Deaf, hard-of-hearing students perform first test of sign language by cell phone
From: ECN - 08/16/2010

University of Washington engineers are developing the first device able to
transmit American Sign Language over US cellular networks. The tool is just
completing its initial field test by participants in a UW summer program for
deaf and hard-of-hearing students. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.ecnmag.com/News/2010/08/Deaf,-hard-of-hearing-students-perform-first-test-of-sign-language-by-cell-phone/

Links:
Eve Riskin
http://www.ee.washington.edu/faculty/riskin/

MobileASL
http://mobileasl.cs.washington.edu/
http://dub.washington.edu/projects/mobileasl

---

Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing Students Do First Test of Sign Language by Cell Phone
From: University of Washington News and Information - 08/16/2010
By: Hannah Hickey

University of Washington scientists are developing a device that can transmit
American Sign Language (ASL) over U.S. cellular networks. "This is the first
study of how deaf people in the United States use mobile video phones," says
Washington professor Eve Riskin. The researchers were able to improve image
quality around the face and hands using optimized compressed video signals,
which reduced the data rate to 30 kilobytes per second. Their MobileASL tool
also features motion detection technology, which extends the device's battery
life by shutting down after it detects that it is not in use. MobileASL was
recently tested by 11 participants for three weeks. "We know these phones
work in a lab setting, but conditions are different in people's everyday
lives," Riskin says. The Washington researchers note that Apple iPhone's
FaceTime videoconferencing application uses nearly 10 times the bandwidth of
MobileASL, which can be integrated with any device that has a video camera on
the same side as the screen. "We want to deliver affordable, reliable ASL on
as many devices as possible," Riskin says. "It's a question of equal access
to mobile communication technology."  

Read the entire article at:
http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=59764