For a special Spanish version of this news item, go to the Spanish version.

SEATTLE -- While ATMs providing written transaction information in multiple languages have become fairly commonplace, Washington Mutual has become the first deployer to introduce ATMs with the ability to speak to users in both English and Spanish.

Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM), the nation's seventh largest financial services company, is believed to be the first financial services company in the country to add a second language to its talking ATMs, according to a news release.

Dyan Beito, Washington Mutual's executive vice president of Deposit Services, said that more than 160 Washington Mutual financial centers in eight states now have at least one talking ATM.

"This device makes it easier for people who are visually impaired and not able to read Braille to gain access to their bank accounts just like everyone else -- through an ATM. And offering the service in Spanish is a real plus for those who prefer to bank in their own language," Beito said in the release.

By 2005, Washington Mutual says that about 1,500 of its more than 2,300 ATMs will have audio capabilities, and all will speak both English and Spanish. There will be at least one talking machine at each of the bank's more than 1,400 financial center locations, and at least one at each non-branch ATM location.

During the development stage of its talking ATM project, Washington Mutual says it invited 37 visually impaired testers to test the initial version of the talking machine. The testers' feedback was then used to enhance the ATM's capabilities.

Like other talking ATMs, users can access the audio at Washington Mutual machines by inserting a standard headset into an audio jack located on the front of the machine. Every transaction a sighted customer can read on screen during a transaction can be spoken in both English and Spanish. If a customer requests a receipt, it will be spoken and printed.

Additionally, the machine offers a spoken tutorial and user guide to assist those using the machine for the first time, or anyone who would like extra help or time with the ATM.

Washington Mutual's Web site has a talking ATM locator with instructions, so visually impaired customers can obtain the user guide over the web before visiting a talking ATM.