HCC-Small: Mobile ASL: Providing Mobile Video Communications to the Deaf Community Through User-Centered Design and Deployment

HCC-Small：移动 ASL：通过以用户为中心的设计和部署为聋人社区提供移动视频通信

• 批准号: 0811884
• 负责人: Eve Riskin
• 金额: $ 44.99万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-01 至 2013-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0811884&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: HCC; Small; Mobile; ASL; Providing

Video-enabled cell phones have the potential to enable Deaf people to speak in their community's native language (which in the United States is American Sign Language or ASL), while gaining the freedom, flexibility, and comfort afforded by the wireless phone revolution. Real-time video-enabled cell phones are available in Japan and parts of Europe based on higher bandwidth cell phone technology, and Deaf people in those countries have already begun using these devices to communicate with each other. In the United States, however, it remains a major scientific and technical challenge to provide real-time video-enabled cell phones. The PIs' goal in their ongoing MobileASL effort has been to develop and evaluate low bandwidth, high fidelity, error-resilient, and low complexity software video encoders that are tailored for compressing ASL video; achieving such advances requires novel laboratory and field studies with Deaf individuals. The specific objectives of the current project are four fold: To implement improvements to the MobileASL codec including combined stabilization and compression algorithms for hand-held captured video, packet loss mitigation techniques, and further complexity reduction; To finalize the real-time implementation of the ASL codec on cell phones, To determine ideal default setting and desirable options for encoding through laboratory studies of the features of the PIs' ASL codec including region-of-interest coding, variable frame rate encoding, lower complexity encoding, and ASL-specific error concealment strategies; To conduct an extended field study with deployed cell phones in the Deaf community. Broader Impacts: Left out of the cell phone revolution are the approximately 500,000 Deaf people in the United States who use ASL. This community has embraced Internet-enabled video phone technology, but still cannot speak with each other on cell phones in their natural language. This project will rectify that situation, by bringing mobile ASL communication to the Deaf community. By incorporating the Deaf community's input into the design of all aspects of the system, the PIs will help ensure that the ASL video cell phones will penetrate the Deaf community. By employing Deaf undergraduates as summer research interns, these students will be inspired to continue their research careers and seek higher degrees. Real-time video-enabled cell phones will also be useful for the general population who wish to communicate face-to-face in a mobile environment.

支持视频的手机有可能使聋人能够用其社区的母语（在美国是美国手语或 ASL）说话，同时获得无线电话革命带来的自由、灵活性和舒适感。 基于更高带宽的手机技术，支持实时视频的手机在日本和欧洲部分地区已经上市，这些国家的聋人已经开始使用这些设备相互交流。 然而，在美国，提供支持实时视频的手机仍然是一项重大的科学和技术挑战。 PI 正在进行的 MobileASL 工作的目标是开发和评估专为压缩 ASL 视频而定制的低带宽、高保真度、容错性和低复杂度的软件视频编码器；实现这些进步需要对聋人进行新颖的实验室和现场研究。 当前项目的具体目标有四个方面： 对 MobileASL 编解码器进行改进，包括手持捕获视频的组合稳定和压缩算法、丢包缓解技术以及进一步降低复杂性；为了最终确定 ASL 编解码器在手机上的实时实现，通过对 PI 的 ASL 编解码器特性（包括感兴趣区域编码、可变帧率编码、较低复杂度编码和 ASL 特定错误隐藏策略）进行实验室研究，确定理想的默认设置和理想的编码选项；使用在聋人社区部署的手机进行广泛的实地研究。 更广泛的影响：美国大约 50 万使用 ASL 的聋人被排除在手机革命之外。这个社区已经采用了支持互联网的视频电话技术，但仍然无法通过手机用自然语言相互交谈。 该项目将通过为聋人社区带来移动 ASL 通信来纠正这种情况。 通过将聋人社区的意见纳入系统各个方面的设计中，PI 将帮助确保 ASL 视频手机渗透到聋人社区。 通过雇用聋哑本科生作为暑期研究实习生，这些学生将受到启发继续他们的研究生涯并寻求更高的学位。 支持实时视频的手机对于希望在移动环境中面对面交流的普通人群也很有用。