages and the other person an iPAQ Pocket PC, the iPAQ will display the whole conversation visually and the PAC Mate in Braille. The contextual track of conversations can be kept through mutual identification and the conversation can be saved to text files. Both the parties can communicate wirelessly up to 30 feet away from each other. Two disabled individuals can also communicate with each other using PAC Mate with FaceToFace application by both the parties.

“The addition of FaceToFace now makes the PAC Mate a one-of-a-kind all around communication device for the deaf-blind,” said Brad Davis, vice president of Freedom Scientific. “Users can do email, instant messaging, and relay calls from any Internet connection, including wireless hotspots.”

FaceToFace is priced at $1,400 USD and includes the application, an iPAQ with thumb keyboard, and a CompactFlash™ Bluetooth card. The application can be run on a PAC Mate BX or QX accessible Pocket PC.

Source: Freedom Scientific