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People with hearing disability find it difficult to access to information and communication in public places. According to this fact, it is considered the possibility to design a communication system based on the Spanish Sign Language (SSL), which helps to overcome this barrier in public environments of wide concurrence, where much of the informati...
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Context 1
... like the stage and wallpaper, it has been achieved the final videos in SSL, where the performer becomes an animated character or avatar. Using an avatar is justified by the omission of the identity of the performer, it "depersonalizes" him, therefore produces a neutral perception of the message. The next phase of work involves the creation of multimedia applications, that the user can select each video in SSL. It aims to design a friendly environment that captures the attention of users with interactive applications that allow users to interact with items on the screen, such as buttons or text windows. These will enter the desired orders by peripherals, which allow to control such interfaces to obtain the requested information. The software used for the programming of such applications has been the "ActionScipt 3.0", which is the native programming language of Flash. According to the objectives, they will be performed by two multimedia applications, which are discussed below. From the previous videos, and through appropriate programming, it will be performed a unidirectional diffusion, storing animations in a server and each time a message is issued by PA system, simultaneously the corresponding video is displayed in SSL on screens distributed on site. This application has been designed an interactive query system, where the user can check the status of his flight by entering the code on an electronic device, which has a keyboard and monitor on which information is presented in SSL the state in which it is located. During the time in which no information is requested, on the device’s screen will be displayed a screensaver with messages in SSL made for first application. They will follow a set pattern of visualization, which will abort only when a user interacts with the device. At this point the user is asked to enter flight details he wants to view, to display the information on screen. If after a set time it is not interacted with the device, it returns to the screensaver. After obtaining a first version of the product, it has been subjected to a validation process as a useful tool of communication for people with hearing disability. For this, it has been designed a questionnaire with several sections that assess technical, aesthetic and intelligibility aspects in communication in SSL. In addition, a final section in which an assessment of the application, suggestions and proposals for improvement is sought is included. Among the videos to validate, four advertisements and four notices messages were chosen. In these videos, subtitles and audio were deleted, not to offer any clues about those messages to those who could read texts and / or have auditory perception. For validation of the videos on SSL, we have been in contact with the Deaf People Association of Gran Canaria, who supported us to conduct this phase of the work. From their suggestions, in order to get as many samples as possible and have the support of a sign language interpreter to help us communicate with the audience, it was made to coincide with the presentation of videos and recollection of surveys, with the completion of an event at the headquarters of this Association. For the test, it was arranged a room suitable for the purpose. At the beginning of the meeting, the attendees were explained the content and objectives of the development work that was to be submitted, with the help of interpreter of SSL. Then we proceeded to display videos related with the advertisements in a 42- inch LCD monitor, ready for the occasion. Then the questionnaires on these videos were passed to all present. Subsequently, the same process was followed with videos concerning notices and related surveys. In viewing the videos and conducting surveys, thirteen people participated, nine were women and four men, all aged between nineteen and sixty five years. To obtain a detailed study of the results, they were analyzed from three different aspects: the collective total responses, responses by sex workers and finally, a third analysis separating the responses by age. From the methodology discussed, were the results obtained discussed below. Four advertisements and four notices messages were chosen. It was considered that this amount is sufficient to obtain an objective assessment of the level of acceptance of this work. Independent videos were recorded for each of the messages translated to SSL. These videos will be used later to make 2D animations to be included in interactive applications. The avatar obtained and the process of converting the images of each video to 2D animation is shown in Figure 1.The process is repeated for the remaining frames of each video. In the development of the videos, it has been cared formal aspects like colors fund scene, the character, the speed of the gestures, the subtitling or symbols, among others, with the goal of capturing the user’s attention. The results obtained to the first application are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 Figure 2 shows the first screen for the main menu, which the user founds when accessing this application. There, has been inserted a background image composed of a scenario that is acquainted with the airport environment. For its composition, it was used the characters and the logo, taken from a photograph taken outside the enclosure, plus the addition of two buttons with the name of their function, which when clicked allows access to the submenu. When the folder shaped button on the top with an icon showing an exclamation mark