Signing Avatars

Over 500,000 hearing disabled Americans are currently excluded from communicating in their most expressive idiom over long distance communications systems. Although widespread availability of electronic mail (e-mail) and electronic facsimile (fax) provide the means for these individuals to communicate in written English, both speed of communication and the level of personal interaction are significantly diminished relative to the depth of expression available in sign language. Video communication among homes, schools, and workplaces, although feasible, is too expensive for everyday utilization and does not support any means to translate among the written, spoken, and signed word. We propose to use virtual reality representations of the signers face and hands, called "avatars", to enable sign language communication via standard. phone lines and personal computers. This technology would not only provide lower cost, long-distance sign language communication, but would also supply a more natural and more rapid interaction between humans and computer applications. When coupled with emerging technologies in voice recognition and natural language processing, the same technology could support more natural translations between signing and both written and spoken language.