Designing SmartSignPlay: An Interactive and Intelligent American Sign Language App for Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and their Families

Ching-Hua Chuan, Caroline Anne Guardino

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper describes an interactive mobile application that aims to assist children who are deaf or hard of hearing (D/HH) and their families to learn and practice American Sign Language (ASL). Approximately 95% of D/HH children are born to hearing parents. Research indicates that the lack of common communication tools between the parent and child often results in delayed development in the child's language and social skills. Benefiting from the interactive advantages and popularity of touchscreen mobile devices, we created SmartSignPlay, an app to teach D/HH children and their families everyday ASL vocabulary and phrases. Vocabulary is arranged into context-based lessons where the vocabulary is frequently used. After watching the sign demonstrated by an animated avatar, the user performed the sign by drawing the trajectory of the hand movement and selecting the correct handshape. While the app is still under iterative development, preliminary results on the usability are provided.
Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)45-48
Number of pages4
JournalIntelligent User Interfaces
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 7 2016

Keywords

  • American Sign Language
  • assistive technology
  • touchscreen
  • context-aware learning
  • feedback

Disciplines

  • Computer Sciences
  • Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces

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