{"id":128894,"date":"2026-03-20T03:33:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/900586601"},"modified":"2026-03-20T03:33:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:33:58","slug":"survey-finds-skepticism-of-sign-language-tech-among-deaf-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/survey-finds-skepticism-of-sign-language-tech-among-deaf-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Survey finds skepticism of sign language tech among Deaf community."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign-language technology promises to \u201cmake your content available to millions\u201d<\/a> by using artificial intelligence to translate videos or even audio announcements into sign language. <\/p>\n

Many members of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) community are skeptical, according to a new survey from Northeastern University<\/a> that polled respondents from around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccess to these \u2018technologies\u2019\u2014which are generally not useful and created as vanity projects by hearing dilettantes with no understanding of the deaf community\u2014will make hearing people even less willing to accommodate language needs, thinking (wrongly) \u2018there\u2019s an app for that,\u201d\u2019 one survey respondent wrote. <\/p>\n

That feedback is not off-base, the researchers behind the survey said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, developers and researchers have been building technology, such as sign language recognition, translation and generation tools, without any collaboration or getting insights from the Deaf community,\u201d said Saki Imai, a PhD student at Northeastern who led the research. <\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bWe want [this community] to decide what is success \u2013 not just a number or an accuracy rate,\u201d added Malihe Alikhani, assistant professor at Northeastern who was also part of the study. <\/p>\n

\n
\"Saki
03\/10\/26 \u2013 BOSTON, MA. \u2013 Saki Imai, a postdoctoral computer science student at Northeastern, is working on sign language processing under professor Malihe Alikhani in the Huntington 177 on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. Photo by Alyssa Stone\/Northeastern University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Portrait
04\/08\/24 \u2013 BOSTON, MA \u2013 Malihe Alikhani, assistant professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, poses for a portrait on Northeastern\u2019s Boston campus on April 8, 2024. Photo by Matthew Modoono\/Northeastern University<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Saki Imai, left, and Malihe Alikhani conducted the research through a global survey effort. Photos by Alyssa Stone\/Northeastern University and Photo by Matthew Modoono\/Northeastern University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Worldwide, more than 1.5 billion people live with hearing loss, and 430 million live with severe hearing loss<\/a>, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n

Problems arise when sign language is treated as a monolith, however.. There are more than 100 registered sign languages throughout the world, and much like English or any other spoken language, there are also dialects and variants and the language evolves, the researchers added.<\/p>\n

For example, Black American Sign Language uses facial expressions to augment and\/or change the meaning of certain signs. If someone makes the sign for \u201clawyer\u201d while puffing out his or her cheeks, however, the sign means \u201ccrazy,\u201d Alikhani said.<\/p>\n

While artificial intelligence has allowed some software to recognize sign language, translate to and from sign language and can generate sign language, that technology is only as good as the data used to train it.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because something works based on preliminary data we collected a few years ago or the needs that we heard a few years ago, does it mean that in schools today, with this population, with this language variability, with these needs, it\u2019s going to work? Alikhani asked. <\/p>\n

Alikhani added that a lot of sign language technology was originally developed primarily to improve computers\u2019 ability to recognize the boundaries of human fingers when they were doing different tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a challenge for the computer vision community within AI and computer science,\u201d Alikhani said. \u201cIt was really excluded from the needs of the DHH community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imai said researchers can also lose sight of the implications of their work during a product\u2019s development.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of researchers, once they get started on a project, tend to care about the technicality and accuracy and how well it does on a given task and kind of forget about whether the purpose is aligned with the community that you want to serve and societal impact that your technology could have,\u201d Imai said.<\/p>\n

The results of the survey reflected what happens when programmers aren\u2019t sensitive to sign language\u2019s nuances, the researchers found. The standardization of signs used by the software led to international concerns that signs reflecting local nuance and cultures might be ignored and thereby erased, according to Alikhani 
On the other hand, respondents with limited access to translation services were more optimistic about the technology, according to the research.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey provide independence, autonomy, and critical support in situations where human interpreters are not available,\u201d one respondent said.<\/p>\n

Rachel Berman-Kobylarz<\/a>, a principal lecturer in the American Sign Language and Interpreting Education program<\/a> at Northeastern, did not participate in the survey effort but said that, as a Deaf person, she uses technologies such as automated captioning such as Otter AI transcription software for immediate communication in everyday situations.<\/p>\n

Berman-Kobylarz said she was \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d of sign-language technology provided it is produced by or with Deaf people. She said she would only support companies that are Deaf-led and center Deaf experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as a community have reasonable expectations about what sign language technology can and should do and how it\u2019s used,\u201d Berman-Kobylarz said. \u201cIt should be used as a tool, not a solution to replace real-life interpreters.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that more important situations  \u2013 for instance, in a medical or legal setting \u2013 required human interpreters, and replacing them would be problematic. This was a concern shared by survey respondents as well. <\/p>\n

Many respondents worried that technology could be deployed as a cheaper substitute to human interpreters. Respondents from the United States, especially, worried about privacy issues, researchers found.<\/p>\n

Lori Whynot, the director of the Northeastern ASL and Interpreting Education program, shared much of the skepticism of survey respondents. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lots of questions, there are lots of possibilities \u2013 which is always an exciting thing \u2013 but there\u2019s a lot of skepticism,\u201d Whynot, who also was not involved in the study and who is not deaf but is a hearing, professional ASL-English interpreter, said. \u201cAnd as we see historically, the people that would most benefit from these technologies aren\u2019t the ones asking the questions from the very start\u2026They\u2019re always the end user.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what is a solution?<\/p>\n

For one, we shouldn\u2019t \u201cfall into the trap\u201d of thinking that AI can solve everything, Alikhani said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnology cannot offer just one solution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Importantly, Imai said the survey demonstrates the need for early and continuous collaboration among the DHH community and the hearing community \u2013 in research, testing, and all other stages of the product development process.<\/p>\n

Berman-Kobylarz and Whynot agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Deaf people are defining the problem and are being part of the solution, then I think it\u2019s beneficial,\u201d Whynot said. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to gain entry and trust to be able to work with a community that\u2019s a small, tight-knit, culturally rich community with its own language and traditions and values. That has to be part of the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n