Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a software program that allows people who are deaf in the U.S. to communicate in real time through cellphones using sign language.

Currently the deaf in the U.S. use text messages to communicate via cellphone. The low bandwidth of the standard American network, together with the limited processing power of cellphones, do not allow video encoders to produce video with enough quality for intelligible sign language conversations. In countries with cellular networks that allow better data transmission, such as Sweden and Japan, deaf people can already communicate using sign language via video on the cellphone.

Video is much better than text-messaging because it’s faster and it’s better at conveying emotion, said Jessica DeWitt in a news release. DeWitt is an undergraduate student at the university who is deaf and is collaborating in the project.

To stay within the data transmission limit, the UW team developed a solution that transmits the background of the speaker in low resolution, while the speaker’s face and hands—the two most important elements in sign language—are transmitted in high resolution.

Researchers finished trying the technology on cellphones this spring, and recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation for a field test with 20 people. It will begin next year in Seattle.

More details on the projects are available in the team’s Web site.—Maria José Viñas