Our History
Improving access to customer service was the premise on which Interpretype was developed. In an effort to improve the level of service in his auto repair shop, Ken Gan listened carefully to the requests of his front line employees. In March of 2002, his staff requested a better way to communicate with their Deaf and hard-of-hearing customers. When conversations turned technical, pen and paper proved inadequate. After nine months of research and development, Mr. Gan invented an extremely flexible solution for instantaneous face-to-face communication. He named his device Interpretype, or ITY™ for short, and deployed it at his Mechanical Service counter and in his Collision estimating office. As a result, Interpretype has proven to be so effective in promoting clear communication that his shop has seen a tenfold increase among Deaf customers.
Ken Gan, President
Initial research indicated a demand for his device, so he founded Interpretype, LLC a company dedicated exclusively to solutions that enable face-to-face conversation. Interpretype delivered its first commercial installations during January 2003. Since then, Interpretype has rapidly become a significant communication tool for organizations that want to maximize their human value within the organization, as well as providing extraordinary service through the use of this assistive technology. Some of the first customers to embrace Interpretype were colleges and universities. Schools use ITY™ across the As Interpretype gained reputation, many forward thinking organizations provided their front line employees with Interpretype to make their services more accessible. Interpretype is found in banks, grocery stores, restaurants, pharmacies, libraries, hospitals, government agencies, courts and airports. Interpretype is appropriate in any venue where face-to-face conversation is the critical process for making services and career opportunities available. Interpretype offers many applications and benefits that are not readily apparent. In addition to enabling access to careers and services for people who have communications disabilities, it is being used for non-verbal communication in police and military applications. Hostage negotiation teams are using ITY™ devices for internal silent communication. Hospitals are looking to Interpretype to solve communication issues with intubated (ventilated) patients and audiologists can use it to help their patients who have lost their ability to speak. Since its inception, Interpretype has listened closely to customer feedback and evolved with demand for other features. Shortly after its introduction the Interpretype (ITY) software was upgraded to a Windows GUI (Graphical User Interface) platform. This not only allowed standard PC's to communicate with the ITY devices but also allowed PC's to communicate with one another without using ITY hardware. This migration allowed Interpretype software to integrate other windows based products, such as screen readers and voice to text software, already available in the communication disabilities space.