SBIR Phase II: ASL Literacy Support System

SBIR 第二阶段：ASL 扫盲支持系统

• 批准号: 1118610
• 负责人: Corinne Vinopol
• 金额: $ 49.96万
• 依托单位: Institute for Disabilities Research and Training, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-15 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1118610&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; ASL; Literacy

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will result in a robust assistive technology, cost-wise accessible to deaf individuals and their families/service providers, as well as businesses, which functions as:(1) An instructional tool to improve the literacy of deaf children and adults, and (2) A real-time translation device (i.e., between American Sign Language and English).The technology will accommodate a variety of input and output options:Input: (1) typing, (2) scanning, (3) screen text transfer, (4) sensor-enabled glove (the AcceleGlove?), (5) 3-D camera, (6) speech recognition; andOutput: (1) text, (2) sign graphics, (3) sign video clips, (4) speech.The Instant ASL Communication System, as it is called, has two access modes: DVD, Web or local server-based access. This hardware/software system also will enable the user to edit, print, select appropriate signs when more than one match the English word and vice versa, ?hide? signs when support is not wanted, retrieve sign graphics/videos through an index, and generate flashcards and sign/word matching worksheets. The product will include a translation lexicon of 24,000 English words/phrases and 8,000 signs. Many deaf children are challenged by reading since this process largely depends on auditory understanding. Teachers of the deaf frequently reinterpret text into ASL or enhance it with signs to render it more comprehensible to their students. Research has shown that incorporation of signs with text provides a multimodal approach to the development of early literacy skills that utilizes multiple intelligences and learning styles. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is largely reflected in its effect on the Deaf community and those who interact with them. ASL is a visual/gestural language distinct from English. Many deaf people who rely on sign language do not have good facility with English. Because English is an auditory mediated language that depends upon phonological code, reading achievement scores of deaf children usually fall far short of those found among hearing children of comparable abilities. An interesting aspect of the low reading skill levels displayed by deaf students is that while they may not understand a sentence in print, they may understand it perfectly presented in ASL. This product will be tremendously useful to teachers, business personnel, speech/language pathologists, etc. who have a need to support understanding of English text with ASL signs for purposes of literacy improvement, curriculum enhancement, or communication. This product will enable English users to type, scan text, or paste screens text and have output in text with ASL graphics and/or video support. Inversely, deaf users will be able to sign to it and obtain English text and audio output. As a server-based translation service, there will be considerable impact on the ability of deaf individuals to be integrated into society at large for employment, education, and social purposes. Improvements to the AcceleGlove? will have implications to other fields of R&D, such as robotics, telemedicine, virtual reality, and defense. The gesture library will have utility to other gesture capture strategies (e.g., camera-based).

这个小企业创新研究第二阶段项目将产生一种强大的辅助技术，聋人及其家庭/服务提供商以及企业可以以成本方式获得，其功能是：（1）提高聋人儿童和成人识字率的教学工具，以及（2）实时翻译设备（即，该技术将适应各种输入和输出选项：输入：（1）打字，（2）扫描，（3）屏幕文本传输，（4）传感器启用手套（AcceleGlove？），(5)实时ASL通信系统有两种访问模式：DVD、Web或基于本地服务器的访问。这个硬件/软件系统也将使用户能够编辑，打印，选择适当的标志时，一个以上的匹配的英文单词，反之亦然，？躲起来？当不需要支持时，通过索引检索符号图形/视频，并生成抽认卡和符号/单词匹配图。该产品将包括24，000个英语单词/短语和8，000个标志的翻译词典。许多聋儿在阅读方面遇到了困难，因为这个过程很大程度上依赖于听觉理解。聋人教师经常将课文重新翻译成美国手语，或者用手语增强课文，使学生更容易理解。研究表明，将符号与文本结合起来，为利用多元智能和学习风格发展早期识字技能提供了一种多模式方法。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力主要反映在其对聋人社区和与他们互动的人的影响上。ASL是一种不同于英语的视觉/手势语言。许多依赖手语的聋人并不具备良好的英语能力。由于英语是一种听觉中介语言，依赖于语音代码，因此聋儿的阅读成绩通常远远低于听力相当的儿童。聋人学生阅读技能水平低的一个有趣的方面是，虽然他们可能不理解印刷品中的句子，但他们可能完全理解ASL中的句子。该产品将是非常有用的教师，商务人员，语音/语言病理学家等谁有需要支持与美国手语符号的英语文本的理解为目的的识字提高，课程增强，或沟通。该产品将使英语用户能够键入，扫描文本或粘贴屏幕文本，并具有ASL图形和/或视频支持的文本输出。因此，聋人用户将能够签署它，并获得英语文本和音频输出。作为一种基于服务器的翻译服务，将对聋人融入社会的能力产生相当大的影响，以实现就业、教育和社会目的。对AcceleGlove的改进？将对其他研发领域产生影响，如机器人、远程医疗、虚拟现实和国防。手势库将对其他手势捕捉策略（例如，基于相机）。