Accessible options for deaf people in e-Learning platforms: technology solutions for sign language translation

AbstractThis paper presents a study on potential technology solutions for enhancing the communication process for deaf people on e-learning platforms through translation of Sign Language (SL). Considering SL in its global scope as a spatial-visual language not limited to gestures or hand/forearm movement, but also to other non-dexterity markers such as facial expressions, it is necessary to ascertain whether the existing technology solutions can be effective options for the SL integration on e-learning platforms. Thus, we aim to present a list of potential technology options for the recognition, translation and presentation of SL (and potential problems) through the analysis of assistive technologies, methods and techniques, and ultimately to contribute for the development of the state of the art and ensure digital inclusion of the deaf people in e-learning platforms. The analysis show that some interesting technology solutions are under research and development to be available for digital platforms in general, but yet some critical challenges must solved and an effective integration of these technologies in e-learning platforms in particular is still missing

Future bathroom: A study of user-centred design principles affecting usability, safety and satisfaction in bathrooms for people living with disabilities

Research and development work relating to assistive technology 2010-11 (Department of Health) Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 197

Emotional engineering of artificial representations of sign languages

The fascination and challenge of making an appropriate digital representation of sign language for a highly specialised and culturally rich community such as the Deaf, has brought about the development and production of several digital representations of sign language (DRSL). These range from pictorial depictions of sign language, filmed video recordings to animated avatars (virtual humans). However, issues relating to translating and representing sign language in the digital-domain and the effectiveness of various approaches, has divided the opinion of the target audience. As a result there is still no universally accepted digital representation of sign language. For systems to reach their full potential, researchers have postulated that further investigation is needed into the interaction and representational issues associated with the mapping of sign language into the digital domain. This dissertation contributes a novel approach that investigates the comparative effectiveness of digital representations of sign language within different information delivery contexts. The empirical studies presented have supported the characterisation of the prescribed properties of DRSL's that make it an effective communication system, which when defined by the Deaf community, was often referred to as "emotion". This has led to and supported the developed of the proposed design methodology for the "Emotional Engineering of Artificial Sign Languages", which forms the main contribution of this thesis

Avatar design types and user engagement in digital educational games during evaluation phase

Avatar design types can range from human representations to abstract representations. In digital educational games (DEGs), avatars are frequently used to encourage users to play the game. However, the role of avatar design types and their engagement in digital games are still unclear and empirically under research. Therefore, a bespoke digital educational game in geography was developed and validated by six expert users. Then forty-five users participated in the evaluation phase to investigate engagement and avatar types on digital educational games using the user engagement scale (UES). The results reported aesthetics and satisfaction factors somehow influenced the avatar design types, but none of the UES subscales was influenced by preferred avatar design types. Moreover, the human-cartoon avatar, which was not entirely human and cartoonish, was the most popular avatar design type among young adults. Other issues discussed for future developers and research included incorporating more avatar design selections into the study, integrating social interaction features into the game, using the same drawing style for avatars and provide easy access to the bespoke game during data collection

A sound idea: An investigation into accessible video game design for the deaf and hard of hearing

A widely accepted, and incorrect, assumption towards hearing accessibility in video games is that deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) users are those who encounter the least barriers and are generally well catered for. Rapid advancement in video game technology has seen video game sound evolve from simple blips generated by internal circuitry to fully realised digital audio used to convey critical information. To accommodate the DHH, this information needs to be conveyed in an alternative manner. However, evidence suggests existing accessible design solutions for the DHH lack specificity and are insufficient. Thus, the inability to hear, or hear well, has historically resulted in DHH users left with impeded experience and gameplay. This thesis describes an investigation to address the primary research question: How might accessible video game design practices be facilitated to better accommodate the deaf and hard of hearing? To examine this question, an action research method as part of a transformative mixed methods methodology was used. Data collection procedures included critical analysis of literature, observations, and a cross-sectional self-administered survey for triangulation. The critical analysis of literature exposed issues relating to accessible video game design, particularly in relation to the identification of solutions and technical implementation. Further, issues related to the classification of video game software were identified. This posed potential problems with identification of game design methods and led to the development of a new video game classification model. The new model informed an analysis on the methods used for the design of video games, and results were visually represented and mapped to the different approaches to accessible design. Subsequent analysis determined that a game assessment framework is a suitable approach to facilitating accessible design. Further investigation identified visual feedback as the most suitable form of complementary feedback to game audio. This led to the development of a new model to classify visual feedback elements used in video games, and identification of audio feedback categories based on diegetic film theory. Through triangulation of results, a new game feedback model (GFM) was developed. The GFM was used for observational experimentation to identify and classify individual visual feedback elements used in video games. Each element was analysed and mapped to categories of game sound. The resulting model, with populated data, was used to determine what visual feedback elements may be used to complement specific categories of critical game audio. A survey was subsequently used for triangulation, and resulted in amendments to the final model. Through iterative development, and interpretation of findings, the research culminated in the development of a game assessment framework. The three-step framework aids in the classification of game sounds; assesses the impact of those game sounds; and provides recommendations for complementary visual feedback elements for sounds identified as having an adverse impact on user experience and gameplay if they were to be removed. The framework is innovative and has the potential to provide practical guidance for developers of video games. In addition, this research provides the foundation for future research, with the potential to influence accessible game design for the DHH

