Three EASIER project partners presented at a workshop on Sign Language Machine Translation that took place in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 25th. The event was collocated with the General Assembly of the European Union of the Deaf and gathered 50+ participants from 28 countries. The aim of the workshop was to familiarize the Deaf communities from across Europe with the latest advancements of sign language translation technology.
After a warm welcome by the EUD President Sofia Isari, the introductory session led by Frankie Picron took place. In his discourse, Frankie covered the limits and complexity of sign language translation technology and provided a comparison with previously used technologies, such as speech recognition. Then, Dimitar Shterionov (Tilburg University), the coordinator of SignON, delivered a presentation titled Data Hungry Machine Translation, in which he provided an introduction to sign language machine translation, the role of good data, post-editing, and sign language recognition, covering major challenges, advances, and applications.
After that, an EASIER project partner, Richard Bowden (University of Surrey), shared his valuable insights on sign language recognition technology. In his presentation, Richard covered sign language recognition challenges, advances, and applications, giving many informative and exciting demonstrations of the latest cutting-edge technology. Following Richard, Giacomo Inches (Martel Innovate), the EASIER Project Coordinator, delivered a presentation titled Sign Language Avatars, covering virtual human creation, animation, personalization, and challenges, underlining the need to keep Deaf communities involved in the design process. Last but not least, Davy Van Landuyt (EUD) presented about co-creation between hearing researchers and deaf communities and science communication. He also reminded Deaf communities what is coming in the near future.
The presentations and demonstrations allowed the audience to gain insights into advancing technology and its potential to bridge communication gaps and promote inclusivity. The workshop also featured an interactive Q&A session that generated an in-depth discussion between presenters and audience about sign language machine translation, innovation, and the future of communication, touching on different aspects like ethics, user involvement, and the need to advocate for more funding for researching sign language translation technology and co-creating together with Deaf communities.
About the European Union of the Deaf (EUD)
EUD (European Union of Deaf) is a not-for-profit NGO based in Brussels, Belgium, which represents National Associations of the Deaf of all EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The work of EUD focuses on realizing the following objectives:
- recognition of the right to use an indigenous sign language
- empowerment through communication and information
- equality in education and employment
so that Deaf people across Europe enjoy equality in both public and private aspects of their lives.
EUD General Assemblies
EUD General Assemblies are organized annually and serve as a platform for the members of the EUD and the national associations of the deaf, to review and discuss the work of the Union. They usually take place following the rotation of the Presidency of the Council of the EU. In 2023, the GA took place in Stockholm, Sweden.
