Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System EAS

Signtel Inc.’s new Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System ^[TM]

Emergency Alert Systems previously only available to hearing people in voice are now available in Sign Language for people who are deaf or hearing impaired.

The Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System is now in Beta and available nationwide. This patent pending product is of major importance. With terrorism and homeland security becoming an increasing subject of concern, it is important to ascertain that deaf individuals can be warned, informed, guided and directed by public addressing and emergency alert systems like their hearing counterparts.

Today, public address and emergency alert systems are in sound, frequently even the hearing are not able to hear an announcement because of background noise. The new Signtel Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System allows members of the public who are deaf to be addressed by Sign Language and the hearing by text and voice.

English text does not provide sufficient accessibility to people who are deaf.

Having never heard the sound of a word, comprehension of the written English language is different for deaf people. People who are deaf do not know common idioms and phrases used in English such as “bear in mind" translated to “remember” and “raining cats and dogs" translated to "pouring rain”. Sign Language is the first language for people who are deaf. Text cannot convey Sign Language since Sign Language is a language of expressions and visual movements.

Signtel’s Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System Version 1.0 utilizes all the features and functions of the Signtel Interpreter translation engine. The system can translate over 30,000 words and over 1,400 idioms and phrases, multiple meaning words, and the numerical system including time, dates and money.

Users can create messages by typing text or using speech recognition. The system translates the message into Sign Language video, which can then be transmitted along with the text and voice message from one location to multiple display units that receive the same message. Sign Language messages can be saved and re-entered into the system at a later time using the drag and drop feature.

Applications

The Sign Language Public Address and

Emergency Alert System can be used anywhere

public addressing systems in voice are used.

· Schools, Universities

· Airports, Airplanes

· Workplace environments

· Subways

· Trains

· Sporting events

· Television Emergency Broadcasts

· Shopping Malls

How it works

At the heart of the Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System is our Signtel Interpreter Sign Language translation engine with a database of more than 30,000 different recognizable words and phrases and their equivalent, captured on video and digitized. A microphone can record spoken English, and voice recognition technology can translate the words and expressed meanings into seamless Sign Language video in real time. Similarly, text can be typed onto a keyboard for translation to Sign Language.

At a designated server or central computer, a message is entered into the Sign Language Public Address and Emergency Alert System, either by voice recognition or by typing onto a keyboard. The message can be edited and tested for accuracy and then transmitted from the central computer to display units, such as monitors in designated locations, remote from the central computer.

Sign Language messages can be saved with our Drag and Drop saving feature, and can easily be dragged back into the system for a quick Sign Language Public Address.

For example: A principal of a School can address each classroom in voice as well as Sign Language. Similarly an airport or pilot of an airplane can address the public (in addition to voice) in Sign Language and warn, inform and direct passengers who are deaf.

Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston Public Schools

In 2006, Signtel, Inc., in strategic alliance with The Maricor Group New England, Inc. installed the first Sign Language Public Address and Emergency System at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston Public Schools, under the leadership of Principal Jeremiah Ford.

The Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is the oldest public day school for the Deaf in the United States, with a rich history of providing quality education for deaf and hard of hearing students. Founded in 1869 and strengthened by association with historical figures such as Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller, the Horace Mann School has been educating children and young adults for over 135 years.

The Sign Language Public Address & Emergency Alert System in the Horace Mann School for the Deaf, Boston Public Schools

Pictured from Left to right:

Ron Liebermann, President of Signtel Inc.

Jeremiah Ford, Principal of the Boston Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Matt Stelmach and Hani Mardini, The Maricor Group