SBIR Phase I: American Sign Language (ASL) Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Thesaurus.

这个SBIR一期项目建议制作在线软件，使聋人用户能够获得美国手语（ASL）科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）标志的英语等效。许多依靠美国手语进行交流的聋哑人和重听人并不擅长英语，因为英语既包括口语也包括书面语，这导致他们的阅读成绩很差，并且缺乏学科内容。这一群体在STEM素养方面的服务尤其不足，在STEM职业中也代表性不足。主要有三个原因：首先，目前几乎所有可用的科学信息都是基于英语的音频和文本，没有翻译成手语。其次，很少有教育者调查和使用研究来指出对聋哑学生产生最佳效果的教学实践。第三，将STEM内容翻译成美国手语的材料很少，没有将美国手语翻译成英语的材料。这项建议的辅助技术将采取一种新颖的方法，通过创建有史以来第一个ASL STEM同义词库来帮助ASL用户理解和适当使用STEM术语。通过菜单，用户将能够使用四种描述符（即手的形状、手掌的方向、位置和运动）来描述标志，并找到相应的英语STEM术语、美国手语和英语定义以及概念图片。这种辅助技术的更广泛/商业影响在于它对目前正在开发的一套在线辅助技术工具的内在价值，这些工具的最终目标是提高聋人和重听学生的读写能力和教育成就，特别是在科学技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域。把所有这些工具放在一个中心网站上，可以使STEM主题的教学更容易获得、更有效、质量更好。在之前的美国国家科学基金会资助下，其中一个工具，英美手语（ASL）翻译软件被开发出来，该软件拥有超过30,000个单词，短语，习语和符号的数据库。由于美国手语是一种不成文的语言，翻译输出被表示为图形和视频。进一步的研究是使用相机和传感器启用手套技术进行反向翻译（即，从美国手语到英语）来识别美国手语。该项目将在第一阶段使用手语描述系统，在第二阶段使用相机/手套技术，使聋哑人能够从自己的语言角度访问STEM词汇。通过这种方式，他们将能够更好地理解STEM术语，浏览STEM内容，并就STEM主题进行更有说服力的书面讨论。

This SBIR Phase I project proposes to produce online software that enables deaf users to obtain English equivalents for American Sign Language (ASL) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) signs. Many deaf and hard of hearing people who rely on ASL for communication do not have good facility with English, which is both spoken (and so aurally inaccessible) and written, resulting in poor reading achievement and subject content deprivation. This population has been particularly underserved in STEM literacy and under-represented in STEM careers. There are three primary reasons: First, nearly all scientific information currently available is English audio and text-based and without interpretation into sign language. Second, few educators investigate and use research that points to instructional practices that yield best results for deaf students. Third, few materials interpret STEM content into ASL and none from ASL to English. This proposed assistive technology will take a novel approach to assisting ASL users in understanding and appropriately using STEM terminology by creating the first-ever ASL STEM Thesaurus. Via menus, users will be able to describe signs using four descriptors (i.e., hand shape, palm orientation, location, and motion) and find corresponding English STEM terms, ASL and English definitions, and concept pictures. The broader/commercial impact of this assistive technology is its intrinsic value to a set of online assistive technology tools currently being developed whose ultimate goal is to improve literacy and educational achievement of deaf and hard of hearing students, particularly in science technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Having all of these tools on a central website makes instruction on STEM topics more accessible, efficient, and of better quality. Under a previous National Science Foundation grant, one of these tools, English-to-American Sign Language (ASL) translation software with a database of over 30,000 words, phrases, idioms, and symbols was developed. Because ASL is an unwritten language, translation output is represented as graphics and video. Further research was undertaken to recognize ASL using camera and sensor-enabled glove technologies for reverse translation (i.e., ASL-to-English). This project will use a sign language descriptor system in Phase I and camera/glove technologies in Phase II to enable deaf users to access STEM vocabulary from their own linguistic perspective. In this way, they will be able to better understand STEM terminology, navigate STEM content, and produce more cogent written discussions on STEM topics.