is pressed, it redirects us to the scene of the advertisement menu, shown in Figure 3.1, where you can choose one of the four videos available by pressing the corresponding button. In this section we find six buttons, four for displaying the advertisements and two smaller ones, of which one has the function to move the scene of notices and the other one returns us to the main screen. When selecting the screen shown in Figure 2, the button located on the bottom of the main menu, sends us to the scene menu notices shown in Figure 4, where you can select messages with information regarding to flight status. In this section we find eight buttons, five of which have special behavior, because they contain submenus. The buttons of these submenus are responsible for selecting the combination of videos you want to display. We talked about combining videos and not watching a video, because at this stage you have to do a combination of five of them to obtain the final video to be played. This is because in each submenu you have to select a message: initial message, each of the digits of the flight and final message. Within each submenu there are different videos, as many as messages we can choose in it. In the submenu flight code, the virtual keyboard that opens when you click on each of the three buttons shown, all the letters of these submenus are associated with their corresponding video of the alphabet and numbers. Once you have selected the corresponding digit on the flight, and have chosen the option of flight status, we will have available the "play" button to play the message indicating, in sign language, flight status with the typed code, such as shown in Figure 4. For "Application 2: Simulation of interactive application for flight query in electronic devices " has designed the screensaver system shown in Figure 4, which the user encounters when accessing this application. All scenes are formed under one animation pattern and is made of two elements. Initially it is displayed the back of the stage and an animation that is shown as a text that scrolls across the screen from right to left showing the message : "PRESS ANY KEY TO ENTER YOUR FLIGHT NUMBER." With it, it is intended that the user should be aware that act on the keyboard to get the information you want. When you finish the text displayed on the monitor, it starts playing one of the videos that have been animated before. We have added new elements to these videos and that belong to the symbols of the folders in the first application. To display on this application, it was decided to change the scale and color, choosing in this case red. They have also been provided with a small animation, creating a flashing effect. This is to reinforce, in a subtle way, the information that is being offered to the user. When a user interacts with the device, he will be shown a screen on their requested flight code. After entering this code, the corresponding video on the state of the same is shown, but in the event that the flight number is entered wrongly, dynamic text is activated in the center of the screen with the following message: "THE FLIGHT NUMBER MARKED IS NOT AVAILABLE." For this application to work properly it is necessary that the interactive device has updated information on identification data and flight status, the same way that the information provided by other means such as information screens and PA system is renewed. It is necessary that the information in all media is simultaneously updated. This task can be performed automatically by connecting the device to the corresponding database or manually, in which an operator is responsible for updating this information. Once the results shown for both applications, the results of the evaluations obtained through surveys are presented. In relation to the compression of the videos, it can be seen that about half of the attendees suggests they can be improved. The results for questions related to the compression of the videos, are shown in Figure 6. Regarding the use of a character or avatar in 2D, 84% of attendees were in favor. If we analyze by gender, we see that every men and 76% of women liked the video presented with a 2D character as an interpreter of SSL. In the results we see that all ages prefer 2D animation, but in the age group of between twenty and thirty-five, the acceptance level decreases. Of the three members of this group, each have a different opinion to the ...
Context 2
... which are discussed below. From the previous videos, and through appropriate programming, it will be performed a unidirectional diffusion, storing animations in a server and each time a message is issued by PA system, simultaneously the corresponding video is displayed in SSL on screens distributed on site. This application has been designed an interactive query system, where the user can check the status of his flight by entering the code on an electronic device, which has a keyboard and monitor on which information is presented in SSL the state in which it is located. During the time in which no information is requested, on the device’s screen will be displayed a screensaver with messages in SSL made for first application. They will follow a set pattern of visualization, which will abort only when a user interacts with the device. At this point the user is asked to enter flight details he wants to view, to display the information on screen. If after a set time it is not interacted with the device, it returns to the screensaver. After obtaining a first version of the product, it has been subjected to a validation process as a useful tool of communication for people with hearing disability. For this, it has been designed a questionnaire with several sections that assess technical, aesthetic and intelligibility aspects in communication in SSL. In addition, a final section in which an assessment of the application, suggestions and proposals for improvement is sought is included. Among the videos to validate, four advertisements