Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies
Welcome to the Wireless RERC, founded in 2001 and headquartered at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Quick Links
- 2008 Hearing Aid Compatibility Survey
- 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 Releases 2007 Report
RERC Partners with PBA Atlanta to Test Accessible Emergency Alerts
At its field test with Public Broadcasting Atlanta (PBA), the RERC's Wireless Emergency Communications (WEC) team sent a series of SMS messages to three different models of the BlackBerry and to Cingular 3125 Smartphones provided to each test participant. WEC engineers simulated the emergency alerts, employing the Common Alerting Protocol, as if they originated from the National Weather Service. For subjects who were blind or had low vision the custom software presented the content of the text alert in an audio format and utilized an eight-second EAS attention signal. For subjects who were deaf or hard of hearing the software featured vibration alarms that differentiate incoming emergency messages from regular text messages.
"The advantage of accessible emergency communications software and devices is that they can reach the user, no matter what their activity or location, with lifesaving information," said Helena Mitchell, executive director of the Center for Advanced Communications Policy at Georgia Tech and project director for WEC. "People with disabilities have the right to expect that the technology they use on a regular basis is capable of providing them with emergency communications and timely warnings and alerts."
Additional Information
WEC Field Test Findings (Word doc)
WEC Files Comments Regarding Service Rules for Public Safety Spectrum
ASSETS 2008
