MobileASL: Intelligibility of sign language video as constrained by mobile phone technology

Anna Cavender, Richard E. Ladner, Eve A. Riskin

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

41 Scopus citations

Abstract

For Deaf people, access to the mobile telephone network in the United States is currently limited to text messaging, forcing communication in English as opposed to American Sign Language (ASL), the preferred language. Because ASL is a visual language, mobile video phones have the potential to give Deaf people access to real-time mobile communication in their preferred language. However, even today's best video compression techniques can not yield intelligible ASL at limited cell phone network bandwidths. Motivated by this constraint, we conducted one focus group and one user study with members of the Deaf Community to determine the intelligibility effects of video compression techniques that exploit the visual nature of sign language. Inspired by eyetracking results that show high resolution foveal vision is maintained around the face, we studied region-of-interest encodings (where the face is encoded at higher quality) as well as reduced frame rates (where fewer, better quality, frames are displayed every second). At all bit rates studied here, participants preferred moderate quality increases in the face region, sacrificing quality in other regions. They also preferred slightly lower frame rates because they yield better quality frames for a fixed bit rate. These results show promise for real-time access to the current cell phone network through sign-language-specific encoding techniques.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Eighth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2006
Pages71-78
Number of pages8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
EventEighth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2006 - Portland, OR, United States
Duration: 23 Oct 200625 Oct 2006

Publication series

NameEighth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2006
Volume2006

Conference

ConferenceEighth International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility, ASSETS 2006
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPortland, OR
Period23/10/0625/10/06

Keywords

  • American Sign Language (ASL)
  • Deaf community
  • Mobile telephone use
  • Video compression

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'MobileASL: Intelligibility of sign language video as constrained by mobile phone technology'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this