SIGN-LANGUAGE NEWS WINDOW ON TELEVISION

Mdm Claire Chiang See Ngoh asked the Minister for Information and the Arts if he will consider requesting the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) to provide simultaneous sign-language news windows in our television news programmes so that the hearing-impaired may, at minimal cost to TCS, be able to feel a greater participation in the life of the community.

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Hearing-impaired Singaporeans are able to access TCS News today via InTV and TCS' website on the Internet. TCS has studied additional options to enhance news bulletins for the benefit of the hearing-impaired.

"Live" sign language interpretation is used by some TV stations. However, a superimposed visual of the sign language specialist would be distracting to other viewers.

Another option would be to provide open captions. However, captions have to be prepared in advance and would not reflect last minute updates in the news bulletin. Additional infrastructure and manpower would also be needed.

TCS will have other options when digital television is introduced. Digital television would let viewers select additional screen information, some of which could cater primarily to the hearing-impaired audience.