Carbyne has announced the integration of live audio language translation into its APEX emergency call-taking platform, which it says is a “milestone” development aimed at saving lives by assisting callers who are not fluent in English.

Bridging languages

According to the company, emergency call centers utilizing Carbyne’s APEX platform with live audio language translation will have the capacity to:

• Instantly identify the caller’s spoken language from 14 available languages (Carbyne will add more languages regularly)
• Display real-time, on-screen translation of the caller’s audio
• Record the translated and transcribed call for post-call analysis via Carbyne Events History
• Reduce errors which may be introduced by human translators paraphrasing the caller
• Support diverse communities by helping call-takers better prepare for callers who speak a language other than their own
• Enhance dispatch time by eliminating delays associated with human translators
• Reduce costs by minimizing reliance on paid human translation services

Every second counts

“An emergency situation is not the ideal time for a distressed caller to translate from their native language to English just to convey what’s happening,” said Alex Dizengof, Chief Technology Officer for Carbyne.

“Our ‘every person counts’ philosophy at Carbyne means that no one should feel disadvantaged or treated as a second-class citizen for speaking their native language, particularly during some of the most challenging moments of their lives.”

By providing immediate Spanish-to-English translation, Carbyne says its solution can efficiently address the majority of US and LATAM-based 911 calls that require translation. As a cloud-native platform, Carbyne emphasizes that it can seamlessly add more languages and other enhancements in the future without causing any inconvenience to its customers.

While the company still recommends maintaining human translators on standby for situations where they are needed, it says that this AI-based technology solution will greatly expedite emergency response when every second is crucial.