Sign Talk wins Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s 2022 Congressional App Challenge in California’s 19th District

When asked what inspired the creation of Sign Talk, the students said, ”Ever since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Google Meets, Skype, and Facetime have come to define how people communicate with one another. Each day, an average of 300 million people use virtual conferencing applications to conduct everything from social calls to work meetings. As technology progresses, this number will only increase. Despite the many benefits digital communication has over traditional forms of communication, many disparities arise when we digitize communication. The needs of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community have been largely overlooked in the development of video conferencing platforms. After witnessing first-hand the struggles one of our deaf classmates experienced with online learning and video calls, we felt inclined to see if there was anything we could do to help. We interviewed our classmate to learn more about her experiences as someone who is hard of hearing and were surprised by how much we take for granted when it comes to communicating with others. For many individuals who rely on ASL to communicate, interpreters are necessary for speaking with other students who do not know ASL, preventing private conversations from occurring and subsequently harming deaf students’ social connections. Although platforms such as Zoom have some features such as live transcripts and the features to spotlight sign language interpreters, no option exists to allow ASL users to communicate directly in ASL, without the involvement of an interpreter. Additionally, we learned about the cost associated with ASL interpreters and how some schools and events often forgo hiring interpreters due to their high costs. Despite the clear need for improvements to the capabilities of ASL apps and features, a quick search in the app store reveals that there is no application that translates ASL directly into English. Sign Talk changes this by allowing people who use ASL to communicate directly with those who don’t understand it, without the need for an interpreter or expensive fees. In doing so, we enable ASL users to engage in the digital world and make sure their voices are heard.”