Social and Communication Apps for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired

Deaf people have difficulty communicating with the hearing people around them, but little research has addressed how new technology may help address this issue. The current research objectives were to (1) survey research on communication barriers encountered by deaf people; (2) survey the available communication applications (apps) and features designed for deaf people; (3) recommend the best existing communication apps for Deaf people; and, (4) identify the best designs and features of these apps for developers. A total of 55 communication apps were examined, but only six were found to be designed specifically as communication apps for deaf people. The survey outlines useful features of available communication apps for this population, examines the needs and preferences of the users, and compares these with existing features. We see that there is a serious need to develop more communication apps that meet the needs of deaf people.