Deaf students test sign language on smartphones

USA: For most people, video chat on cellphones is a fun application. But for some users, video chat could make a huge difference to their quality of life.

Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a system that helps deaf and hearing-challenged users communicate using video chat efficiently and at low cost over 3G networks. With video chat, they can use American Sign Language, just as they do in face-to-face conversations.

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“The point is to provide real-time video cellular communication for deaf people,” says Jessica Tran, a doctoral student at University of Washington, who worked on the mobile ASL project with Eve Riskin, a professor of electrical engineering at the school. “We are able to send video over both 3G and Wi-Fi networks at a very low bit rate.”

The first phase of testing of the device, which started late last month, ended Wednesday.

Phones imported from Europe are being used to test the software. But mobile ASL can potentially run on any device.

So far, hearing-challenged consumers have used video chat on PCs. For mobile phones, they must send text messages. But that can be limiting because it doesn’t convey emotions, voice inflections or body language.

The iPhone 4, HTC Evo and Samsung’s Epic 4G phone have front-facing cameras for videoconferencing.

But video chat on these devices can be too much of a bandwidth hog. The iPhone’s FaceTime video conferencing service uses nearly 10 times the bandwidth of mobile ASL, say the researchers.

As a result, carriers often impose restrictions on video chat over their networks, limiting the feature to Wi-Fi network connections.

Specially designed software that allows video chat through cellphones, without taking up a lot of bandwidth, could change that.

“Mobile ASL is pretty cool,” says Josiah Cheslik who has tried the new device. “It is just like when people would just pick up phone and call someone else. And it is is more speedy than texting or e-mail.”

The latest smartphones have introduced already video chat over mobile networks to consumers.

For mobile ASL, researchers have found a way to optimize compressed video signals. By increasing image quality around the face and hands, they have brought the data rate down to 30 kilobytes per second. Mobile ASL also uses motion detection to identify whether a person is signing or not so it can help extend the phone’s battery life during video use.

Tran says when researchers started working on the project, about five years ago, phones with front-facing cameras weren’t available in the U.S. So they imported phones from Europe. But as smartphones in the U.S. get more powerful and begin including front-facing cameras, the project might find ways to make its software compatible with existing devices.

For now, mobile ASL can run only on phones running Windows Mobile operating system, but the team hopes to port it to Android.

(By Priya Ganapati at Wired.com)