Development and evaluation of a 3D virtual tutor for Macedonian sign language
Sašo Koceski, Nataša Koceska · Goce Delchev University Repository (Goce Delčev University of Štip) · 2015
According to the National association of deaf and hard of hearing of Macedonia, there are around six thousand deaf persons, and they are representing about 0.3% of the total population. According to the reports of the same association, there are two schools for deaf children and only twelve certified sign language interpreters at national level. Considering also the fact that 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents who may not know sign language or have low levels of proficiency with sign language, it is evident that there is a huge problem in education of deaf children. They necessitate permanent access to education tools even at home in order to develop language skills. For this purposes we have developed 3D virtual tutor for Macedonian Sign Language (MSL) using Java programming language, compatible with desktop computers and mobile devices. It is composed of two modules: module for learning the alphabet and module for learning individual words. This software was evaluated by two categories of users: deaf persons, and non-deaf persons. The results of this evaluation are reported in the paper.