New Samsung TV models to be more accessible for people with hearing or visual disabilities

Great news for people with disabilities who may wish to start the new year out with a new large-screen television. According to cnet.com, Samsung announced that their new QLED and neo-QLED television models will have advanced features for those with hearing or visual disabilities.

The new features include “Closed Caption and Text,” allowing the user to move the closed captioning text, if necessary, to another part of the screen so as to not block important visual contact. I can attest to this problem, as I have spent many hours making sure the closed captioning of our YouTube videos did not obscure anything a person with a hearing impairment needed to see.

“We don’t want to exclude anyone,” Byungho Kim, of Samsung’s social contribution center in Suwon, said in a video during Samsung’s Wednesday event. “Our technology is for everyone.”

Secondly, the Samsung products have “Sign Language Zoom,” which makes it easier to enlarge the screen housing the sign language interpreter. For those fluent in sign langugage, intrepreting the gestures may not be difficult, but interpreting the words that are quickly being spelled out can be very challenging if the box-within-a-box is not sufficiently large. This features allows the user to increase the size of the box, making it easier to understand the interpreter.

New Samsung models also give the user the opportunity to change or invert the color scheme on the menu, making it easier for people with visual impairments to know their options. This will allow for greater navigation for users.

Lastly, Samsung is also working on ways to allow sign language users to turn on their televisions just by making sign language gestures. Many profoundly deaf individuals are also effectively non-verbal, so the ability to turn your “smart” TV on with your voice is not an option. Using the high definition camera and AI, the TV can no understand basic sign language commands.

Congratulations to Samsung, and thank you for starting the year off right with the new CLED and Neo QLED models.