and four notices messages were chosen. In these videos, subtitles and audio were deleted, not to offer any clues about those messages to those who could read texts and / or have auditory perception. For validation of the videos on SSL, we have been in contact with the Deaf People Association of Gran Canaria, who supported us to conduct this phase of the work. From their suggestions, in order to get as many samples as possible and have the support of a sign language interpreter to help us communicate with the audience, it was made to coincide with the presentation of videos and recollection of surveys, with the completion of an event at the headquarters of this Association. For the test, it was arranged a room suitable for the purpose. At the beginning of the meeting, the attendees were explained the content and objectives of the development work that was to be submitted, with the help of interpreter of SSL. Then we proceeded to display videos related with the advertisements in a 42- inch LCD monitor, ready for the occasion. Then the questionnaires on these videos were passed to all present. Subsequently, the same process was followed with videos concerning notices and related surveys. In viewing the videos and conducting surveys, thirteen people participated, nine were women and four men, all aged between nineteen and sixty five years. To obtain a detailed study of the results, they were analyzed from three different aspects: the collective total responses, responses by sex workers and finally, a third analysis separating the responses by age. From the methodology discussed, were the results obtained discussed below. Four advertisements and four notices messages were chosen. It was considered that this amount is sufficient to obtain an objective assessment of the level of acceptance of this work. Independent videos were recorded for each of the messages translated to SSL. These videos will be used later to make 2D animations to be included in interactive applications. The avatar obtained and the process of converting the images of each video to 2D animation is shown in Figure 1.The process is repeated for the remaining frames of each video. In the development of the videos, it has been cared formal aspects like colors fund scene, the character, the speed of the gestures, the subtitling or symbols, among others, with the goal of capturing the user’s attention. The results obtained to the first application are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 Figure 2 shows the first screen for the main menu, which the user founds when accessing this application. There, has been inserted a background image composed of a scenario that is acquainted with the airport environment. For its composition, it was used the characters and the logo, taken from a photograph taken outside the enclosure, plus the addition of two buttons with the name of their function, which when clicked allows access to the submenu. When the folder shaped button on the top with an icon showing an exclamation mark is pressed, it redirects us to the scene of the advertisement menu, shown in Figure 3.1, where you can choose one of the four videos available by pressing the corresponding button. In this section we find six buttons, four for displaying the advertisements and two smaller ones, of which one has the function to move the scene of notices and the other one returns us to the main screen. When selecting the screen shown in Figure 2, the button located on the bottom of the main menu, sends us to the scene menu notices shown in Figure 4, where you can select messages with information regarding to flight status. In this section we find eight buttons, five of which have special behavior, because they contain submenus. The buttons of these submenus are responsible for selecting the combination of videos you want to display. We talked about combining videos and not watching a video, because at this stage you have to do a combination of five of them to obtain the final video to be played. This is because in each submenu you have to select a message: initial message, each of the digits of the flight and final message. Within each submenu there are different videos, as many as messages we can choose in it. In the submenu flight code, the virtual keyboard that opens when you click on each of the three buttons shown, all the letters of these submenus are associated with their corresponding video of the alphabet and numbers. Once you have selected the corresponding digit on the flight, and have chosen the option of flight status, we will have available the "play" button to play the message indicating, in sign language, flight status with the typed code, such as shown in Figure 4. For "Application 2: Simulation of interactive application for flight query in electronic devices " has designed the screensaver system shown in Figure 4, which the user encounters when accessing this application. All scenes are formed under one animation pattern and is made of two elements. Initially it is displayed the back of the stage and an animation that is shown as a text that scrolls across the screen from right to left showing the message : "PRESS ANY KEY TO ENTER YOUR FLIGHT NUMBER." With it, it is intended that the user should be aware that act on the keyboard to get the information you want. When you finish the text displayed on the monitor, it starts playing one of the videos that have been animated before. We have added new elements to these videos and that belong to the symbols of the folders in the first application. To display on this application, it was decided to change the scale and color, choosing in this case red. They have also been provided with a small animation, creating a flashing effect. This is to reinforce, in a subtle way, the information that is being offered to the user. When a user interacts with the device, he will be shown a screen on their requested flight code. After entering this code, the corresponding video on the state of the same