MobileASL: The First Mobile Phone for the Deaf and Hard-of-HearingS


The MobileASL software could potentially run on any device with a video camera situated on the same side as the screen (like the iPhone 4 or HTC Evo), but was tested on some imported European phones. Eleven participants tried out MobileASL, giving the experience positive reviews.

Texting and e-mail are current options for long distance communication used by the deaf and hearing impaired, but MobileASL is nice because it allows users to chat face-to-face, eliminating text-based communication misunderstandings. It also uses 10 times less bandwidth than options like FaceTime, which helps maximize battery life under such heavy video use. [PhysOrg]