Client-based Multipoint Media Mixer to Support People with Hearing Impairment in Communication

To advance the area of accessibility technology that assists people with hearing impairment in communication, we have designed the system that enhances the operation of the relayed communication service center. The scheme allows the middle specialist, who acts as the medium between the hearing-impaired person and other endpoints, to be part of multiple ongoing separate video calls at the same time and combines them or part of them into multi-party video conversations. To offload the server, we have designed and developed media mixer functionality similar to that included in Multipoint Conference Unit (MCU) for multi-party video conference, but implemented on the client-side which is the desktop client used by the middle specialist. Our system has been evaluated to be practical for use and is planned to be deployed to assist people with disabilities in Thailand.