SignSupport: An Emergency Mobile Application for the Deaf

Abstract

The Deaf are individuals living with a varying degree of hearing loss. Communication with the Deaf is usually done through sign languages, which relies heavily on vision. This is a major challenge during emergency situations involving the Deaf, when there is a need to contact emergency services; because most emergency service contact numbers are voice-based thereby making it difficult for a Deaf victim to describe the nature of aid required. The aim of this research effort is to design a sign support emergency mobile application for Deaf people, to avail them the same level of access to emergency services as hearing people. This is done by using a cross-platform mobile application, called SignSupport, which was developed by following an iterative co-design methodology, with the local Deaf communities, emergency service providers and domain experts as collaborators. The developed app was rigorously tested and deemed usable and effective by the stakeholders.