X1 Talks: Comcast Launches the Industry's First Voice Guided TV Interface

Comcast has launched the industry’s first voice-enabled television user interface, a solution that will revolutionize the way its Xfinity TV customers, especially those who are blind or visually impaired, navigate the X1 platform. The “talking guide” features a female voice that reads aloud selections like program titles, network names and time slots as well as DVR and On Demand settings.

About 19 million U.S. households have at least one member with a disability and according to the U.S. Census, there are 8.1 million people with a visual disability.

The talking guide “speaks” what’s on the screen as the viewer navigates the “Guide,” “Saved,” “On Demand,” and “Settings” sections of X1 and includes details like individual program descriptions and ratings from Common Sense Media and Rotten Tomatoes that help viewers decide what to watch. Future versions of the feature will include functionality within the “Search” section of X1 and additional personalization settings like rate of speech.

X1 customers will be able to activate the talking guide on their existing set top box by tapping the “A” button twice on their remote control. The feature also can be turned on via the “accessibility settings” within the main settings menu. Here’s how it works.

“The talking guide is as much about usability as it is about accessibility,” said Tom Wlodkowski , Vice President of Audience for Comcast. “We think about accessibility from the design of a product all the way through production and this feature is the result of years of work by our team including customer research, focus groups and industry partnerships. For people like me who are blind, this new interface opens up a whole new world of options for watching TV.”

In 2012, Comcast hired Wlodkowski to focus on the usability of the company’s products and services by people with disabilities. The talking guide is the latest in a series of innovations created in the Comcast Accessibility Lab. In addition to voice guidance and one-touch access to closed captioning, Comcast created an online help and support resource for Xfinity customers looking for information about accessibility-related topics. The webpage includes an overview of accessibility products and services, support for third-party assistive devices, information related to Braille or large-print bills and the ability to connect with accessibility support specialists.