The hearing impaired can now communicate with others after Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) IT Masters graduate George Yeratziotis developed a unique mobile application, Signchat, for deaf users.
This follows the recent launch of another Career Guidance mobile app by NMMU which puts career and qualification choices into the palm of prospective students.
According to Information Technology professor Darelle van Greunen, Signchat provides a unique application for the Deaf community, as no other similar mobile application exists.
“From a design and functionality point of view, the application answers the needs of the deaf. One must not neglect the human point of view and the value that the application has to offer the deaf community,” says Prof van Greunen.
Signchat also allows a hearing person to learn sign language and gives the deaf community the opportunity to communicate among themselves as well as with the hearing community in their mother tongue, allowing them to integrate into society.
“Since the deaf have been neglected as a community they tend to be a closed, self-focused community. The purpose of the guidelines as well as Signchat was to help with the social development of the Deaf community and to be used as a guide by developers to develop appropriate, inclusive and usable mobile applications for deaf people,” says Prof van Greunen.
The app is available free of charge at: http://www.ssmsapp.com/
Prof Darelle van Greunen having a close look at the mobile app for the deaf community.
