UA-MSU team up for deaf, blind

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. The University of Alabama has been awarded a grant of $251,850 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study how tornado warnings could be improved for members of the deaf-and-blind communities. The project is collaboration between UA’s departments of geography and communication studies and Mississippi State University’s department of geosciences and National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision. The grant will enable the team to build and test a system whereby deaf people can view a local weather broadcast in a split-screen format. Half of the screen will show a meteorologist, and the other half an American Sign Language interpreter. The team will conduct interviews with members of the blind community in Mississippi, and the deaf-and-blind communities in Talladega, Ala. (Source: University of Alabama 01/09/18)