This post was originally published on this site
The Public Media Venture Group (PMVG) and WCTE Cookeville, Tenn. (Central TN PBS) report they have successfully broadcast test alerts delivered in American Sign Language (ASL) by an animated avatar over NextGen TV. This achievement, they say, is the result of a collaboration among WCTE; PMVG; DigiCAP, the South Korean developer of ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology; and EQ4ALL, a Korean B Corp social venture that develops technology to serve deaf or hard of hearing individuals.
The demonstration involved delivering an ATSC 3.0 “broadcast app” created by DigiCAP to NextGen receivers. The app then enabled EQ4ALL’s ASL-signing avatar to be displayed on the screen using a separate layer which viewers can opt-in to receive. EQ4ALL translated the test message to ASL and delivered it on-screen using the avatar they designed.
DigiCAP was able to verify that the avatar appeared as intended on a variety of NextGen TV receivers. WCTE uses a DASDEC by Digital Alert Systems (DAS) in its alerting signal chain; DAS donated the license needed for ATSC 3.0 applications to make this project possible.
ASL is the primary language of many deaf and hard of hearing individuals and is a much more effective way to deliver alerts to this community than text captions. Alerting in ASL meets a crucial need for these viewers to be warned of serious weather conditions and other hazards affecting their local communities.
When the system goes into full operation, the avatar will warn viewers that a specific type of alert has been issued. The avatar will then direct viewers