Sign Language Interpreter-Mediated Qualitative Interview with Deaf Participants in Ghana: Some Methodological Reflections for Practice

Qualitative research is adventurous and creative, and committed to understanding unique human experiences in specific cultural ecologies. Qualitative interviewing with Deaf participants is far more challenging for hearing researchers who do not understand sign language, and for this reason such interactions may require the use of a sign language interpreter to facilitate the interview process. However, the quality of sign language interpreter-mediated interactions is likely to be compromised due to omissions, oversights, misinterpretations or additions that may occur during translation. An unthoughtful and poor interpretation of a communicative event by a sign language interpreter during a qualitative interview with Deaf participants may lead to an imposition of the interpreter’s or the researcher’s realities on Deaf participants’ lived experiences. It is thus important that qualitative researchers who conduct sign language interpreter-mediated interviews with Deaf participants employ practical and flexible ways to enhance such interactions. To understand the everyday realities of Deaf people amid the Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana, and document same to inform policy and practice, we conducted qualitative interviews with Deaf participants in Ghana. In this article, we draw insights from our data collection experiences with Deaf participants in Ghana to offer some useful methodological reflections for minimizing omissions in sign language-mediated qualitative interviews and thereby enhancing qualitative data quality. We particularly discuss how qualitative researchers can use language flexibility and post-interview informal conversations with a sign language interpreter to create a natural non-formal interactional atmosphere that engenders natural conversational flow to minimize interpretation omissions and differential power relations in sign language interpreter-mediated qualitative interviews with Deaf participants.

Methods and Means of Teaching Graphics to Hard-Of-Hearing Students at a Technical University

When teaching graphics to deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Kalashnikov Izhevsk State Technical University, traditional methods are combined with e-learning through using an e-course on descriptive geometry, available on http://ee.istu.ru. The introduction of new customized educational video lectures expands the prospects of using information and communication technologies and allows us to facilitate learning and self-study for hearing-impaired students. Materials and methods. The paper presents the preliminary results of a survey for hard-of-hearing students, whose training was organized through combining traditional methods with the elements of e-learning including methods based on the use of 3D models, and video lectures provided by a sign language translation and subtitles. The presented results are accumulated from tests, questionnaires and pedagogical observation. The results of the study. In order to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed methods, and their convenience and accessibility for students, a survey on students’ opinion about learning tools was conducted. Deaf and hard-of-hearing students demonstrated positive attitude toward provided video lectures with sign language interpreter and subtitles. Students noted that video lectures with the subtitles are easy to understand and can be compared with live explanation at the blackboard with the help of a sign language interpreter during in-class training. Introducing 3D models during the e-course helped students to conceive the shapes of surfaces, and provided visual clarity of the parts drawn. Conclusion. Modern methods of teaching graphic disciplines to hard-of-hearing students involve the use of visual materials, presented in the form of a workbook, presentations and three-dimensional models in the classroom, and materials of a distance course for students’ self-study outside the classroom. When developing video lectures for hard-of-hearing students, a thorough study of the material, both its content and methodological aspects of the organization of training and control is needed. It is also necessary to take into account special features of visual information perception by deaf and hard of hearing students, the speed and volume of information perception (the frequency of subtitles, the location of the screen with a sign language interpreter, etc.). Depending on the specific conditions and circumstances of training, one or another technique or their combination can be used.

Design Proposal for Sign Language Services in TV Broadcasting from the Perspective of People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

Sign language services are provided so that people with hearing loss are not alienated from socially and politically important information through TV broadcasting. In this paper, we conducted a user survey and evaluation of the current sign language services for deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) people, and solutions were proposed for the problems found in the course of the analyses. To this end, a total of five stages of research were conducted. First, the communication problems experienced by DHH individuals and previous studies on their language and information acquisition were investigated. Second, the most typical types of information delivery channels via TV were defined as news, discussions, and weather reports, and by investigating the actual sign language service cases for each type, three visual information delivery elements were identified: sign language interpreters, reference videos, and subtitles. Third, a preference survey, an interview survey, and an eye tracker experiment on the DHH participants were conducted with varying arrangement options of information delivery elements. Fourth, based on the results of the investigations and experiments, the options to be considered when arranging information delivery elements were compiled. The results showed that the sign language interpreter, which is the first element of information delivery, should be presented in a size clearly visible because the visibility of their facial expressions is important. In addition, it is recommended to present the interpreter without a background since DHH participants did not prefer the presence of a background. As for subtitles, which is the third element of information delivery, it was confirmed that the provision of sign language interpretation and subtitles together helped DHH participants to understand the contents more quickly and accurately. Moreover, if there are multiple speakers, individual subtitles for each speaker should be provided so that the viewers can understand who is talking. Reference videos, which are mainly placed on the screen background, the second information delivery element, were considered less important to DHH participants compared to sign language interpreters and subtitles, and it was found that DHH participants preferred reference videos to be visually separated from sign language interpreters. Fifth, based on the overall results of the study, a screen layout design was proposed for each type of information delivery element for DHH people. Contrary to the general conception that there would be no problem in viewing information-delivering TV broadcasts by DHH people simply by placing a sign language interpreter on the screen, the results of this study confirmed that a more delicate screen layout design is necessary for DHH people. It is expected that this study will serve as a helpful guide in providing better sign language services for TV broadcasts that can be conveniently viewed by both DHH and non-disabled people.

