[Expanding Accessibility with Samsung] ② Audio

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 16 February 2021 – A television is a portal that can connect us to the world. As the amount of diverse content users have access to continues to grow, the range of entertainment they can access through their TVs is also expanding. Yet despite this innovation, for those who are hard of hearing, the deaf, people with low vision and the blind, accessing basic TV features like sound controls and screen settings can still prove challenging.

Following the first installment in our series on accessibility in Samsung TVs, Samsung Newsroom looked at the company’s exclusive accessibility features for those who are hard of hearing and the deaf.

Sign Language Zoom

Sign language is a language for the deaf that involves conveying the meaning of spoken language using hand gestures and movements. However, as the same gesture can convey different meanings depending on mouth shape and facial expression, all of these factors must be taken into consideration in order to understand the exact meaning.

Samsung TVs utilise the company’s proprietary AI algorithm to automatically recognise sign language and magnify the person performing it by 200%. Users can also manually choose an area onscreen to magnify and alter the magnification ratio to get a closer look at details such as the questions on a quiz program or the scoreboard at a sports event.

Separate Closed Caption

Broadcasters already provide closed captions for programs to help the deaf consume their content. However, on occasions when the TV program itself also displays captions, the two sets of words often overlap with one another, obscuring the subtitles for the deaf.

In this situation, the Separate Closed Caption feature is a great help. This feature allows the closed captions for the deaf to be viewed in a separate area from the captions on the TV program. Users can additionally change the background and text colors for the closed captions in order to further raise visibility.

Multi-output Audio

When watching TV with friends or family, those who are hard of hearing may need the volume to be turned up louder than the other viewers. To ensure everyone can enjoy the content at the appropriate volume level for them, Samsung offers the Multi-output Audio feature on its TVs.

With the Multi-output Audio feature, those who are hard of hearing can utilise a Bluetooth device to listen to the audio at their desired volume without affecting the viewing experiences of the other viewers. Bluetooth devices can be connected directly to the TV, then the user can set their own volume levels through the Bluetooth device.

In pursuit of its ‘Screens for All’ vision, Samsung will continue to work and innovate to ensure that Samsung TVs provide an enjoyable viewing experience for all.