Project Details

Keywords:	[Alarms and Alerters] [Communication Difficulties and Communication Aids] [Navigation and Location]
Name:	LAMA - Location Aware Messaging for Accessibility [archived - not updated]
Start Date:	1st Jan 06
End Date:	1st Jan 08
Total Project Fund:	Not disclosed
Background:	People with hearing impairments often find it hard to understand important public services announcements at train stations, airports or sports venues. This can sometimes cause health and safety problems, or result in inconvenience or distress. Most existing AT solutions to this kind of problem replace a sound with a visual clue, such as systems which display a flashing light to alert a deaf person to the fact that the fire alarm in their home or office is ringing. However, such systems are no use for people on the move.
Description:	A group of research students at IBM's UK laboratory have developed a system to make public announcements at different locations available to people on a mobile phone.
Objective:	As someone enters a place where the LAMA system is running, it is recognised by their mobile phone which will then display a list of the services on offer. After a user has signed up for the service, public address annoucements will be delivered to their handset in their chosen format. This is often a text message, but could also be an image or a vibrating alert.
Progress:	The idea originated with four students on IBM's Extreme Blue research programme and was originally conceived to improve communications for deaf people. However, it could be extended--blind people, for instance, could have the messages delivered in audio form. Because the technology is able to determine someone's location, it can also be used for guidance or orientation and could help people with dementia or learning difficulties who can become disorientated in new and busy environments. For LAMA to become universally available more buildings would have to be fitted with 'intelligent infrastructure' and smart phones would have to become the norm. In October 2006 IBM said a train company had expressed interest in LAMA and pilots could begin before the end of the year.

Organisations Involved In This Project

The main contact(s) for this project are:

Organisation Name	Type	Tel	Town	Contact
IBM UK Research Laboratories	Commercial	01962 815000	Winchester	Dr Andy Stanford-Clark