skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


This content will become publicly available on May 2, 2026

Title: SafeSigns: Enabling Community Resilience Communication for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Emergency Management (EM) strategies often overlook the communication challenges faced by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community, limiting their involvement in disaster preparedness and response. This paper introduces SafeSigns, a geospatially enabled toolkit designed to bridge this gap by facilitating hazard reporting and communication by and for DHH individuals. By integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with user-centered design, SafeSigns empowers users to report incidents, identify hazards, and coordinate with Public Safety (PS) officials. Unlike traditional EM technologies, which rarely prioritize accessibility, SafeSigns leverages ArcGIS Pro, React Vite, and TypeScript to ensure usability, efficiency, and accessibility. This research represents one of the first ISCRAM-related efforts to explicitly include DHH communities in EM. Findings support a more inclusive and participatory approach, demonstrating the significance of geospatial solutions in enhancing community resilience. Future work will refine SafeSigns through real-world testing and explore applicability to other vulnerable populations in disaster response.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2322255
PAR ID:
10639367
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Proceedings of the ISCRAM Conference (2024-Present).
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the International ISCRAM Conference
ISSN:
2411-3387
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; (, ACM)
    Generative AI tools, particularly those utilizing large language models (LLMs), are increasingly used in everyday contexts. While these tools enhance productivity and accessibility, little is known about how Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) individuals engage with them or the challenges they face when using them. This paper presents a mixed-method study exploring how the DHH community uses Text AI tools like ChatGPT to reduce communication barriers and enhance information access. We surveyed 80 DHH participants and conducted interviews with 9 participants. Our findings reveal important benefits, such as eased communication and bridging Deaf and hearing cultures, alongside challenges like lack of American Sign Language (ASL) support and Deaf cultural understanding. We highlight unique usage patterns, propose inclusive design recommendations, and outline future research directions to improve Text AI accessibility for the DHH community. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the International ISCRAM Conference)
    Broadcasting emergency notifications during disasters is crucial, particularly in Monroe County, NY, which is home to one of the largest per capita Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) populations in the United States. However, text alerts may not effectively reach DHH individuals who are in a state of reduced responsiveness, like sleep, placing them at great risk. This paper presents cloud-based platform designed to deliver emergency alerts with visual and haptic feedback. A prototype utilizing an off-the-shelf IoT device demonstrates how alerts can be received via vibration and light-based feedback. The platform aims to be accessible to DHH community, providing its own solutions to maintain haptic devices and receive critical alerts in real time. This work contributes to the literature on IT solutions for bridging the communication gap between text-based alerts and intuitive visual/haptic communication, enhancing emergency response readiness for the DHH community, ultimately improving safety and potentially saving lives. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; (, Proceedings of the 18th International Web for All Conference (W4A '21))
    Various technologies mediate synchronous audio-visual one-on-one communication (SAVOC) between Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) and hearing colleagues, including automatic-captioning smartphone apps for in-person settings, or text-chat features of videoconferencing software in remote settings. Speech and non-verbal behaviors of hearing speakers, e.g. speaking too quietly, can make SAVOC difficult for DHH users, but prior work had not examined technology-mediated contexts. In an in-person study (N=20) with an automatic captioning smartphone app, variations in a hearing actor's enunciation and intonation dynamics affected DHH users' satisfaction. In a remote study (N=23) using a videoconferencing platform with text chat, variations in speech rate, voice intensity, enunciation, intonation dynamics, and eye contact led to such differences. This work contributes empirical evidence that specific behaviors of hearing speakers affect the accessibility of technology-mediated SAVOC for DHH users, providing motivation for future work on detecting or encouraging useful communication behaviors among hearing individuals. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; (, Proceedings of the 2nd Conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI '20))
    null (Ed.)
    With the proliferation of voice-based conversational user interfaces (CUIs) comes accessibility barriers for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) users. There has not been significant prior research on sign-language conversational interactions with technology. In this paper, we motivate research on this topic and identify open questions and challenges in this space, including DHH users' interests in this technology, the types of commands they may use, and the open design questions in how to structure the conversational interaction in this sign-language modality. We also describe our current research methods for addressing these questions, including how we engage with the DHH community. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; (, Proceedings in 2019 Annual Meeting of Transportation Research Board (TRB), January 13–17, Washington D.C.)
    This article seeks to go beyond traditional GIS methods used in creating maps for disaster response that commonly look at the disaster extent. Instead, a slightly different approach is taken using social media data collected from Twitter to explore how people communicate during disaster events, how online communities form and evolve, and how communication methods can improve. This study collected the Twitter data during the 2015 Nepal earthquake disaster and applied a spatiotemporal analysis to find any patterns that show shadows or gaps in communication channels in local communities’ communication. Linkages in social media can be used to understand how people communicate, how quickly they diffuse information, and how social networks form online during disasters. These can improve communication throughout disaster phases. This study offers a deeper understanding of the kinds of spatiotemporal patterns and spatial social networks that can be observed during disaster events. The need for better communication during disaster events is imperative for better disaster management, increasing community resilience, and saving lives. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email