The University of Washington announced Thursday that a group of engineers have developed software that for the first day enables deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans to use sign language by a mobile phone.

that is the first day two-way real-time video communication has been demonstrated by cell phones in the United States. The engineers have received a U.S. National Science Foundation grant for a 20-person field project that will start next year in Seattle.

The research team posted

a video of the working prototype on YouTube. “A lot of humans are excited about that,” said principal investigator Eve Riskin.

For mobile communication, deaf humans now communicate by cell phone using text messages. “But the point is you want to be able to communicate in your native language,” Riskin said. “For deaf public that’s sign language.”

Video is much better than text-messaging considering it’s faster and it’s better at conveying […]

Orginal post by dhiram