IRT (Research arm of major German broadcasters, themselves potential end users of broadcast signing systems) Hearing impaired people are a minority in each community but there is a significantly high number of people who do need aid in perceiving the radio and television programmes. ViSiCAST will provide a solution for television and multimedia services (which may be 'pushed' by the broadcaster as data services in DVB or DAB) or which may be of the 'pull' type, eg by communicating through the broadcasters' web pages. It is to be noted that both delivery mechanisms will soon be inter-linked in the way that cross-references become possible between the broadcast and the internet media content (Examples are: additional background information announced in the electronic programme guide of a broadcast programme and retrieved, by means of a simple mouse-click, through the internet; book-marking of a broadcast programme announced on the Web page for later viewing or recording via the set-top box.).

Combing results of these pertinent RTD projects currently under funding by the EU with the development results of ViSiCAST will lead to dramatically enhanced service opportunities for hearing-impaired people. The IRT is a contributor to all major standardisation bodies like ITU-R, ITU-T, ISO (MPEG), ETSI, CEN or SMPTE. In co-ordination with the project participants, standardisation inputs on broadcast aspects of ViSiCAST will be made. Last but not least, IRT will use the knowledge gained in the ViSiCAST project directly to assist broadcasters in implementing new and substantial aids for the hearing-impaired. Note: The techniques which will be developed within the ViSiCAST project may eventually also be beneficial for people being handicapped in other forms or for non-handicapped people. The local avatar may become the display character of an intelligent agent assisting everybody in using the future integrated broadcast and information technology services.