Automatic Sign Language Translation for Healthcare Websites

在英国，每天大约有87000人使用英国手语。只有1%的网站被认为是这些人可以访问的（RNID, 2018）。聋人的识字率通常很低，很难理解书面英语。传统的解决方案是使用手语翻译使聋人能够理解重要信息。然而，英国只有1000名口译员；这意味着等待翻译的时间很长，平均需要两天左右。其结果是公共服务和需要获得信息的聋人之间的沟通障碍，特别是在医疗保健方面的困难。研究表明，聋人的健康状况已经比听力正常的人差得多，其中一个主要因素是信息的可及性（SignHealth, 2020）。在线的可访问性甚至更低，医疗保健网站上几乎没有签名内容的例子。主要原因是聘请口译员签署所有内容的成本，每小时180英镑的翻译成本是不可行的。在这个项目中，Signapse将研究为医疗网站建立自动手语翻译技术的可行性。在20年的计算研究的支持下，Signapse的使命是将人工智能和手语结合起来。Signapse是在一些大型组织接洽后成立的，这些组织想要一个实时的、更便宜的BSL口译器替代品。我们开发了世界领先的创新技术，受到聋人社区的好评。我们的下一个开发阶段是研究医疗保健等受限领域的创新翻译方法。医疗保健网站是开发我们翻译技术的理想场所，因为它既是一个有用的应用程序，也是一个需要较少数据处理的受限领域。在建议的项目内，我们会进行可行性研究，以评估技术的需求、了解任务，并为市场制定商业化计划。由于这项技术涉及很大程度的创新，我们认为在我们催化进一步的创新走向商业成功之前，首先确定市场范围是很重要的。如果这个项目成功，它将为聋人提供更多的在线访问，这意味着他们可以更好地了解医疗保健内容，并在网上获取自助材料，特别是与心理健康和幸福有关的材料。这将提高他们进行自我护理的能力，而不依赖于人类的解释。我们相信这个项目将显著改善所有车贴语用户的健康状况。

There are approximately 87,000 people who use British Sign Language (BSL) daily in the UK. Only 1% of websites are considered accessible to these people (RNID, 2018). Deaf people often have poor literacy rates and struggle to understand written English. The traditional solution is to use a BSL Interpreter to enable Deaf people to understand important information. However, there are only 1000 interpreters in the UK; meaning a lengthy wait for interpretation of about two days on average. The result is a communication barrier between public services and Deaf people that need access to information, with a particular struggle with healthcare. Research has shown that Deaf people's health is already much poorer than hearing people's, with accessibility to information a major factor in this (SignHealth, 2020). Accessibility is even lower online, with almost no examples of signed content on healthcare websites. The main reason is the cost of hiring interpreters to sign all the content, with a £180 an hour translation cost infeasible. In this project, Signapse will scope the feasibility of building automatic sign language translation technology for healthcare websites. Backed by 20 years of computational research, Signapse's mission is to bring AI and sign language together. Signapse was founded after being approached by major organisations that wanted a real-time and cheaper alternative to BSL interpreters. We have developed world-leading innovative technology that is well received by the Deaf community. Our next development phase is to investigate innovative translation methodologies for constrained domains such as healthcare. Healthcare websites are an ideal place to develop our translation technology, as it is both a useful application but also a constrained domain which requires less data to tackle. Within the proposed project, we shall conduct a feasibility study to assess the requirements of the technology, understand the task and enable a commercialisation plan for the market. Due to the large degree of innovation involved with this technology, we believe it is important to first scope the market before we catalyse further innovation on our path to commercial success. If this project is successful, it will enable more accessibility for Deaf people online, meaning they can better understand healthcare content and access self help materials online, particularly pertaining to mental health and wellbeing. This will increase their ability to perform self-care, without relying on human interpretation. We believe this project will significantly improve the health of all BSL users.