CHICAGO -- Bank One Corporation says it has installed the first "talking" ATMs in Illinois and Ohio to help visually impaired customers complete their banking transactions.
Bank One has installed 30 of the ATMs with audio capabilities in the Chicago and Columbus areas. By the end of the year, the bank plans to install 100 additional talking ATMs in these and other markets.
Customers use a standard set of earphones to receive voice prompts that take them step-by-step through an ATM transaction. The earphones can be obtained from the Bank One banking center locations that feature the new technology. Bank One employees will help users get acquainted with the modified ATMs, and audio users will hear a brief "orientation" at the ATM machine.
Supporters of expanding access for customers worked closely with the bank and its technical partners to develop the talking ATMs.
"Bank One has demonstrated tremendous leadership in making the commitment to open up options to visually impaired persons," said Kelly Pierce, a blind Bank One customer and co-founder of Digit Eyes: The Chicago Blind Computer User Network.
Ann Byrne, a blind project manager for Exeloncorp in Chicago, stressed the importance of taking advantage of emerging technologies to provide greater independence to the growing number of visually impaired people in the United States.
"These ATMs afford visually impaired people some of the privacy and dignity that is sought by everyone," Byrne said. "Not only will this service benefit people who have been unable to see for years, it will offer the growing population of active, aging people with diminishing eyesight an additional option to their effort to manage their own financial needs."
More information about Bank One's talking ATM program, including the location of Bank One's Talking ATMs, is available by calling 1-877-241-8665.
