Deaf and hard of hearing people often need support from human sign language interpreters and deaf relay signers. However, there are never enough of these skilled professionals available for every face to face short meeting or to interpret all the text available on the Internet. So virtual signing gives British Sign Language (BSL) users an opportunity to have more access to sign language in the future. This could be for a short transaction at the Post Office for example, or to help them use the Internet, which has a huge amount of text-based information.

Our Essential Sign Language Information on Government Networks (eSIGN) project, which extended the work of ViSiCAST, focused on virtual signing. Although it has recently ended, we are continuing to work in this area.

eSIGN

The eSIGN project ran from September 2002 to September 2004 with the aim of developing computer based virtual signers. We wanted to increase the availability of sign language where it is not currently provided. One target was to make use of virtual signing technology to provide local government information on the Internet in sign language. During the eSIGN project, signing avatars were added to local government Internet sites in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.

Partners

The project was funded by the European Union. We worked with six organisations, including:

The member organisations all brought different skills and experiences to eSIGN. They developed virtual humans with high quality animation so that the sign language displayed is as clear as possible.

Our role

As a user organisation, RNID was involved in the user requirements analysis at the start of the project, and carried out user evaluations of prototype systems later in the project. We gathered feedback from deaf people about different aspects of the project through interviews, focus groups and user testing sessions, where we invited people to come and try out the system for themselves. And we worked with Norfolk County Council to provide information in sign language to people living and working in Norfolk.

Further information

You can read more about the eSIGN project on the eSIGN project website (external link, opens new browser window) and see demonstration video clips.

ViSiCAST

The ViSiCAST project, funded by the European Union, ran for three years from January 2000 to December 2002. It developed virtual signers in three sign languages: British, Dutch and German.

Characters were animated using motion capture. This involved recording a real person signing: their actions were then stored and played through the virtual human. This method was demonstrated to be suitable for the production of high quality animated sign language.

ViSiCAST made some preliminary steps towards creating sign language synthetically. It used a notation system (a way of writing sign language) called HamNoSys. In this method a sign language expert can write HamNoSys, which is then converted by the computer to animate the avatar. This means that new signs can be added to the vocabulary of the system without having to record a real signer, making the whole process more efficient. It also allows recorded signs to be used in new phrases over and over again. This gives synthetic signing a clear advantage over signing created by motion capture in certain situations.

Partners

Eight partners worked alongside the RNID in the ViSiCAST project:

Uses

There are many times and places where this type of technology could be used to let deaf people have improved access to services. The project was applied in three key areas:

TESSA in Post Offices

The TESSA system was installed in five UK Post Offices and helped staff communicate with deaf BSL users. The clerk was able to speak a phrase into the computer system, and the deaf person could view TESSA signing that phrase on a screen. Deaf people and the Post Office staff generally liked this aid to communication.

Visia and the internet

On the internet, the avatar was used to present information about the weather. Specialist software was developed for this application. This software had many options programmed into it, so that an operator without sign language skills could pick weather options from menus to build up a full weather forecast. The software then put together the correct sequences of signing from its database and automatically produced sequences of sign language.

Television

ViSiCAST also tested avatar signing on television, to provide a form of BSL which could be turned on or off like subtitles. There are restrictions on the bandwidth available on television which make it hard to provide closed signing (where the viewer chooses whether to view the programme with or without sign language interpretation). But in future this technology has the potential to increase the availability of sign language interpretation on television.

Further information

You can find out more aboutViSiCAST on the ViSiCAST project website (external link, opens new browser window).

Volunteering

If you are interested in volunteering to participate in similar evaluations or other RNID technology projects, please fill in our online volunteering enquiry form.