A scientific group at the University of Washington (UW) has developed software application that gives deaf and hard-of-hearing people to use sign language over a mobile devices. UW engineers got the phones working together this spring, and received a National Science Foundation grant.
This is the first time two-way real-time video communication has been demonstrated over cell phones in the United States. Since posting a video of the working prototype on YouTube, deaf people around the country have been writing on a daily basis.
For mobile communication, deaf people now communicate by cell phone using text messages. "But the point is you want to be able to communicate in your native language," Riskin said. "For deaf people that's American Sign Language (ASL)."