The Silent Commute: Fixing Inaccessible Audio Announcements with Google Maps
D/deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) riders lack access to critical, spontaneous subway announcements and updates, compromising their independence and leading to potential service disruptions. This project proposes leveraging Speech to Text (STT) to provide real-time, equitable access to in-the-moment transit information.
Project Type
Accessibility Critique and Redesign - research and design
Timeline
October - December 2025
(2 months)
Tools
Figma
Who We Ride With: The Statistics of D/deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH)
The New York City metro transit system is relied on by millions of people every day.
Critical, spontaneous schedule updates (delays, transfers, and route changes) are delivered live solely through audio announcements. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, around 30 million Americans experience trouble hearing. For people who are D/deaf and hard of hearing (DHH), making snap decisions can seem nearly impossible.
In this project, an evaluation of one of the leading travel apps, Google Maps, was evaluated for redesign to make travel more accessible for DHH users.
Google Maps: The current track
Issue 1
Minimal alerts lead to missed opportunities
Offers alerts and notifications only for upcoming stops and reminders to leave. Each notification comes with a single haptic buzz.
Issue 2
Spontaneous announcements are hard to catch
Unplanned platform and subway announcements aren't captured in real-time.
The Process
Empathize
A literature review on Disability Models
Two leading models for understanding are commonly mentioned when discussing disabilities: the Medical Model and the Social Model. Researcher, Marno Retief (2018) defines the two as:
Medical Model: highlights the limitations of a person’s disability and aims to fix it. A common "treatment" is the cochlear earplant.
Social Model: societal changes that improve the conditions or environments that contribute to a person’s ability to function.
An excellent example of the application of the Social Model is Alexa Vaughn's article on DeafSpace: Applying DeafScape to Landscape, where the design of public space is intentionally done so to account for the DHH community (2018). Here, rather than redesign the whole subway system, we look to technology and travel apps to level the playing field for DHH travelers.
Travel applications lack alternative ways to alert DHH users
This competitive analysis used Google Maps and the Transit App to evaluate how they communicate live subway announcements and address accessibility needs during travel.
The Transit App demonstrated slightly better accessibility. It uses banner updates, haptic notifications, and text-to-speech support, features inclusive for users who are blind, have low vision, or require assistance with focus.
However, the analysis also showed gaps yet to be addressed: further utilizing haptics, speech to text notifications, and notification of live announcements through transportation apps.
Digital observations showcase particular barriers for DHH travelers
Digital observations of individuals who are DHH truly guided the direction of this project. Experiences were pulled from Melisa Ozerska, an advocate, Sarah Katz, a writer, and Tik Toker, Deaf Immy.
Their shared lived experiences highlighted the gaps and opportunities for improvement.
"Platform changes are often announced over the loudspeaker, but if the screens don’t update, I miss my train. These situations force me to rearrange my entire trip, adding extra stress and frustration."
- Melisa Ozerska
Defining the Problem
How can we leverage technology and design to provide real-time, equitable access to in-the-moment transit announcements and updates for D/deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) riders?
Solution: Multi-Sensory Transit Alerts
Solution 1
Diverse alert modalities
Three haptic buzzes notify users to view their phone. A banner notification highlights the start of an announcement.
Impact
Provide multiple visual opportunities to announce live audio updates that could impact your travel plans.
Solution 2
Multiple haptic buzzes
Three haptic buzzes notify users to view their phone through physical touch.
Impact
Receive immediate notification of announcements and updates via hand vibrations or on-screen alerts, significantly reducing the risk of missing critical, time-sensitive changes to your travel plans.
Solution 3
Inscribed announcements
Speech-to-Text (STT) transcription captures announcements in real-time, instantly recording and saving the text for both live reading and later reference.
Impact
The feature allows all passengers who missed an announcement (whether due to being DHH, wearing headphones, or being distracted) to quickly check the text, enabling immediate and informed action.
Final Design
Next steps
Ethical Constraints Prevented Primary Research with Vulnerable Populations
In addition to the limitation of two months for this project, ethical complexities and the sensitive nature of researching this vulnerable population meant we lacked the required resources (including IRB oversight and compensation) to safely and ethically conduct primary research.
Future Considerations
Although this project leverages public anecdotes from disabled individuals for redesign proposals, researchers Kelly Mack and Sophie Tian recommend that professionals must fully immerse themselves in Deaf culture, through ASL or Deaf Studies literature, to genuinely build empathy for the D/deaf and Hard of Hearing community (2020).
Additional iteration must prioritize solving in-train Wi-Fi cut-outs for timely STT and alert delivery. Structural improvements, such as enhancing audio system quality and integrating live captioning on monitors in subway cars, also warrant greater consideration.