is shown, but in the event that the flight number is entered wrongly, dynamic text is activated in the center of the screen with the following message: "THE FLIGHT NUMBER MARKED IS NOT AVAILABLE." For this application to work properly it is necessary that the interactive device has updated information on identification data and flight status, the same way that the information provided by other means such as information screens and PA system is renewed. It is necessary that the information in all media is simultaneously updated. This task can be performed automatically by connecting the device to the corresponding database or manually, in which an operator is responsible for updating this information. Once the results shown for both applications, the results of the evaluations obtained through surveys are presented. In relation to the compression of the videos, it can be seen that about half of the attendees suggests they can be improved. The results for questions related to the compression of the videos, are shown in Figure 6. Regarding the use of a character or avatar in 2D, 84% of attendees were in favor. If we analyze by gender, we see that every men and 76% of women liked the video presented with a 2D character as an interpreter of SSL. In the results we see that all ages prefer 2D animation, but in the age group of between twenty and thirty-five, the acceptance level decreases. Of the three members of this group, each have a different opinion to the use of an animated character. Regarding the use of subtitles in the videos, 73% of the participants are in favor of its use. In the analysis of the responses to this question by gender, we see that the vast majority of both sexes considered appropriate to include subtitles to the videos that have been shown to them. In the study based on the responses of different age, the same general trend of preference subtitles in the videos is perceived. However, it should be pointed out that 50% of the people in the age range of forty-six to sixty have failed to answer this question. Finally, an assessment is requested for the videos displayed on a scale of 1 to 10, obtaining the results shown in the following table. This article has presented a multimedia product development that can extend the possibilities of communication in public places with people who use the Spanish sign language. This communication system can be particularly useful to provide ...
Context 3
... the development of the videos, it has been cared formal aspects like colors fund scene, the character, the speed of the gestures, the subtitling or symbols, among others, with the goal of capturing the user's attention. The results obtained to the first application are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 Figure 2 shows the first screen for the main menu, which the user founds when accessing this application. There, has been inserted a background image composed of a scenario that is acquainted with the airport environment. ...
Context 4
... the development of the videos, it has been cared formal aspects like colors fund scene, the character, the speed of the gestures, the subtitling or symbols, among others, with the goal of capturing the user's attention. The results obtained to the first application are shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4 Figure 2 shows the first screen for the main menu, which the user founds when accessing this application. There, has been inserted a background image composed of a scenario that is acquainted with the airport environment. ...
Context 5
... this section we find six buttons, four for displaying the advertisements and two smaller ones, of which one has the function to move the scene of notices and the other one returns us to the main screen. When selecting the screen shown in Figure 2, the button located on the bottom of the main menu, sends us to the scene menu notices shown in Figure 4, where you can select messages with information regarding to flight status. In this section we find eight buttons, five of which have special behavior, because they contain submenus. ...
Citations
... Las investigaciones revisadas presentan dos enfoques para mejorar la accesibilidad del contenido de los mensajes. Por una parte, se encuentran los mecanismos que permiten la traducción de contenido auditivo a lenguaje de señas (Cambuim et al., 2016;Viera-Santana et al., 2014). Por otra parte, existen investigadoras e investigadores que utilizan aplicaciones y modelos de procesamiento de lenguaje natural para mejorar la legibilidad del contenido y promover la lectura fácil, elemento fundamental para la accesibilidad cognitiva (Kaushik et al., 2020;Eika y Sandnes, 2016;Bautista et al., 2013). ...
La accesibilidad universal es fundamental para fomentar la autonomía e inclusión social, pero su diseño e implementación enfrentan importantes desafíos. Estas dificultades surgen de la interacción entre las capacidades físicas, sensoriales y cognitivas de las personas y las características físicas, comunicacionales y simbólicas de los bienes, servicios y entornos. Este artículo presenta pautas generales para mejorar la accesibilidad, basadas en una revisión sistemática de la literatura que responde a las siguientes preguntas de investigación: ¿Cuáles son los temas más frecuentes asociados a iniciativas que promueven la accesibilidad universal? ¿Qué tipo de iniciativas se implementan para mejorar la accesibilidad? La revisión incluye un análisis de 148 artículos publicados entre 2013 y 2023 en Scielo, Scopus y Web of Science. En el presente documento se describen iniciativas que promueven el diseño universal de productos, servicios y entornos, junto con lineamientos específicos para mejorar la accesibilidad en el tránsito peatonal, edificios públicos, medios de transporte, viviendas, y recursos digitales y tecnológicos. Además, se profundizan aspectos relacionados con la accesibilidad a entornos físicos, comunicacionales, sociales, culturales, educacionales y turísticos.
