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Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Tests Sign Language on City Website

As the user moves the mouse over sections and clicks on sections of printed text a sign language interpreter appears in the video window, signing the words in the text.

(TNS) -- Not all deaf people can read well.

That might sound counter-intuitive to anyone familiar with closed-captioning on television screens. But many people who were born deaf see the printed word as a foreign language.

That's why a New York software company developed iSigner a sign language translation tool that can be plugged into any website. Fort Lauderdale recently became the first city to incorporate the software into its website, and while the tool is being met with both praise and criticism within South Florida's deaf community, its developer says it's the most advanced automated sign language translator possible right now.

The city decided to beta test the iSigner software at the request of one of its owners, Fort Lauderdale City Manager Lee Feldman said last week.

The city is testing the software for free but expects to pay a license fee if it wants to continue offering it after the test period concludes, Feldman said. "I think the intent is to get this out there and find out what features others may want."

iSigner is simple to use on a desktop or laptop computer. Web visitors can go to the city's website, fortlauderdale.gov and click on the far-right circular icon at the top of the home page. That brings up a square video window.

As the user moves the mouse over sections of printed text, the cursor changes into a teardrop-shaped icon. Clicking the mouse starts the translation. A sign language interpreter appears in the video window, signing the words in the text.

Steve Bruner, iSigner vice president, said the software has been in development for several years as engineers perfected the streaming technology and ease of installation. "The streaming technology was very difficult to get just right," Bruner said. "We're proud of it."

Now, getting it to work on a website "is as simple as installing Google Analytics tracking code," Bruner said. "(Insert) one piece of JavaScript. It just works. Installation takes minutes."

The software evolved from a standalone desktop application called iCommunicator that turned spoken words into text and sign language for deaf people. It was featured a decade ago on an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that showed a blind father and his deaf son conversing without an interpreter, the New York Daily News reported in 2007.

As the company readied the software for deployment, one if its owners, Leonard Feldman, a Fort Lauderdale resident, met city officials at a function and told them about the product, city manager Lee Feldman (no relation) said.

The company's owners had noticed the city's website was already accessible to blind users. So "we reached out to them and they were receptive," Bruner said.

"We're hoping this becomes a role model for other cities and companies," said iSigner spokeswoman Elyse Blazey Gentile.

But the company faces a hurdle: Some deaf people who have tried the software don't like how it translates words not stored in its library.

In 2014, the software was demonstrated for about 10 staff members of the Center for Hearing and Communication, a non-profit health care center in Fort Lauderdale, according to Margaret (Peggy) Brown, the center's regional executive director.

"None of the staff thought it was a good idea," Brown said. That's because the translation video jumps back and forth between images of a human translator, seen from the waist up, signing complete words and a hand against a black background spelling out words one letter at a time, she said. For example, the word Lauderdale is translated by the hand spelling out L-A-U-D-E-R-D-A-L-E.

Such "finger spelling" is considered "insulting to the deaf community," Brown said. "When you are interpreting, you don't just use your hands but your whole body."

Added Tracy Perez, the center's director of social services: "We told them, 'You might be inviting criticism.' When you are finger spelling, your hand is not viewed by itself, but often close to (the signer's) mouth so you can mouth the words."

The iSigner software delivers a verbatim English translation, while American Sign Language — just as in everyday life — incorporates regional idioms, context-sensitive expressions, even slang, Brown and Perez said.

Bruner said he's heard similar criticism and understands the software isn't going to be accepted by all deaf people or for all situations.

Since the first iCommunicator program was developed 16 or 17 years ago, the company has solicited user feedback and developed improvements whenever it could, he said. "We've always had people who said, 'This is the greatest thing I've ever used.' Others said, 'This is not for me.' And another said, 'I'll use it when I need it.'"

Bruner said his company knows of no way to deliver an automated version of true American Sign Language. "We know we're translating it in English Word Order. This is the only way we can do it."

A big reason Fort Lauderdale was excited to install the software, Bruner said, is its ability to translate information during emergencies as quickly as that information can be posted on the city's website. "Getting information out to the community in a timely manner is incredibly important to them."

Victor Solano, who describes himself as "profoundly deaf," tried the software at the Sun Sentinel's request and wrote in an email, "It definitely has its pros and cons."

"If anyone has difficulty reading the words on the site they would still have difficulty understanding all the finger spelling," Solano wrote. "I tried following along with the signing and reading the text, with my eyes going back and forth. The signer was too fast for me to do that easily."

Bruner said he recently heard a similar comment from the owner of a deaf services website interested in adopting the tool. The company is looking into ways to slow down the videos, he said.

Salono said the software serves a need for deaf people who read English as a second language.

"If I had to understand what was being signed to me with the amount of finger spelling sign uses, I don't think I'd be able to continue using it with ease and comfort," he said. "However, that said, I'd probably still use it as a backup as I read the text on the page. Being able to go back and play it again also is good if I can't catch the vocabulary the first or even second time."

Solano said he'd like to install the software on the website of his non-profit organization, South Florida Deaf Recreation Association.

Solano's attitude is what the company likes to hear, Bruner said. "He will use it when he needs it. If he doesn't need it, great. But it's there."

©2016 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.