US financial services company Washington Mutual is to install cash machines that offer audio instructions for visually impaired users in both English and Spanish.
Customers can access the talking ATM 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.
Dyan Beito, Washington Mutual’s executive vice president of deposit services says: "Offering the service in Spanish is a real plus for those who prefer to bank in their own language."
By 2005, says Beito, 1500 of Washington Mutual's national network of 2300 cash machines will be equipped with bilingual audio instructions.
Washington Mutual is believed to be the first financial services company in the country to add a second language to talking ATMs.