... Research indicates that, through proper advancement, these devices can be utilized both with and without human intervention in various sectors, including education [5] and healthcare [6]. Additionally, in situations when a human interpreter is not present, signing avatars may help deaf individuals by interpreting the text into their native language: they can be employed in public areas like airports, train stations [7,8], shopping malls [9], and museums [10] to aid the Deaf community in conveying crucial information in their preferred language. ...
Sign Languages (SL) are natural languages used by those who are deaf or have hearing impairments, as well as by hearing persons, including interpreters, family members, and friends of deaf individuals. Spoken languages rely primarily on verbal and written communication, whereas sign language focuses mainly on visual-gestural communication. In their daily lives, unimodal users (deaf people who only use sign language) cannot always rely solely on textual communication. Research on SL recognition and generation has shown enormous promise in addressing concerns related to inclusivity and accessibility. The research on using signing avatars in human-computer interaction is relatively new. The currently available information suggests that the research strategies used to develop sign language-interpreting avatars have drawbacks that hinder the establishment of a strong, dependable, and persuasive signing system. Therefore, to ensure the meaningful involvement of the deaf population in user studies, it is essential to design a standardized procedure for surveying them and acquiring significant insights to assist future improvements. In order to accomplish this objective, we undertook a thorough examination of several scales and metrics, which we endeavored to precisely customize and modify to suit the subjective assessment of SL agents by deaf signers. We conducted this analysis as an exploratory case study involving deaf signers and individuals who use sign language oftentimes. We aimed to address the question: “What should a methodological framework for evaluating sign language agents by deaf signers entail?” The data obtained from both rounds of this preliminary exploratory user study, as outlined in the current paper, became essential for our future work. During the COVID-19 lockdown period in 2020-2021, we conducted the first iteration solely online. We held the second iteration after a year, still adhering to the limitations imposed by the pandemic.
... Trends and limitations in sign language translation systems have been evident for the academic community and for the deaf community as well. For both recognition and synthesis purposes, systems normally limited to a particular domain have been developed, such as airports [36][37][38][39], train stations [40][41][42][43], or hospitals [44][45][46][47][48]. ...
Sign languages (SL) are the first language for most deaf people. Consequently, bidirectional communication among deaf and non-deaf people has always been a challenging issue. Sign language usage has increased due to inclusion policies and general public agreement, which must then become evident in information technologies, in the many facets that comprise sign language understanding and its computational treatment. In this study, we conduct a thorough systematic mapping of translation-enabling technologies for sign languages. This mapping has considered the most recommended guidelines for systematic reviews, i.e., those pertaining software engineering, since there is a need to account for interdisciplinary areas of accessibility, human computer interaction, natural language processing, and education, all of them part of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) computing classification system directly related to software engineering. An ongoing development of a software tool called SYMPLE (SYstematic Mapping and Parallel Loading Engine) facilitated the querying and construction of a base set of candidate studies. A great diversity of topics has been studied over the last 25 years or so, but this systematic mapping allows for comfortable visualization of predominant areas, venues, top authors, and different measures of concentration and dispersion. The systematic review clearly shows a large number of classifications and subclassifications interspersed over time. This is an area of study in which there is much interest, with a basically steady level of scientific publications over the last decade, concentrated mainly in the European continent. The publications by country, nevertheless, usually favor their local sign language.
Hearing impairment may constitute a barrier for accessing to information and communication in public places. Since the oral communication forms the basis of the learning process, this problem becomes of particular relevance at schools and universities. To cope with this situation is not enough to provide a textual translation for people with hearing disabilities, society via educational authorities must facilitate alternatives that improve access to information and education to this collective. According to this reality, the possibility of having an alternative tool of communication based in the Spanish Sign Language (SSL) emerges as a contribution to help overcoming the communication obstacles that the students with this difficulty usually find. The spanish law 27/2007 recognizes and regulates that the sign language has to be used as the means of support for oral communication for deaf, hearing disability and deaf-blind people. It also determines the rights of the people to decide loosely how to communicate, to not to be discriminated because of it and lays different application areas. According to this law, the design of a communication system based on SSL is proposed, with the aim of contributing to the Universal Accessibility as indicated by the International Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disability.