Carbyne Launches Live Audio Translation for APEX Emergency Call Platform

Revolutionary AI technology helps customers reduce errors, support diversity, save time, and reduce costs

Denver, Colo., April 19, 2023 – Carbyne announced the integration of live audio language translation into its APEX emergency call-taking platform, a milestone development aimed at saving lives by assisting callers who are not fluent in English.

From today, 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; and
  • Reduce costs by minimizing reliance on paid human translation services.

As an early adopter of the live language translation feature, Monica Sanchez of Presidio County Sheriff’s Office in Marfa, TX states, “I speak Spanish, but often my Spanish is different than what many callers use. So I use Carbyne’s translation to help verify addresses. The caller might tell me a location, and I use the Carbyne translation feature to make sure I understood it correctly when I verify against the geolocation. I also use Carbyne’s translation to ensure that I understand the right words people use to describe their feelings. For example, I had a caller tell me in Spanish that he was sick. He used a different word for ‘stomach’ than the word I knew, but translation helped me understand what was going on so I could send help quickly. Nothing we have used for translation in the past has been as great as Carbyne.”

Watch the Presidio County Sheriff’s Office use live language translation in action here.

This groundbreaking innovation is being showcased at the NAVIGATOR conference in Denver, where over 1,500 leaders of state and local emergency response agencies, convened by the International Academies of Emergency Response (IAED), are in attendance. Carbyne plans to enable this feature with more than 14 languages to other APEX customers in the coming weeks and months.

In the United States, over 67 million people speak a language other than English at home, with Spanish being spoken by more than 61% of these individuals. Conversely, in Latin America, a significant number of people speak English as a second language. Approximately 8% of 9-1-1 calls involve callers who struggle to communicate fluently in English over the phone.

Current solutions to this issue often involve connecting a paid human translator via a standby service, which can be time-consuming during an emergency call. Although some 911 technology providers offer real-time, text-based translation, this method is not applicable to the majority of 9-1-1 calls, which are predominantly audio-based.

“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’s solution can efficiently address the majority of U.S. and LATAM-based 9-1-1 calls that require translation. As a cloud-native platform, Carbyne 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, this AI-based technology solution will greatly expedite emergency response when every second is crucial.

For more information about this pioneering development, please visit here.

About Carbyne:
Carbyne (Headquartered in New York, NY) is a leading global provider of cloud-native mission-critical contact center solutions. Carbyne is one of the largest rich-data providers for emergency response centers, delivering over 250M data points per year, all in a unified platform. Our technologies enable emergency contact centers and select enterprises to connect with callers as well as connected devices via highly secure communication channels without needing to download a consumer app. With a mission to redefine emergency collaboration and connect the dots between people, enterprises, and governments, Carbyne provides a unified cloud-native solution that provides live actionable data that can lead to more efficient and transparent operations and ultimately save lives. With Carbyne, every person counts. Learn more at www.carbyne.com

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