Seattle pro football hears us loud and clear
In response to an inquiry and request from the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP), the audio portion of professional football in Seattle is going to become accessible to fans with hearing losses.
The plan is to provide requesting fans with a hand-held unit that will display in captioned form the announcements from the referees, the public-address announcements, and the audio portion of the in-stadium entertainment, including song lyrics. Because the devices will be portable, we'll be able to use them from any seat, and take them with us to the concourses or the rest rooms. And because they are individual, folks that hear won't have their experience altered by captions on a Jumbotron or reader-board, (and we won't hear the flak from people saying we're ruining their fun).
The captions will be done in real time by qualified captioners, possibly remote but more likely on site. The specific system they have in mind at Qwest Field in Seattle is used at National Football League stadiums in Denver, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, so it has a proven track record.
The only real problem I see in this approach is that a good football game can be a "full-body" experience, in which you need both hands for shucking peanuts, holding onto both beer and hot dog, and high-fiving your neighbors when something good happens. I could see potential for the devices getting dropped and broken, lost, and so forth. (Toting them into the rest rooms creates some yuck factors as well). My suggestion was that they find a way to put the devices into a carrying case of some sort, then put straps or bands on the devices so that we can wear them like wristwatches on a forearm, keeping the hands free.
As I said, this is for both of Seattle's professional "football" teams -- the Seahawks, who play American football, and the Sounders, who play what we call soccer and everyone else calls football. (I'm not sure what Europeans call American football, but someone from abroad once observed that it is a game that combines the two worst features of American life -- violence and committee meetings).
Officials anticipate that this system will be up and running by mid-Spring, perhaps in time for the Sounders opener on March 19, and certainly in time for the Seahawks season.
The gentlemen I met with today were Lance Lopes, the General Counsel, and David Young, an assistant general manager. If anyone wants to say "thanks" to these guys, Lopes' address is 12 Seahawks Way, Renton, WA 98056, email LanceL@seahawkssoundersfc.com, and Young's is 800 Occidental Ave. S, Suite 100, Seattle, WA 98134, email davidyo@seahawkssoundersfc.com.
Wash-CAP is dedicated to enriching the lives of people with hearing loss by making communications in Washington's public places understandable. We begin by contacting the facilities, explaining the problem, and asking for their help. Sometimes, that is all it takes, and today was one of those days.
