Faculty and Staff Support

CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation)

What is CART?

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is a word-for-word speech-to-text interpreting service for people who need communication access. It benefits people who are late-deafened, oral deaf, hard of hearing, or who have cochlear implants. Culturally Deaf individuals also make use of  CART in certain situations. Unlike computerized notetaking or abbreviation systems, which summarize information for consumers, CART provides a complete translation of all spoken words and environment sounds, empowering consumers to decide for themselves what information is important to them.

A CART provider uses a steno machine, notebook computer, and realtime software to render instant speech-to-text translation on a computer monitor or other display for the benefit of an individual consumer or larger group in a variety of settings. A CART provider is sensitive to the varying needs of consumers and has had training in conveying a speaker's message, complete with environment cues. Increasingly, CART is being provided remotely via the internet or a telephone connection.

CART is also referred to as realtime captioning.

More information about CART:

• http://cartinfo.org/

• http://cart.NCRAonline.org