SingleScreenFocus for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Abstract

Deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students who use sign language interpreters have to simultaneously watch both the slides and interpreter. In addition, it is difficult to scan, pick and watch new information, as the the teacher, interpreter and slides tend to be spatially distributed around the room. In addition, they become tired more quickly than their hearing peers as they have to track the movement of the teacher and interpreter. We developed and evaluated a system to address the simultaneous challenges of multiple distributed visuals (teacher, slides and interpreter), and the teacher or interpreter can move, which adds to the difficulty. Our SingleScreenFocus system has two parts: a viewing system, and a tracking and recording system. The tracking and recording system uses a iPad mounted on a tracking device to automatically track and record the teacher, and another similar system to track and record the interpreter. The recordings are then automatically streamed to the student’s large viewing screen. Our evaluation indicated that deaf and hard of hearing students prefer this system over a regular view in large classrooms because it reduced their need to split the attention between visuals and to search for details in the visuals.