Alternatives to the Audio
guide for Deaf Museum
Visitors
What is the difference
between deaf, Deaf, and hard
of hearing?
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Deaf- an individual who is active in the Deaf community through
sign language and culture. Often diagnosed as profoundly deaf
and sign language is their primary form of communication.
deaf- an individual who is medically diagnosed as deaf (ranging
from moderate to profound in one ear or both) but may not
necessarily know sign language or associate with Deaf culture
and communities.
Hard of hearing- an individual who is medically diagnosed as hard
of hearing can have mild to moderate hearing loss and may not
know sign language but are able to communicate verbally.
Can be diagnosed at any age, but when deafness is genetic or
occurs due to a childhood illness, spoken language is not usually
acquired and the child relies on sign language to communicate.
How does this effect
museums?
• Deaf/deaf visitors cannot use standard
audio guides.
• Capital “D” Deaf visitors in particular,
who learn English or any written form of
a spoken language as a secondary
language, may have difficulty in reading
due to grammar and syntax differences.
• Museum technologies are excluding
Deaf/deaf visitors.
Alternative Options for the
Deaf
1. Sign Language Based Tour that is on a
PDA or smartphone that can be
downloaded prior to a visit or given out
at a museum.
2. Captioned videos or podcasts that can
be downloaded onto MP3 players or
streamed on the museum website.
BSL tour in the Tate Modern
Gallery
• Tate Modern's BSL Tour was the
first sign language guide of a
museum collection.
• The handheld computer plays
video clips of interpreters signing
a tour of highlights of the
displays.
• The tour provides on-demand
interpretation for deaf visitors in
their preferred language, as an
alternative to having to wait for a
BSL-interpreted gallery talk.
What’s the response to the
Tate Modern?
British Museum BSL Videos
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Video project with the Frank Barnes School for Deaf children, which is one of the few
schools in England which promotes a BSL bilingual approach.
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The British Museum asked three groups of Frank Barnes students to use BSL to
describe some of the key objects in the Museum.
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The project was supported by a grant from the Trusthouse Charitable Foundation. The
videos were filmed by Remark! a company managed and run by Deaf people
British Museum BSL
Multimedia Tour
2009 Press release announced new set of handheld guides launches at the British
Museum, designed to allow visitors to learn more about the British Museum’s
collections. This includes:
·
A Multimedia Guide available in 11 different languages, including British Sign
Language (BSL)
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An Audio Description Guide (in English only)
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A Children’s Multimedia Guide (in English only)
The new Multimedia Guide, made possible by sponsorship from Korean Air, will be
available in eleven languages (English, Korean, Arabic, French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish, and a separate guide for British Sign
Language).
The Audio Description Guide has in-depth descriptive audio commentaries of each of the
220 objects for visually impaired people (English only), while the British Sign
Language Guide will launch with signed videos of about 120 objects. Videos will be
added so as to include the full 220 objects on the BSL Multimedia Guide by midJanuary 2010.
The Multimedia Guides, with the exception of the Audio Description Guide, will use a
portable touchscreen device, the XP Vision, made by Antenna Audio.
Museum Sign Language
Guide Project
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2008, the European Commission gave funds for the Museum Sign Language
Guide project, which aims at making information of museums and exhibitions
more accessible for deaf and hard of hearing people.
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These videoguides enable Deaf people to receive information in Sign Language
and thus accompany Deaf museum visitors through the exhibition, transferring
the same information as hearing people get through audio-guides or within a
guided-tour.
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Within the course of the project MuseumGuides for three partner-museums are
produced: the Art Collection of the Veste Coburg (Coburg/Germany), Schönbrunn
Castle (Vienna/Austria) and the Museum of Recent History (Celje/Slovenia). The
Art Collection of Veste Coburg and the Schönbrunn Castle have actively used
sign language guides.
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Another main result of the project are the Guidelines for the Production of Sign
Language videos. The purpose of this is to summarize the results and experience
of the project work and help museums interested in creating their own
MuseumGuides for Deaf People reducing the extent of external consultancy and
thus the cost of development therefore guaranteeing the sustainability of the
project.
What’s in the US:
• Unfortunately, no permanent exhibitions have
captioned video tours or ASL tours.
• Museums that have technologies capable of
becoming more “Deaf accessible”- LACMA,
MoMA, Walker Art Center, and Brooklyn
Museum using cell phones and MP3 players.
• Museum of Science in Boston implemented
one of the first ASL tours for a traveling
exhibition on a PDA.
Museum of Science, Boston
ASL PDA tour
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Supported by the National Science Foundation and making its
premiere at the Museum of Science, Boston, on October 27, 2005 Star
Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination used all six Star Wars films as
a gateway to examining technologies of today and tomorrow.
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Multimedia PDA tour developed with Antenna Audio that also had an
ASL option which displayed an ASL interpretation of the audio guide
option.
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The MoS felt that the Star Wars exhibit was a good opportunity to use a
new technology (at the time) to engage visitors to make them have a
“cool” gadget like the characters in Star Wars.
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Overall, Deaf visitors found the ASL tour to be empowering, giving
them independence and access to content. However, additional
cultural issues related to timing, learning style and norms need to be
taken into account for future tours. They also recommended that the
next handheld tour have more graphical content and keyboards and
that tour content needs to be reexamined in the context of the deaf
visitor.
How can US museums change?
• Apply for grants.
• Become more involved with the Deaf
community.
• Partner with companies that work with
the Deaf community by providing
assistive technology such as Sorenson
VRS or KeenGuides.
Sorenson VRS and
KeenGuides
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Sorenson Video Relay Services provides free videophone and other technology services to
deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Deaf or hard of hearing individuals can call another
individual and communicate through a certified interpreter or call another videophone number
to communicate with another Deaf or hard of hearing individual.
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Sorenson BuzzCards is an app for your iPhone or iPod touch. A BuzzCard is used
to communicate more easily with people who don't know sign language. Create
cards ahead of time and make or edit cards on-the-go, easier communication in
everyday situations like ordering a cab or food. To use a BuzzCard, just pick the
card you want to show, and then hold up your iPhone or iPod touch so that it can
be seen and read.
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The Sorenson Video Center for the iPhone OS app is now available for Sorenson
customers who have an iPhone, an iPod touch, or iPad devices. The Video Center
app is a mobile version of the Video Center feature that is available on the Sorenson
videophone. This mobile version of the Video Center lets you view SignMail video
messages and all other videos that are available on the Sorenson videophone right
on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad device.
KeenGuides creates short-format video (30-90 seconds) on a mobile platform by GPS location
(geocoded) tagged with categories (like good for kids, or “Civil War.”) and accessible for
people with foreign languages and disabilities. KeenGuides has created ASL tours and cued
speech tours that can be downloaded from iTunes or the web site.
Issues of Accessibility
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ADA- 1990. Americans with Disabilities Act…only publicly funded
places need to have TDDs, interpreters, or assistive listening
devices (including many museums) however there are clauses
that state that a museum or any publicly funded institution does
not have to comply with accessibility if it causes an “undue
financial burden” or alters the fundamental structure of the
museum.
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Acceptance of sign language as a language—varies from country
to country, and the US has only began to accept American Sign
Language as a foreign language, separate from English (ASL is
not considered an “official” language of the US, but neither is
English).
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Stereotypes and cultural fallacies that have been upheld through
time. Deaf culture and community needs to be accepted as well as
the fact that many people who legally have a disability, do not
consider themselves “disabled”.