Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies

Quick Links

• Survey of User Needs (SUN) - A survey to help us understand how people with disabilities use wireless products like cell phones and text messengers.
• Airline Travel Survey of People with Visual Impairments

RERC Comments Cited in FCC Report and Order

The Wireless RERC continues to make headway in achieving our short-term outcome to influence policy making and policy makers.  In December of 2007 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, PS Docket No. 07-287 in which the policy division of the Wireless RERC filed comments.  

On April 9, 2008 a First Report & Order regarding CMAS was issued and adopted by the Commission.  We are pleased to inform you that the Wireless RERC’s comments were cited FOUR times in the body of the document.  This is significant because 1) there were 70 comments and reply comments filed on the topic and 2) the Commission’s acknowledgement of the technical feasibility of providing accessible emergency alerts was made evident through their extensive discussion of accommodations such as text-to-speech software for the blind and low vision population and vibrating cadences for the deaf and hard of hearing population.

RERC Efforts Mentioned in AT&T Press Release on Universal Design

In an effort to encourage application developers and handset manufacturers to consider the needs of seniors or customers who have disabilities when designing products and services, AT&T Inc. announced that the company's approach to Universal Design will be made publicly available for the first time.   AT&T's methodology not only defines and explains the benefits of Universal Design, it also provides several scenarios to further illustrate the relevance of this approach in the context of mobile handset and software design.

RERC Tests Wireless Emergency Alerts

Researchers on the RERC's Wireless Emergency Communications Project received good news last month during testing of their Wireless Emergency Communications (WEC) project. Results indicate that 94 percent of blind and visually impaired test subjects found WEC to be a significant improvement over their current methods of receiving emergency alerts.