Deaf signers in Flanders and 25 years of Community Interpreting

Looking back on 25 years of Community Interpreting in the Deaf communi - ty in Flanders at least three issues seem to be noteworthy.Linguistic research into Flemish Sign Language has clearly influenced the sign language interpreter trainingprogrammes. When thefirst programmes were started up in the early 1980s, interpreter students were taught Signed Dutch. The shift to Flemish Sign Language came about in the latter half of the 1990s, some years after the first results of Flemish Sign Language research were made available in the public domain.A second important factor is the professionalisation of the interpreter. The internationally recognised evolution from a ‘helper philosophy’ via a ‘machine (conduit) philosophy’ to a ‘bilingual-bicultural philosophy’ has also taken place in Flanders.Thirdly, we can see a certain impact of Community Interpreting on Deaf Empowerment. Since it is very hard to exactly identify this and more research would be necessary, these will only be briefand tentative statements.

Sign Language Interpreter using Deep Learning

Sign Language is invaluable to hearing and speaking impaired people and is their only way of communicating among themselves. However, it has limitations with its reach as the rest of the people have no information regarding sign language interpretation. Sign language is communicated via hand gestures and visual modes and is therefore used by hearing and speaking impaired people to intercommunicate. These languages have alphabets and grammar of their own, which cannot be understood by people who have no knowledge about the specific symbols and rules. Thus, it has become essential for everyone to interpret, understand and communicate via sign language to overcome and alleviate the barriers of speech and communication. This can be tackled with the help of machine learning. This model is a Sign Language Interpreter that uses a dataset of images and interprets the sign language alphabets and sentences with 90.9% accuracy. For this paper, we have used an ASL (American Sign Language) Alphabet. We have used the CNN algorithm for this project. This paper ends with a summary of the model’s viability and its usefulness for interpretation of Sign Language. Keywords: Sign Language, Machine Learning, Interpretation model, Convoluted Neural Networks, American Sign Language

HWAET (hand waving apparatus for effective turn-taking)

This project describes the design and testing of an attention-getting device, called HWAET (Hand Waving Apparatus for Effective Turn-Taking). HWAET was designed to be used by sign language participants to indicate their desire to have a turn to speak during a sign language interpreted video conference meeting with hearing participants. User studies were conducted with ten sign language users, fifteen hearing subjects and four different sign language interpreters to examine the use of HWAET during a video conference. These studies showed that deaf participants using HWAET found it easier to indicate and take their turn independently than those relying solely on a sign language interpreter (not using HWAET). Also, interpreters commented that they did not have to manage turn-taking when HWAET was used compared to the control group (where HWAET was not used).

HWAET (hand waving apparatus for effective turn-taking)

This project describes the design and testing of an attention-getting device, called HWAET (Hand Waving Apparatus for Effective Turn-Taking). HWAET was designed to be used by sign language participants to indicate their desire to have a turn to speak during a sign language interpreted video conference meeting with hearing participants. User studies were conducted with ten sign language users, fifteen hearing subjects and four different sign language interpreters to examine the use of HWAET during a video conference. These studies showed that deaf participants using HWAET found it easier to indicate and take their turn independently than those relying solely on a sign language interpreter (not using HWAET). Also, interpreters commented that they did not have to manage turn-taking when HWAET was used compared to the control group (where HWAET was not used).

Indonesian Sign Language Interpreter Device Based on ATMega328 Microcontroller for Bali Deaf Community Denpasar

This study aims to design and build a Sign Language Interpreter Device with Voice Output in the form of an ATMega328 Microcontroller-Based Voice Speaker Module so that in its implementation and later in designing this device the writer focuses on the translation of 16 words that have been predetermined in Indonesian Sign Language especially in Denpasar City by using a Flex Sensor and a Gyro Sensor based on the ATMega328 Microcontroller with Arduino IDE programming. This device is also equipped with a 4GB SD card memory for storing voice recordings, using an ATMega328 microcontroller, four analog Flex sensors, a Gyro sensor, a buzzer and an 8 ohm speaker, and using a 7.4 volt Li-Po battery. The application of this device is aimed for thehearing impaired people who fall into the adult category who can understand writing and understand sign language. The output of this device uses an MP3 player module that is already included in the Sign Language Interpreter Device. The flex sensor readings range from 998-1005 ADC (analog digital converter) in open conditions and the sensor ranges from 1006-10018 ADC in closed conditions. The reading for the gyro pitch (Y axis) ranges from -10º to 76º then on the reading of the gyro Roll (X axis) ranges from -100º to 90º. Keywords: ATMega328 microcontroller; Buzzer; Flex Sensor; Gyro Sensor