中国最大的在线配送服务平台淘宝闪购每天处理4000万个订单。但在协调最后的交接时，快递员经常给客户打电话约定见面地点——这对于失聪或听力受损的工人们来说是一个障碍。
China’s largest online delivery service, Taobao Instant Commerce, handles 40 million orders a day. But to coordinate a final handoff, couriers often call customers on the phone to meet up — a hurdle for workers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
这个问题产生了实际的经济影响：多伦多大学、加州大学圣巴巴拉分校和浙江大学的研究人员发现，失聪和听力受损的快递员每小时的收入比其他同事少10%。他们还收到了更多负面的客户评价，并且更容易出现延迟送达的情况。
The issue has a real economic impact: Researchers at the University of Toronto, UC Santa Barbara, and Zhejiang University found that deaf and hard-of-hearing couriers earned 10% less per hour than other colleagues. They also received more negative customer ratings and were more likely to make late deliveries.
为了努力缩小这一薪酬差距，淘宝的三名工程师利用业余时间开发了一项简单的无障碍功能，允许工人们选择预设信息（或自己编写信息），并利用AI工具致电客户并朗读该信息。
In an effort to close that pay gap, three engineers at Taobao worked in their off hours to build a simple accessibility feature that allows workers to select preset messages (or write their own), and use the AI tool to call the customer and read out the message.
研究人员估计，该工具弥补了大约三分之一的时薪差距。延迟送达和差评也有所下降，其中听力损失更严重的工人受益最大。
Researchers estimated that the tool closed roughly a third of the hourly pay gap. Late deliveries and bad ratings also declined, with workers who had more severe hearing loss benefiting the most.
该功能是中国更广泛的无障碍推进工作的一部分，在中国，企业被要求为残疾人保留至少1.5%的就业机会。在淘宝推出其AI通话功能后，竞争对手美团也效仿推出了类似功能。
The feature is part of a broader accessibility push in China, where businesses are required to reserve at least 1.5% of job opportunities for people with disabilities. After Taobao rolled out its AI calling feature, rival Meituan followed suit. — Zoë Schiffer