Data-driven machine translation for sign languages

This thesis explores the application of data-driven machine translation (MT) to sign languages (SLs). The provision of an SL MT system can facilitate communication between Deaf and hearing people by translating information into the native and preferred language of the individual. We begin with an introduction to SLs, focussing on Irish Sign Language - the native language of the Deaf in Ireland. We describe their linguistics and mechanics including similarities and differences with spoken languages. Given the lack of a formalised written form of these languages, an outline of annotation formats is discussed as well as the issue of data collection. We summarise previous approaches to SL MT, highlighting the pros and cons of each approach. Initial experiments in the novel area of example-based MT for SLs are discussed and an overview of the problems that arise when automatically translating these manual-visual languages is given. Following this we detail our data-driven approach, examining the MT system used and modifications made for the treatment of SLs and their annotation. Through sets of automatically evaluated experiments in both language directions, we consider the merits of data-driven MT for SLs and outline the mainstream evaluation metrics used. To complete the translation into SLs, we discuss the addition and manual evaluation of a signing avatar for real SL output

Inclusive Intelligent Learning Management System Framework

Machado, D. S-M., & Santos, V. (2023). Inclusive Intelligent Learning Management System Framework. International Journal of Automation and Smart Technology, 13(1), [2423]. https://doi.org/10.5875/ausmt.v13i1.2423The article finds context and the current state of the art in a systematic literature review on intelligent systems employing PRISMA Methodology which is complemented with narrative literature review on disabilities, digital accessibility and legal and standards context. The main conclusion from this review was the existing gap between the available knowledge, standards, and law and what is put into practice in higher education institutions in Portugal. Design Science Research Methodology was applied to output an Inclusive Intelligent Learning Management System Framework aiming to help higher education professors to share accessible pedagogic content and deliver on-line and presential classes with a high level of accessibility for students with different types of disabilities, assessing the uploaded content with Web content Accessibility Guidelines 3.0, clustering students according to their profile, conscient feedback and emotional assessment during content consumption, applying predictive models and signaling students at risk of failing classes according to study habits and finally applying a recommender system. The framework was validated by a focus group to which experts in digital accessibility, information systems and a disabled PhD graduate.publishersversionpublishe

A crowdsourcing-based framework for the development and validation of machine readable parallel corpus for sign languages

Sign languages are used by the deaf and mute community of the world. These are gesture based languages where the subjects use hands and facial expressions to perform different gestures. There are hundreds of different sign languages in the world. Furthermore, like natural languages, there exist different dialects for many sign languages. In order to facilitate the deaf community several different repositories of video gestures are available for many sign languages of the world. These video based repositories do not support the development of an automated language translation systems. This research aims to investigate the idea of engaging the deaf community for the development and validation of a parallel corpus for a sign language and its dialects. As a principal contribution, this research presents a framework for building a parallel corpus for sign languages by harnessing the powers of crowdsourcing with editorial manager, thus it engages a diversified set of stakeholders for building and validating a repository in a quality controlled manner. It further presents processes to develop a word-level parallel corpus for different dialects of a sign language; and a process to develop sentence-level translation corpus comprising of source and translated sentences. The proposed framework has been successfully implemented and involved different stakeholders to build corpus. As a result, a word-level parallel corpus comprising of the gestures of almost 700 words of Pakistan Sign Language (PSL) has been developed. While, a sentence-level translation corpus comprising of more than 8000 sentences for different tenses has also been developed for PSL. This sentence-level corpus can be used in developing and evaluating machine translation models for natural to sign language translation and vice-versa. While the machine-readable word level parallel corpus will help in generating avatar based videos for the translated sentences in different dialects of a sign language