Smartphones Assist Deaf Undergrads in the Lab

Deaf and hard-of-hearing college students can now use their smartphones in science labs and field-based learning settings to read C-PRINT translation of their professor's instruction, thanks to technology created by researchers at the Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

The C-PRINT application on smartphones has the potential to revolutionize lab-based learning for the 24,000 deaf U.S. undergraduates studying STEM.  Pairing C-PRINT applications with technology developed by Samsung, Verizon, Windows and Google, this breakthrough learning tool is providing greater access to STEM learning opportunities and career advancement for the deaf.

For decades, students have relied on costly sign language interpreters who struggle to learn the necessary science vocabulary. Now, due to advances in remote, real-time, speech-to-text translation (C-PRINT), hearing professors and deaf students can communicate more effectively in lab and field-based classes using this inexpensive technology.