The National Australia Bank has unveiled the country's first voice activated ATM, in a pilot program that should better enable blind, vision-impaired or elderly customers to transact electronically.

The initial pilot, a joint venture between the National and its ATM supplier Diebold Australia, will run until June 2002 and then be extended for eight months at an additional ten locations.

The technology - a standard ATM with sequenced audio files that takes a user step-by-step through a transaction - -enables everyone in the community to be able to access ATMs and transact electronically," Justine Harris, sales and marketing manager at Diebold told ZDNet Australia.

The first of its kind in Australia, the ATM instantly recognises when a headphone set has been inserted and starts the transaction sequence, giving constant feedback and guidance to the user as to where the keys are located.

From January 2003 the National has committed to all newly purchased ATMs being voice enabled.

"The intention is to take the learnings from this pilot and develop our strategy. By trialing audio-enabled ATM technology we hope to provide greater access to banking services and increase the financial independence of our customers," said the National's Kay Thawley, general manager, direct retailing and distribution.

"One of the objectives of our disability action plan is to provide people who have a disability with full use and benefit of ATM services by taking into account their requirements when purchasing, installing and situating ATMs," she added.

Diebold Australia said it is working with other financial institutions but declined to elaborate.

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